Black Tie & Tales

+ SPARCC’ling bright
The lights of the boats at the Sarasota Yacht Club were the perfect backdrop for Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center’s SPARCCle event Dec. 8, but many guests shined bright inside the party. Notably seen in purple (SPARCC’s signature color) — some even sporting purple toenail polish — was Sheriff Tom and Tracy Knight, Rosemary Eure, Olivia Thomas, Emily Walsh and Anna Maria Troiano. Also spotted looking fabulous at the event was Jacqueline Morton, who recently suffered a broken kneecap. The injury even hindered her from wearing a custom Oscar de la Renta gown to her son’s recent wedding.

+ Kettle kickoff
The Sarasota Salvation Army celebrated the kickoff of its red kettle, 22-day holiday fund drive with “The Sound of Hope” kickoff party Dec. 5, at Mercedes-Benz of Sarasota. 

Guests, including Dr. Arthur and Lynn Guilford and Glenda Leonard, enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, photos with the kettle car and signed up to volunteer as bell-ringers.

“This is the first year all of the bell-ringers are volunteers,” says Glenda Leonard of Sarasota Salvation Army. The event was designed to attract more volunteers and sponsors.

Also new this year is the “kettle car.” Mercedes-Benz of Sarasota has provided a smart car for the organization to use during the fund drive. The car is a “mobile kettle” and will drive around Sarasota accepting donations. Mercedes also has provided a Sprinter van that resembles a sleigh to promote the drive.

+ Tidbits
The cookie gang … This gang gathers at Elisabeth Waters’ home every year to bake dozens of varieties of cookies — her recipes. Waters is reported to have more cookie sheets, silpats and other baking toys than Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table combined (and Santa hats for her guests). The most popular item among her bakers this year — including Heather Dunhill, Shelley Sarbey, Shirley Lascelle, Karin Silver, Sandy Chororos, Marina Bourantonis, Isa Lambert and Felice Schulaner — were the Rumkugeln (rum balls). Read more in this Edibles article … Congrats … Scott George, development director of Community AIDS Network, and John Mason, executive director of Historic Spanish Point, were wed in November in the first same-sex marriage to take place in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., where they formerly lived.  The men have been a couple for more than 30 years … ’Tis the season … The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota and new General Manager Damien O’Riordan hosted its annual Holiday Open House Dec. 4. Guests, including Minta Getzen, Anne Weintraub and Carolyn Ann and Doug Holder, admired the stunning (and huge!) Jack Dusty-inspired gingerbread ship, which was the product of more than 200 hours of work by the Ritz-Carlton pastry staff … The calendar calls … BT is collecting events for the 2014 Black Tie social calendar — if we don’t know about it, we can’t cover it! Email event information to [email protected]: name of your event; group hosting; group benefiting; time, date and place; ticket price; chairperson; contact name; phone number and email; website and event description.

+ Hot Flash: Shoe fever
There is a new designer on the scene at Saks Fifth Avenue Sarasota. The store celebrated its launch of Manolo Blahnik with an exclusive first-look party Dec. 4, in the shoe department.

Fashion columnist Heather Dunhill (rocking a pair of Manolos, of course!) hosted the event, and first-look shoppers enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and drinks, such as white cranberry martinis, while trying on shoes from the Manolo Blahnik Resort 2014 Collection. “Man-olo” men carried trays of Manolo pumps and offered guests compact mirrors wrapped in the Manolo Blahnik at Saks Sarasota launch logo.

Pastries by Design created an incredible cake, a red Manolo pump atop a shoebox — it looked so real that a customer grabbed the shoe, breaking it in half.

Spotted shopping at the event were Lesley-Ann Morris and her mother, Dorothea, and Kyla Weiner (with cutie daughter Amara), who treated herself to a pair of nude pumps.

For more photos, click here.