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On Saturday the 13th of March, the Fundacion MIR hosted it’s annual ‘Magical Splendor for Life’ gala – a whirlwind evening when glitz, glamour and philanthropy mixed with fine dining, fashion and fun!
Guests started to arrive at 8.30pm and were met by the paparazzi taking photos of everyone – a chance to appear in the ‘Listin Diario’ or the ‘Sociales’ making it well worth the effort dressing up nicely! (And what a relief they were there taking photos at the start before my hair decided to wilt…)
Next stop into the event was ‘Tiffany’s Mysterious Blue Boxes’ – a vast wall of numbered Tiffany’s boxes being sold for $300. Each numbered box corresponded to a piece of Tiffany’s jewellery – after paying your $300 or $600 or $900 (some people bought a lot of boxes!) you were given your ‘prize’ of a piece of jewellery – beautiful necklaces, strings of pearls, earrings and even a $5000 watch!
Beyond the wall of Tiffany boxes lay the Ron Atlantico bar – one of the sponsors of the event AND (in my opinion) the Dominican Republic’s finest blended rum. On offer were Caipriñas and Mojitos which were absolutely delicious and certainly got my night off to a great start!
The event had been set up spectacularly around the beautiful fountain in Altos de Chavon, in the car park behind the La Mercadito store – but once inside all you could see were the fountain and a few areas of cobbles and stone sculptures, which added just a hint of classic Chavon to the glamourous atmosphere.
Following plenty of mingling and eagerly greeting the other guests we all made our way over to our tables and the ‘show’ began. This year Ileana Garcia from Miami’s Alfombra Roja Radio Show, was the Mistress of Ceremonies, who looked stunning in a royal blue wrap dress by Lanvin.
During the meal Lian Fanjul, founder of the Fundacion MIR spoke passionately about all the wonderful work the Fundacion MIR does to help the lives of thousands of children and their families affected by AIDs in their Clinica Familia, as well as the many children who receive an education and training in the Fundacion MIR schools – the MIR Esperanza (the boys vocational school), and the Escuela Tecnica Vocacional Fundacion MIR (the girls vocational school). On Friday the 12th of March, the day before the gala, a group of celebrities (who were also at the gala) made a visit to the Fundacion MIR’s schools, to read more, click here.
Then, just as desert was served, the Lanvin fashion show started and the very tempting chocolate mousse was left untouched as I watched in awe the wonderful display of clothes. Lanvin is an exclusive and time-honoured French couture fashion house, established in 1889 and the fashion show was a preview of their new spring/summer 2010 collection. Unfortunately, I was too enraptured by the show to take any photos – I will have to wait to receive the official photos and then I will publish these in a separate article!
Following the fashion show, the runway was removed (so efficiently and quickly, I almost missed it) to make way for a dance floor and the Orchestra of Rubby Perez began to play some classic latin music – mostly merengue and soon the dance floor was full! A little later into the night the after party hosted by Praia with DJ Gringo started … more about this is in another post!
It was an incredible night, everything from the food to drinks, the service to the fashion and the music were exceptional -a truly magical evening!
As yet, we do not know exactly how much money was raised for the Fundacion MIR, but no doubt it was a fantastic sum – which we will reveal to you as soon as possible! From everyone at the Fundacion MIR and all the thousands of families and children who depend on the Fundacion MIR every day – THANK YOU to everyone who supported this event!
At last year’s Magical Splendor for Life event over $200,000 was raised – click here to read all about it!
Here are the photos I took during the evening, I will be publishing a second article about the after party with my (slightly more gregarious) photos and other posts using the ‘official’ photos when I have them!
