White-tie attire and ‘The Gilded Age’ effect
White tie, the most formal dress code for special occasions, is having a moment — in Houston, and beyond.
The resurgence began in 2022, just as “The Gilded Age,” which revisited the zeitgeist shift of New York society in the late 19th century, debuted on HBO Max. Attire for the 2022 Met Gala followed suit with two style directives: gilded glamour and white tie. There was also the #BridgertonEffect, with avid watchers shifting from #cottagecore to gaga for galas by the time “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” hit Netflix in 2023.
So when 2024 Houston Symphony Ball co-chairs Dr. Alice Mao Brams and Tammie Anne Johnson were in the planning stages, recreating the formality and elegance of the Viennese Ball was at the top of their inspiration boards. With the help of husbands Dr. Charles Johnson and Dr. Matt Brams, their 400guest gala at the Post Oak Hotel at Uptown raised $1 million over the weekend.
Mao Brams says that she and Johnson referenced ball season in Austria. “We wanted to create the elegance of the Old World grand balls and then bring it into modern day with the Q Band, that singer won the Australian Idol title,” Mao Brams said.
Indeed, the dance floor was filled with patrons donning high volume ballgowns and men in tuxedo tails.
“In this case, (our husbands) Matt and Charles wanted the attire for the men to reflect the deep-seated traditions, elegance and grandeur of the Houston Symphony,” Mao Brams added.
According to GQ, white tie dictates that men wear a black tailcoat and trousers with a white, wing-collared shirt, vest and bow-tie. Emily Post suggested that men also wear white gloves; married women have the option of accentuating their formal, full-length gowns with long gloves, too.
State dinners, both in D.C. and across the pond, often adopt white tie. This spring, Houston Ballet Ball’s nod to “Mayerling” by Kenneth MacMillan also requires white tie.
Houston Grand Opera Ball, once the sole white-tie event on the city’s social calendar, has become more lenient, compromising with white-tie optional.
Mao Brams and Johnson leaned all the way in. And so did their guests. Jewels rarely seen outside the vault were on prominent display Saturday night. It was impossible not to notice Betty Tutor’s striking sapphire and diamond suite when she and fellow honorees Jesse Tutor, Brigitte and Bashar Kalai and Dr. Sippi Khurana took the stage.
“This is also the reason we included trumpet fanfare. The orator from the Alley Theater, Chris Hutchinson, was in an Amadeus costume to read the honorees’ bios from a scroll,” Johnson said. “And of course the traditional debutante waltz opening by the Fred Astaire professional dancers.”
Mao Brams added that she and Johnson requested the dancers wear white, like debutantes at a deb ball, another popular occasion for white tie in the U.S. and Europe.
Richard Flowers of the Events Company took note, blending Viennese and American décor elements into tablescape schemes flush with pink florals and chandeliers.
Here are some of the best white-tie looks from the first event of Houston’s 2024 social season: