Washington Social Diary: The Washington Opera Ball | Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Warm weather wasn’t anywhere near DC on Saturday night as the swarm of 500, men in black tie and women in ball gowns, swept through the drizzle and chill and into the 106-year-old Organization of American States mansion on Constitution Avenue. Many of the guests earlier attended dinners at embassies before heading to Dessert & Dancing. When the dancing began, the ball’s co-chairs, Jane Cafritz and Samia Farouki, attempted to lure their friends onto the dance floor, with some success. At the outset, it was a lot of women dancing with women, which tells us something about gala life and Washington men. Speeches were brief, the supply of Champagne and cocktails endless, and at midnight the party continued. Each guest went home with a box of Jacqueline Mars favorite “Ethel M” chocolates, and she knows her chocolates.
