Fashion on the Farm!

Cynthia Petrello & Gracie Cavnar
Cynthia Petrello & Gracie Cavnar

Recipe for Success’ second annual Fashion in the Fields event was a smash success, raising more than $150,000 for the foundation, whose mission is to teach and inspire healthy eating.


Founder and CEO Gracie Cavnar welcomed more than 200 supporters — dressed in casual-cool, farm-fab attire — to the organization’s Hope Farms facility. Waiters greeted with trays of lemonade, mimosas and Bloody Marys, and folks happily sipped and shopped a pop-up boutique featuring vendors like Mary Patton Designs, Tata Harper cosmetics and more.

Fashion in the Fields took place on Veteran’s Day, so it was fitting that the main event — a fashion show featuring the season’s chicest looks from Neiman Marcus — kicked off with a salute to Hope Farms’ 2019 Warriors to Farmers Veterans class. All prior-service military service members, the four farmers-in-training will, through the foundation’s year-long program, learn to operate their own urban farm and help solve problems of food inequity in Houston and beyond. After the trainees strutted their stuff, other models — along with adorable kiddos of donors and supporters! — took to the catwalk in outfits full of seasonal sparkle and fantastic fur.

After the show, a southern-fried brunch buffet beckoned, and an exciting raffle included items like a Farbergé scarf and pocket square, and a seasonal Hope Farms produce share.

Christine Falgout-Gutknecht, Melissa Juneau & Jordan Holman
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