Vanessa Williams at Dallas Fashion Awards
Singer and actress Vanessa Williams will be among the celebrities paying tribute to designer Carmen Marc Valvo at the 31st annual Dallas Fashion Awards on Oct. 28 at the Dallas Market Center.
Valvo will receive the Fashion Excellence award at the event, while former Neiman Marcus fashion director Joan Kaner will receive the Personal Style award. A number of East and West Coast resources also are up for awards in various categories.
Among the highlights of the event will be a video tribute to Valvo from industry notables and others, such as “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric and Washington Post fashion editor Robin Givhan.
Valvo was recently named an ambassador of the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, an Entertainment Industry Foundation program Couric co-founded after her husband, Jay Monahan, lost his battle with the disease. Valvo is a colon cancer survivor.
The Dallas Fashion Awards will benefit the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS and the Fashion Group International Scholarship Fund. All finalists will be invited to design custom denim jackets provided by the Arizona product line for JCPenney. The jackets will be auctioned in the spring at the Dallas Collective gala benefiting DIFFA. Tickets for the event are $135; tables of eight are $1,000. For ticket information, call Stephanie Selaiden at (214) 655-7635. —Robert McAllister
