Sunday, October 12, 2014

Hospice Embraces New Style

Sunday, October 12, 2014
The Advocate

Hospice Embraces New Style


Raoul Blanco with Mrs. Rae Gremillion -  Director of Community Development, Hospice of Acadiana



By Patricia Gannon

Lafayette - Hospice is well-known for its endings, less so for new beginnings.

On December 4th, Hospice of Acadiana will collaborate with designer Raoul Blanco for a couture show at City Club that is fundraiser and memorial, a request and bequest at the same time.

“Pairing up with someone of his international recognition is taking Hospice into an unknown,” said Rae Gremillion, director of community development at Hospice of Acadiana. “We’ve never had a couturier approach us with a one-of-a-kind event like this.” “Our director immediately went to Raoul’s website and said, ‘Oh my God, those are beautiful.”

All funds will go to Hospice while the designer completes a personal mission. Christened Lights on the Sky, the event name is a poetic phrase derived from Blanco’s gazing at the night sky in order to sense his father’s presence.

“My father was a romantic,” said Blanco. “He played songs to my mother on our stereo console-- mostly boleros-- it’s a [Latin] dance for two. So the theme of the style show is the bolero and ladies like my mother used to be. She was flirtatious. He was a dreamer.”

The style show collection will feature French and Italian imported textiles by Solstiss, the French firm that dressed Grace Kelly for her wedding and contributed to Kate Middleton’s gown, Gandini, Denis et Fils, Escada, and others. “Colors are my thing, so there will be plenty,” said Blanco.

Guests will also enjoy champagne and hors d’oeuvres with chances to bid on a Blanco suit as well as a four-course dinner for six prepared on site by Italian culinary experts Giorgio Floridia and Antonella Minardi.

The senior Raoul passed away three years ago. “It’s been hard to let him go,” said Blanco. “During his last days, he was more concerned about us than himself. Hospice treated us with so much dignity and support they became part of our family.  I promised him I would do whatever I could to help Hospice organizations and cancer causes.”

Blanco said that in his culture, the elderly and infirm remain with family caregivers as long as possible and his father ultimately chose Hospice after confinement to a VA hospital.  “We even brought his recliner. They made it like home. The doctors were fantastic.”

Blanco learned sewing from his grandmother and began sketching by the time he was seven, later attending art school for the fundamentals.  His artistic talent caught the eye of more than one couture icon in Puerto Rico and the U.S., where he subsequently moved and has since had ateliers in New York, San Francisco, Napa Valley, New Orleans and now Lafayette.  He continues to serve clients worldwide.

If Lafayette embraces the event, Lights on the Sky will return annually to aid Hospice with its mission of comfort, care, education, and peace for the terminally ill. Gremillion couldn’t be happier. “Since we are a community -based Hospice, to have the community support us in a groundbreaking event is just phenomenal.”

“That is definitely the reason it means so much to us—for someone to do this event who’s reaped the benefits and understands.”


Ticket donations are $100. Mail checks to Hospice of Acadiana, 2600 Johnston Street, Lafayette, La. 70503. For credit cards or more information, contact Rae Gremillion at 337.232.1234, RSVP by December 1.

A coat dress by Raoul Blanco in silk matelasse by Italian textile house Gandini is among the couture ensembles which will be presented at the Hospice of Acadiana's "Lights on the Sky" fundraiser. 

Raoul Blanco at work for his collection "Bolero" to benefit Hospice of Acadiana.

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