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.
