Ms. Gutierrez, an heiress to an oil and gas fortune, is the official dressmaker for the annual pageant and debutante ball organized by the Society of Martha Washington, where young women wear lavishly embroidered Colonial dresses that make Mr. Siriano's work look as minimalist as Calvin Klein.
While in Kazakhstan, Sir Roger and Lady Kristina also attended a Charity Ball organized by Eventica Group, in support of UNICEF's programme on children with disabilities.
He observed street life as sharply as he did balls organized by Ward McAllister and the Astors.
But this spring, the disease control centers said it had identified an outbreak in New York City and Baltimore among young, gay, black, transgendered men who attend balls organized for their social groups.
Comparing the event, in the western city of Campo Grande, to the balls organized by European nobility, society columnists fawned over every lavish stroke: 240 bottles of Veuve Clicquot Champagne, and a gown made from Givenchy crystals for the birthday girl.
When Grayson held a splashy fund-raiser attended by about a dozen Republican senators, many of whom had voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Rand and Benton dubbed it the Bailout Ball, and organized an online fund-raising event to counter it.
The ball was organized with the help of the city of Vienna (Strauss's home), to raise money for a $150 million performing arts center planned for the St . Petersburgsuburb of Pavlovsk in memory of the Vauxhall concert hall.
A League of Colored Base Ball Clubs, organized in 1887 in cities of the Northeast and border states, was recognized as a legitimate minor league under organized baseball's National Agreement and raised hopes of sending black players to big league teams.
Hawks, who has spoken to officials from the Atlanta Hawks and the San Antonio Spurs, said: "There is no reason why a front-row season-ticket holder in every N.B.A. city could not get on the ball and organize an event like this.
Michael Wood-Lewis has been pulling neighbors together into community since his Indiana childhood spent organizing ball games and visiting neighbors on his evening paper route.
Taylor documents the inaugural balls they organized, the properties they owned, and their political efforts on behalf of their race.
