San Francisco’s Mid-Winter Gala

San Francisco dressed up Friday night for the annual Mid-Winter Gala, arguably its biggest social party of the year. Although as honorary cochair Trevor Traina admitted, “It’s neither mid-winter nor wintery, but it’s definitely a gala.” Wall to wall ball gowns and lengthy trains confirmed as such, and presenting sponsor Christian Dior only added to the glamour at the Legion of Honor, currently home to “High Style,” on loan from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection.

Kate Bosworth and Michael Polish, Suki Waterhouse, and Kate Mara flew into town for the affair and mingled with locals Anne V and Yahoo’s Adam Cahan, Alexis Traina, Todd and Katie Traina, Heather Ive, and honorary cochair Vanessa Getty.

After cocktails, guests including Ken Downing (in town to prep for his annual spring show at Neiman Marcus), Douglas Friedman, and Roman Coppola moved into the courtyard, where tables were abundant with bushels of roses and exquisitely cut crystal Dior glassware. (Never mind that the courtyard’s centerpiece, a bronze cast of Rodin’s The Thinker, essentially mooned the crowd all evening.)

Christie’s Lydia Fenet called the night’s auction and encouraged heavy bidding on the four lots. “If you haven’t had enough wine, please drink everything that’s left on the table,” she advised wise words especially considering California’s epic drought, making Chardonnay a more environmentally-friendly beverage choice than water.

“Shall we cheers?” Polish asked his seatmates. “Yes,” Mara replied, then added with a laugh as bidding began, “but don’t raise your glass too high.” Lunch at the new Dior boutique, set to open in San Francisco later this year, went for $11,000, while a private dinner at the de Young Museum, which will host an Oscar de la Renta retrospective in 2016, was sold for $19,000. It wasn’t long before the dance floor was filled, and later, as things would down around midnight, guests started making plans for nightcaps elsewhere around town. After the party it’s the after-party, even in San Francisco, and with that it was off to their Ubers awaiting them in the foggy darkness.