Designs on excellence and elegance
Driehaus' fashion awards program competes with his vintage autos for attention
Richard Driehaus meticulously manages a $2 billion mutual fund and is equally precise at giving away pieces of his vast fortune: Each year, he hands out $4 million through his own foundation.
On Friday night, Driehaus hosted the seventh annual Driehaus Awards for Fashion Excellence, attracting 400 guests to a student fashion competition held in his private South Loop garage. The warehouse holds his collection of more than 40 vintage cars, including a 1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt worth $1.3 million.
(DarkroomDemons.com/For the Sun-Times)
PHOTO GALLERY
Susanna's night out
"The setting is what attracts so many people because they're curious," said WLS-Channel 7 anchor Linda Yu, the party's emcee.
Tickets sold out within a few days to guests including Playboy CEO Christie Hefner and her husband, Billy Marovitz, and fashion designer Maria Pinto. "Project Runway" season four castoff Steven Rosengard served as a judge.
Twenty-five fashion design students from local colleges competed to win cash prizes up to $3,000. The high-production-value show included a full-size runway and top local models. First prize went to Dominican University student Emily Marxer.
The event's entire production tab was picked up by Driehaus, so that all of the proceeds -- more than $100,000 -- went directly to the evening's beneficiary: Bottomless Closet, an organization that provides professional clothing for women.
After the student competition, Driehaus' two young daughters, Caroline and Tereza, took turns prancing down the runway in party dresses they designed with the help of Mira Couture's Mira Horoszowski. Driehaus said he got an early start on his career, too.
"I was 12 when I found out about the stock market and said, 'This is my way out [of poverty],' " Driehaus said. He graduated from DePaul in 1965 and couldn't find work until a year later, when he took out a classified ad in a local newspaper that read: "Ambitious young student desires position in the finance industry."
"It's so hard to get your first job," Driehaus said. "My grades weren't the best. My school wasn't top-ranked. So I think in difficult fields like fashion, it's important to give people some help."
