Night Lines: The MFA Summer Party

Every year, a few hundred of Boston’s best (looking) and brightest (looking) young professionals slap down a few hundred to swan—and later, swing dance—through fine art while sipping fine champagne. An under-45 crowd is plucked, tucked, and tarted up—tastefully, of course—in Louboutin heels and Dolce & Gabbana suits. Flirtations are initiated, deals are brokered, and social circles are paparazzied.

The kickoff to the summer event season, the MFA’s Museum Council party is the place to see and be seen if you’re young, fun, flush, and into top-shelf open bars. Saturday’s sold-out, Latin-flavored soiree began on the steps of the museum’s Huntington entrance, where gals in floor-length gowns emerged from limos and posed for photos (we disentangled ourselves from a Metro Cab and hid behind a column to swap our flips flops for three-inch Choos).

A salsa band strummed in the lobby; upstairs, partiers mingled near silent auction art items, valued from $100 to $1,000, and ate upscale buffet food off teeny plates (we had seconds, and dessert). All was dignified and civilized, despite promises from MFA doyennes Mary Keith and Amelia Carignan that things would soon get wild.

We traded apartment woes with local writer-stylist Erica Corsano and her roomie, stuff@night’s Mike Diskin, and spotted woman-about-town Tonya Mezrich in an ethereal mermaid Michael DePaulo gown. When the turntables started to spin Michael Jackson, we shifted our attention to the dance floor, where Moxie publicist Jo Swani—in a royal blue Daniela Corte frock—boogied with her husband Ra. Despite doctor’s orders, we took a spin or two ourselves amid a crush of white men’s overbites.

Turns out, Mary and Amelia were right. Things did get wild, if tastefully so. It’s not every night you can booze and schmooze under millions of dollars worth of artistic masterpieces, surrounded by hundreds of dollars worth of fashion. We’re already planning our outfit for next year. Cha cha cha!

Photo by: Connie Miller. You can see more of her photos from the party here.