Le Voyage

First, we negotiated chunky travel luggage arranged like a maze over the wharf, then were welcomed into the Dockside restaurant by white-uniformed stewards. Already there was a great sense of embarkation. Inside the restaurant, on a specially designated deck, we mingled and chatted while in the background, an accomplished singer gave us her soul-jazz spirit.

We noticed a catwalk running along the glass wall and beyond, the deep green of sea swell came into the harbor. The lights went down – we were now in the cinema of an ocean-going liner. The fashion show began.

We were treated to five ‘showcases’ of design drawn from boutiques Starfish, Harry’s, Miss Wong, Dyrberg Kern, and Coco. Close to 75 ensembles were shown, suggesting a finely-tuned engine room somewhere out of our view.

The fashion show was one component of an event called ‘Le Voyage’. It was a fund raiser for the Child Cancer Foundation, and was organised by Catherine Hunt of the Haight Ashbury salon. It was Haight Ashbury’s stylists who added a delicious detail to the catwalk where each boutique was given its own signature hair style. This was a fun motif, and heightened our interest in the layers and colors and textures sweeping past. It was great orchestration.