La Dolce Vita Has a Houston Zip Code as Capri Comes to River Oaks for ICCC Luncheon and Raises $215,000 in Style

La Dolce Vita Has a Houston Zip Code as Capri Comes to River Oaks for ICCC Luncheon and Raises $215,000 in Style

Capri usually requires a passport. This past October, a luncheon reservation at River Oaks Country Club was taken, and all 350 seats were spoken for. Chairs Donae Cangelosi Chramosta and Rachel Regan brought the Italian Cultural & Community Center of Houston’s Seventh Annual Fashion Show and Luncheon to life with a theme designed for a grand entrance, “La Dolce Vita in Capri: The Art of Italian Style – Then and Now.” By the time this little Italian holiday was over, the sold-out “festa” had raised $215,000 for scholarships supporting advanced study of Italian culture.

Father James Murphy, Vice President of Mission at St. Thomas High School, opened with an invocation, and Deborah Duncan of Channel 11’s Great Day Houston served as emcee. Uptown Dance Centre kicked off the entertainment with a spirited performance that gave classical forms a modern Italian twist. Then came the runway. With more than 50 fashions by Italian designers, curated by Saks Fifth Avenue, and a show produced by Lenny Matuszewski and Tamara Klosz Bonar, there was plenty to keep eyes off the silent auction for a spell. The bids, happily, still found their way in.

Amid all the Italian fashion, music and dining on the program, the afternoon’s most memorable stories had Houston addresses. When Duncan turned the spotlight on Chris Canetti and the Maida and Mandola families, the “then and now” theme came into focus. How often does a luncheon take you from a World Cup pitch to a Sicilian immigrant’s shoe shop to a Houston crawfish boil?

Canetti, the former president of the Houston Dynamo and Dash, gave the afternoon its sporting chapter. As president of the FIFA World Cup ’26 Houston Host Committee, he championed Houston as a host city for matches that generated more than $1 billion in economic impact for the region. A fashion crowd knows the value of a good entrance. Canetti helped Houston make one on the world stage.

The Maidas brought a story with considerably more mileage. In 1906, Sicilian immigrant John Laureto Maida opened the shoe repair shop that would become Houston Shoe Hospital. Six generations of leather craftsmanship later, descendants Jason, Sal and Vince Maida accepted honors on behalf of a family whose name now also graces Maida’s Bespoke Boots & Shoes and Maida’s Belts & Buckles. At a luncheon devoted to style, the family made a strong case for looking down. A great pair of boots deserves its own moment on the runway.

Then came the Mandolas, whose family tree could double as a Houston dining guide. Honorees Dominic and Michael Mandola are sons of Luke Mandola, whose Ragin’ Cajun restaurants helped make crawfish boils and po’boys part of the city’s dining vocabulary. Their fellow honoree, Johnny Mandola, son of the late Frankie B. Mandola, was recognized for stewarding Damian’s Cucina Italiana, a Houston institution that made Italian hospitality an occasion in itself. The tribute spanned a roster familiar to generations of Houston diners, from Nino’s and Vincent’s to Tony Mandola’s, Mandola’s Deli, Ciro’s and Carrabba’s. Just hearing those names in succession could send a person straight to their phone to make dinner plans.

To date, the ICCC has awarded more than $355,000 in study-abroad scholarships. For students benefiting from this year’s luncheon, the best part of the Capri theme may come after the runway and applause: they’ll have the chance to experience Italian culture where it lives and return home with stories of their own. For them, a passport will come in handy after all.

In the Social Scene (not previously mentioned):   Heidi Turney, Kim Moody, Anne Carl, Stephanie Perkins, Zinat Ahmed, Heidi Rockecharlie, Amy Pierce, Ann Ayre, Valerie Dieterich, Pam Lovett, Laura Davenport, Paulina Padilla, Katie Tsuru, Chris Goins, Sandra Porter, Sidney Faust, Elsie Eckert, Beth Wolff, Sippi Khurana, Anita Seggal, Beth Muecke, Lesha Elsenbrook, Leisa Holland-Nelson Bowman, Saula Valente, Brittany Rose Wetterer, Chiara Casiraghi Brody, Sheree Frede