Of the many quaint com­mu­ni­ties nes­tled along Scenic High­way 30-​​A, lies one area which both natives and vis­i­tors alike take a lit­tle extra time to enjoy — Gray­ton Beach. Known for an eclec­tic group of artsy shops, restau­rants and funky music, Gray­ton Beach has become the new home to one of the funnest swimwear bou­tiques in town, Ophe­lia.

Offer­ing her cus­tomers glasses of wine while brows­ing, Tori Von Hoene, Ophelia’s owner, is as petite and adorable as the suits she car­ries. Prior to Memo­r­ial Day Week­end, I stopped in to pick myself out some new water-​​wear for what has always been one of the most pop­u­lar week­ends along the Emer­ald Coast. Tough as it was, I came to the con­clu­sion that I wanted some­thing unique and dif­fer­ent. Luck­ily, Ophe­lia car­ries lines that are not sold else­where and make any lady feel chic and sophis­ti­cated. With design­ers such as Mara Hoff­man, LeTarte, Salt, & Lisa Cur­ran, there is a suit and size for any body type. Classy one-​​pieces, biki­nis, beau­ti­ful cover-​​ups, strappy, met­alic flats, big showy hats and fab­u­lous jew­elry add style and taste to your beach wardrobe.

Sev­eral swim­suits later and much debate over just which suit to com­mit to, I finally went with the orange printed Mara Hoff­man bikini with a tri­an­gle top, beaded along the strings, and cute cheeky bot­toms that cover, but show off your der­rière. Sat­is­fied and excited, to say the least, to take home my new suit, I enjoyed time well spent with Tori and Ophe­lia, who over­looks her bou­tique from a dis­tance in her por­trait over the front door.

Next time you’re in Gray­ton Beach, make sure to stop in and check out what new items she has in store. You’ll love it!

Here’s some video cov­er­age we took dur­ing the big gala for Oper­a­tion Smile. Check it out and see who we saw walk­ing the red carpet!

Wall St. was all a buzz last night as celebri­ties, socialites, and phil­an­thropists filed in to Cipriani’s for the annual gala for Oper­a­tion Smile, a world­wide non-​​profit orga­ni­za­tion which adamantly works towards giv­ing chil­dren the one thing that always remains a uni­ver­sal sign of encour­age­ment, hap­pi­ness, and heart…a smile.

With paparazzi swarm­ing, camera’s flashed and videos recorded (includ­ing ours) as guests stepped out on the red car­pet and into the lime­light. Hon­orary guest, Jes­sica Simp­son, gra­ciously greeted those seek­ing her com­ments and expe­ri­ence she’s had with Oper­a­tion Smile over the past year. As a Smile Ambas­sador, Jes­sica, has donated her time and tal­ents to sup­port and reach out to those chil­dren who are born with a cleft lip or cleft palate, the cen­tral goal for this non-​​profit. Last year’s efforts in India were the main rea­son for last night’s cel­e­bra­tion, which also cul­mi­nated in rais­ing sev­eral hun­dreds of thou­sands of dol­lars for the cause.

Thanks to styl­ist, Wayne Har­ris, who styled me up in a beau­ti­ful long gown from Jovani, I ven­tured in Cipri­ani where I met Patrick, our fash­ion cor­re­spon­dent who looked fab in his Byb­los tux and Gucci shoes.

The gala began with a per­for­mance by a Bol­ly­wood dance troupe and post-​​dinner was an amaz­ing duo of DJ plus vio­lin­ist, Caitlin Moe, who lit­er­ally rocked the house. Dressed to impress, designer labels adorned every­one seated inside Cipriani’s, which in itself is a piece of art with huge mar­ble columns and his­tor­i­cal archi­tec­ture. Other celebrity atten­dees included the evening’s host,  Nick Can­non, Nigel Parry, Melanie Dunea, Lydia Hearst, Jai Rodriguez, and sev­eral others.

Patrick, myself, along with friends in tow, all par­tic­i­pated in the evening’s affairs. A video shown dur­ing the night show­cased all the hard work and effort that paid off dur­ing much of the time spent in India pro­vid­ing surg­eries for chil­dren in need of care. One par­tic­u­lar guest of note was brought on stage, but this time, it wasn’t a celebrity or famous social fig­ure. It was a sweet lit­tle girl from India who was liv­ing proof that Oper­a­tion Smile is worth keep­ing alive. With a per­fect smile and per­fect teeth, you would have never known that this young lady was born with a cleft palate and had gone through sev­eral major surg­eries for some­one as young as she.

Def­i­nitely tap­ping into my inner phil­an­thropist and my urge to shed a tear, it was with great appre­ci­a­tion that I watched and learned about this orga­ni­za­tion and their inten­sive efforts all around the world. Hats off to those who sup­port, vol­un­teer, and part­ner with Oper­a­tion Smile. Besides, smiles are so con­ta­gious, why wouldn’t we want every­one to have one!!