It’s late March, two months out from the annual Gold Dinner, and its organising committee is meeting in a private dining room in Sydney’s Rose Bay Hotel. Up for discussion; how to create a “glamourazzi” moment of arrival given most attendees will need to park their car. “Valet parking would be a nice touch. Could someone look into that,” asks Linda Penn, heiress and CEO of the Lowes menswear empire as well as the committee’s co-chair.
She’s beaming in from Hawaii where she’s buying shirts for Lowes’ “matchy matchy” range. Donations for the charity auction are woefully small in number, so board members rattle through who they can hit up for prizes; Hamilton Island, Hayman Island, Dorchester Hotels. The discussion turns into a cul-de-sac when one committee member suggests Van Cleef & Arpels be approached to donate jewellery – an apparent non-starter given Bulgari are major sponsors.
