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Grand Duchess' Kaliburg "Going Out Party" called "Social Event of the Winter"
Ladies Party features Who's Who of Kaliburg Society
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
February 20, 5672


Grand Duchess Jennifer Ananto-Connor with Supermodel Markie Jones at Going Out Party

Her Highness, the Grand Duchess of Ananto, Princess Jennifer Ananto-Connor celebrated Kaliburg Ladies Society this month with her "Going Out Party." Held at the National Theater, this women's' only event welcomed all levels of Kaliburg Formal Society. Rather than presenting young women as debutantes, the Duchess' twist marked Her Highness' eventual departure from the Formal Society of the Capital as she prepares to become Empress. "I wanted to throw a social gathering, not unlike a cotilion, I suppose, for my friends and their friends," said Duchess Jennifer Ananto-Connor. "I feel that after June, I won't ever be allowed to be this informal with my girlfriends as I am now. So rather than mourning it after the fact, I wanted to take advantage of the time I had now to kind of let my hair down a bit, shed some of the formality and the protocol, and just be one of the ladies again."

Not only were all of Kaliburg's Social trendsetters, fashion tastemakers and aristocracy on full display at the event, but Her Highness specifically invited her former Kauffman colleagues, Juana Jimenez (who was the Princess' Maid of Honor), Allie King-Digioia, Markie Jones and Greta Bauer-Jackson, who she has stayed close with over the years. "These ladies are like my family, it's like a sisterhood. Some of us have gotten married, some of us have stayed single, but they still are modeling while I have different responsibilities now. But at events like this, we can all have our little reunions. It's a lot of fun to see all my best friends together all at once! It was a real treat for me that they could all make it."

Of course, the event was also attended by Her Imperial Majesty, Mary I Ananto, Her Highness, the Lady Companion Victoria Jensen, Lady Helen Ananto-Reynolds, Princess Margaret Ananto-DeLaurentis and Princess Nicki Ananto-Collins. "Having so much royalty in the room turned a lot of heads," laughed Duchess Jennifer. "But: These women are all completely classy, and, I guess we should say more accustomed to dealing with the Upper Crust than most people are. There were far more commoners there than members of the Aristocracy, but at formal Society events like this, that distance, at least, gets erased to some degree." There were a plethora of other women of social status, mostly of the Gentry form Eastern Ananto and Suldanor who were invited to the event as well. The Going Out Party was deemed the Social Event of the Winter.

Men were not invited to the event. Often the Married women of Formal Society will invite their partners to the events as their escorts, but at this one in particular, the Grand Duchess made sure to explicitly, but politely, exclude men. "I wanted to make all the women here feel welcomed and comfortable. A lot of times at these social events, the conversations often devolved into triviality concerning who is seeing whom, who is sleeping with whom, who is maintaining relationships outside of their marriage. Those conversations are distractions from more or less everything productive or enjoyable, so it was just better to tell the men to have their own party somewhere, so we ladies could focus on spending our time with one another." The Duchess stated that few men raised any objection to the invitation to do something else. "Fred is at home with Willie, for example," said the Duchess.

The event started with a social hour, where the Ladies arrived and were announced. When it was time for dinner, the entire Party entered the grand dining room a the National Theater. The gathering consisted of a formal dinner, catered by Connie's Banquets in Kaliburg. Tea and shortbread cookies were served as a formality to maintain Imperial Protocol, and a toast was made to the health of Her Imperial Majesty, and to the Successful tenure of the Grand Duchess. The entree for the evening was pasta and marinara with roast seasoned chicken and asparagus spears, and a tofu Istalian Wedding Soup for the vegetarians, with a vegan lemon tart for desert. The after dinner drink consisted of either a Sweet wine, espresso and amaretto, or cocktails. ODEN also had a bar there, but moderation was highly encouraged during the event.

Following the dinner, the ladies took their seats in the National Theater Auditorium, and a series of One Acts were performed by the travelling company of the Imperial Opera, who performed an enjoying revue for the ladies. The revue was a satirical parody on the six most popular productions that year from the Imperial Opera, and was dedicated to the Late Princess and Dame of the Opera, Monica Ananto-DeLaurentis, who Princess Margaret, serving as MC for the evening, declared, "would have loved the production." The last part of the evening's program was live music provided by Kaliburg rock and dance band Cultess, who are one of the Duchess' favorite current bands.

The event was attended by more than 200 members of Kaliburg and Kalistani formal Society and about four dozen invited guests. Also in attendance were fashion and society writers and photographers from across the Empire, as well as number of reporters from Gaduridos who came to cover the event. "I suppose the eye candy was all over the place at this event," laughed Duchess Jennifer Ananto-Connor. "From the Kauffman girls, to the royalty, every last one of these women here were dressed to the nines. Every picture taken here was worth a thousand Imperial. But it was so nice to see all of use gathered here: 250 of my closest friends," she added with her signature megawatt smile flashing in full display.

@LaModa