After a brief dalliance with September, the Detroit Auto Show gala returned to the familiar confines of January on Friday.
More familiar and, yes, more frosty. On a frigid, snowy day, the ice also was inside the Huntington Place convention center as 6,000 revelers were bedecked in jewelry of assorted splendor.
Nothing less would do for the biggest social event of the year in Detroit.
“This is what we’re about,” said attendee Curtis Christopher Greene of Detroit. “America was not rolling until we put them on wheels.”
The Charity Preview, which opens the auto show each year, also sported shiny tuxes and glittering gowns. The swells sipped champagne and ogled the latest designs from automakers.
The glitzy spectacle featured lots of fashion, lots of dancing and lots of vehicles.
“Formal on top, comfortable on bottom,” Jonathan Cross of Troy said about his fashion choices.
The Baker Middle School principal wore a navy-blue suit with a blue polka dot ascot and fashionably untied navy-blue Air Jordan 1 low top sneakers on his feet.
He was planning to wear Cole Haan shoes, he said, but the weather pushed the self-professed sneakerhead toward the Jordans. The blue, he said, was a nod to the Detroit Lions.
Among the political heavyweights in attendance were Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, U.S. Sens. Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
Duggan said, weatherwise, the event picked up right where it left off during past Januarys.
“The tradition, as all longtime attendees know, the night of the Charity Preview is always the first big snowstorm of the season,” he said.
Hizzoner said if ski resorts were starved for snow, they should just convince Charity Preview chairman Karl Zimmerman and co-executive director Sam Klemet to attend a black-tie event and they would get all the snow they want.
The public show begins Saturday and runs daily through Jan. 20.
More:Mike Duggan takes final tour of Detroit Auto Show as mayor
Flo Rida brings the heat
Flo Rida took Charity Preview to the club.
The Miami rapper brought out hip-hop icon (and part-time Detroit mascot) Flavor Flav during his energetic set of party-hearty pop-rap hits, along with dozens of women from the crowd, who climbed on stage and danced, bumped and grinded in their dresses and gowns. (He later brought up the guys from the audience, who waved their arms in their suits and tuxedos.)
It was as loose and fun as Charity Preview has been in years, as the hitmaker partied with the crowd to his own smash “Low” and a cover of Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up.” It was so loose that Flo asked Flav to take a shot of tequila with him; the Public Enemy hype man and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer had to remind the MC that he’s four years clean and sober.
Flav performed a rendition of PE’s “911 is a Joke” and stayed on stage for most of Flo’s set. Late in the evening, Flav dedicated the set to victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.
Flo Rida was introduced to the stage by Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph, and Richard “White Boy Rick” Wershe, Jr. was brought to the stage near the close of the show.
Flo and Flav ended the set with “Welcome to My House” and sprayed bottles of champagne from the stage onto the crowd — a first for Detroit’s so-called car prom.
Glitz and glamour for a cause
Not lost amid all the razzmatazz were good deeds. Proceeds from the $400-a-ticket event will go to six children’s charities in southeastern Michigan.
The final tally won’t be known for several weeks but organizers hope to raise up to $3 million for the charitable groups. The event has raised $125 million for the charities since 1976.
As always, black, floor-length designer dresses paired with flats were in abundance. Some guests rolled in with an accessory rarely seen except at events like these: fur. Most donned stoles but a few full-length minks and fuzzy jackets were also spotted.
Many women wore pants, pantsuits and jumpers, a smart choice considering a winter weather advisory and the blowing snow blanketing downtown Detroit.
WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) anchors Glenda Lewis and Carolyn Clifford, however, were a sparkling duo in canary yellow and ocean blue gowns, respectively.
“Are you warm?” Lewis asked the well-dressed crowd ahead of the ribbon-cutting ceremony. She and Clifford introduced sponsors, company heads and local officials. “That snow is coming down, but that’s our liquid sunshine.”
Gilchrist also joined the welcome wagon.
“It is a privilege to be here and to welcome all of you to the auto show on behalf of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the 10 million people who call Michigan home,” he said. “You look fantastic.”
The opening remarks gave a nod to longtime ribbon-cutting ceremony host Paul W. Smith, the WJR (760 AM) host who was unable to attend this year.
“For a quarter of a century, Paul W. has given time of his time and talents in support of this event and our show, and we are forever grateful,” Zimmerman said. “He is not able to be with us tonight, but hopefully he can feel the positive energy.”
Miss Michigan Bailey Staff, 24, of Detroit was present alongside fellow pageant winner Mrs. Michigan America, Chris Frank, 43, of St. Joseph. Both of their reigns are up in May.
The pair were dressed in their sashes and sparkly crowns and were excited about the kickoff of the auto show, as well as the performance from chart-topping Flo Rida.
“I love how Michigan represents as being home of the automobile,” said Frank, who has been to many auto shows over the years but was attending her first Charity Preview.
For Staff, it was her first auto extravaganza, period. She drives a Mazda CX-5 and appreciated the power it gives her behind the wheel.
“I like a car that has a little bit of a kick,” she said.
Greene, 40, wore an all-red custom-made tux and black Cartier sunglasses to the event, his third time in attendance. He said he was there to pay respect to Detroit and its auto history.
He ordered his outfit, complete with red Air Jordan 9 sneakers, months ago.
He chose red because it’s a sign of strength and power. He joked about love being in the air, maybe helping him find a wife during the evening.
“This is a staple,” he said about the event’s importance in Detroit.
At the last Detroit Auto Show in September 2023, Detroit poet laureate Jessica Care Moore was captured by Detroit News photographers in her dress from the Peacock Room in Detroit. Friday night she was back in a glittery, silver gown.
“I think that some of these women got the memo about how they are supposed to show up to this damn auto show, because everyone looks amazing, awesome … like, honestly, the gowns. That’s what I’m here for. I’m here for the cars but I’m also here for the elegance, the Detroit cool and the Detroit style.”
Moore, who is also a musician and author, was paling around with fellow artist Sabrina Nelson. Donning a top hat over a head of white-blonde ringlets, Nelson agreed with Moore when she said this event is better in the winter.
“It gives you something to look forward to,” said Nelson, whose current art exhibition, a meditation on James Baldwin, is at the Wright Museum through Feb. 28. “In the summer you’re fighting with too many other events. This gets to be by itself, the auto prom. That’s what we call it.”
Kicking the tires in January
Near the Ford Bronco display, Peters — now Michigan’s senior senator following the retirement of Debbie Stabenow — was looking sharp in a classic black tuxedo with bow tie. He likes the event’s return to winter, snow squalls or not.
“People are always looking for something to do in January,” the Bloomfield Township Democrat said. “Bring the family out. There’s an opportunity to come here and see these cars, especially if you’re in the market for one.”
More and more people are buying cars online or through apps but auto shows are still important, he said.
“I still think there’s something very special about actually being able to kick tires,” he told The Detroit News. “And you can do that here. You can kick a tire, you can see the vehicle and do it all with your family.”
Slotkin, a Democrat from Holly, said she has memories of coming to the auto show in Detroit since she was 8 years old and there were half-naked models on the hoods of cars.
Charity Preview was the first major event Slotkin attended since getting sworn in as the state’s junior senator on Jan. 3. She said she was excited the event was back in January.
“Look, they experimented, and I give them credit for trying something new,” she said. “But Michiganders are torn in a lot of directions in nice weather, and now they’re not torn in any direction.”
She said a little snow wasn’t going to hurt the event. She also felt something positive in the air.
“I’ve had a number of folks come up and say, ‘Hey, I’m a hardcore Republican, but congratulations,’” she said. “It’s a good bipartisan feel, which is very Michigan.”
That’s the positive energy of the auto show, she said.
Gilchrist, a Detroit Democrat, said he was “absolutely” happy the auto show was back in January.
“This was something to look forward to after the holidays as a kid,” he said. “Concept cars are the physical manifestation of dreams coming true, so it’s awesome to be back here in January. The anchor has returned.”
The lieutenant governor said the January date makes sense “because it is important to start the year thinking and dreaming big.”
“We should spend our Januarys thinking about what’s possible in the coming year,” Gilchrist said. “The auto show represents possibilities, that’s why I like it in January.”
(313) 223-4186
X: @prima_donnelly