“In fashion, I’m eclectic,” Delia says. “Chanel with jeans, classic to elegant, punk to demure. I like to mix fashion elements to create my own personal look. White flowing gowns remind me of the Caribbean. White and black are my favorites. They’re fantastic, just like the movies.”

 

Spunk and Midwestern beauty describe Virginia Toulmin, one of Sarasota’s most gracious philanthropists. She tells the story of how, as a young woman working as a nurse on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, she met a passenger who would become her husband: Col. Harry A Toulmin Jr. He was a patent lawyer and “business genius,” she says, who taught her to read financial statements and put her on the board of one of his companies.

After his death, she became president of his drug manufacturing company . It was sold in 1995, and Toulmin says, “When it paid off, I wanted to give back.” And give back she has, to causes from education to the arts.

Virginia’s focus now is on her foundation and causes, ranging from local arts groups to an orphanage in Thailand. She’s a frequent—and elegant—presence at Sarasota cultural events and galas. “I have a weakness for clothes,” she admits. “I buy here at Saks but also in New York. I have a lady from Hong Kong there who can make anything. I think she copies Armani. And I wear Peggy Jennings gowns.”

She also travels to the Far East and finds her jewels in exotic places. Her glamour is classic at its best. “I still love pleated skirts and sweaters like our seamstress made for me as a child in St. Louis,” she admits. And those divine evening gowns.

 

International fashion icon Adrienne Vittadini has branded her style of quiet elegance with European flair on sportswear, eyeglasses accessories, even bath and home products. A part-time resident of Sarasota, she sold her clothing line and franchises some years ago and now focuses on another passion: architecture. She and her husband, Gigi, have built and sold a number of Sarasota residences, each one sophisticated yet so relaxed that everyone who enters wants to settle in forever. Lots of cream, white and sensuous textures are enlivened with water views and artful discoveries from Adrienne’s global travels. The houses could be in New England, the Hamptons or Europe, but they fit perfectly here.

Movie-star stunning, Adrienne admits she’s “even more meticulous about what I wear than I am about the houses.” She designs many of her evening clothes, and when she shops, she looks for “that one-of-a-kind piece that speaks to me.” She tells her students at Pace and other design schools, “Style is seeing and seeing. The eye is everything.” In her dress, as in her designs, “you’re always refining, chiseling,” she says. “Glamour can’t be rigid, uptight or static. I know what the busy, active woman wants—ease and comfort mixed with elegance. And there always has to be a twist on the classic, something unexpected.”