On the cover: Derby Jubilation
The Kentucky Derby Museum plans to commemorate the 40th anniversary of its annual gala in a big way.
Photo of Ashley Davis Sigman by Tony Bailey
2025 Sophisticated Giving Charity Register
A comprehensive guide to charitable giving in Louisville.
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Highlights from the March/April 2025 issue:
Hear Her Rhorer
One would generally think that the motto "Fortune favors the bold" is more applicable to a Marine than a milliner. Still, after talking to Jacey Rhorer, founder of Rhorer Couture, I couldn't think of a more apt phrase to describe her trajectory from hat-making hobbyist to headlining milliner for the 2025 Kentucky Derby Festival.
Text: Bridget Cottrell
Photo of Jacey Rhorer by Kristen Ellis, Kristen Ellis Photography
Cover Story: Derby Jubilation
It's a fortuitous happenstance when personal passions and professional pursuits align. That's precisely what happened to Ashley Davis Sigman, Board Member of the Kentucky Derby Museum (KDM) and 2025 Chairperson of their annual Ball Committee, renamed a "Ruby Jubilee" this year to highlight the event's 40th anniversary. As Vice President of Davis Jewelers, Ashley has longstanding ties to the Kentucky Derby Museum and Churchill Downs due to Davis’s affiliation with Longines, the Official Timekeeper of the Kentucky Derby. She joined the Ball Committee in 2021 and was elected to the nonprofit's Board of Directors in 2024. "I absolutely love Derby season and the beautiful light it shines on Louisville," Davis Sigman said. "KDM, as the keeper of Derby history, gives you that feeling of excitement and pageantry every time you walk through their doors."
Photography: Tony Bailey
Text: Bridget Cottrell
Tripping the Light Fantastic
In an ideal world, most interior designers prefer to start from scratch, with clients lacking inhibitions and attachment to existing "stuff." Kari Ferris was on the receiving end of a serendipitous opportunity when Jon Mand, a realtor at Lenihan Sotheby's, referred out-of-town clients to her. The newly married young professional couple had purchased a raised ranch home on a leafy lot whose handsome and classic exterior belied interiors frozen in the late 1970s, complete with wood paneling and carpeted bathrooms. Ferris was the liaison between her clients and Wescott Construction, overseeing a comprehensive renovation that touched every room in the nearly 4,000-square-foot home. "They were so very patient and lovely throughout the whole process," Ferris said of her clients.
Text: Bridget Cottrell
Photos by Kate Leichhardt
How Cellular Medicine Changed My Life
We all come to our chosen careers in many ways. My personal health struggles led me to a career in cellular and regenerative medicine. As a physician with Medical Transformation Center, I can now use some of those same principles, advanced tests, and innovative treatments to find answers for my patients.
I know firsthand how frustrating it is not to have answers to your health problems. I see this same frustration and hopelessness in the faces of patients who have sought treatment only to be shuffled from one medical professional to the next without any results.
Text: Dr. Alexa Davis, Medical Transformation Center
House of Hues
Color has always been the calling card of interior designer Bethany Adams. She recalls that when she was fresh out of design school nearly two decades ago and interviewing for internships at the height of the "greige" era, design firm principals would visually recoil as she waxed poetic about her penchant for pigments. Apparently, the design world, now awash in "color drenching," has finally caught up to championing what she's long celebrated. "My time has finally come," she said with a laugh.
Her hold on hues is strong in a thoroughly renovated farmhouse built around 1835 as the centerpiece of a 2,000-acre homestead. Today, its remaining acreage straddles a coveted swath bridging bucolic farmland and urban encroachment. Describing the residence as a "very dated and well-loved family home," when acquired by its current owners, Adams joked that they were "bold" to retain a "Yankee" as their interior designer. She added that what made them "click" was that her clients weren't looking for the "same old thing" but rather a fresh take on traditional equestrian-focused design that respected the home's past while fully embracing the present.
Text: Bridget Cottrell
Photo: J. Jordan Photography
Sophisticated Wedding:
Mark Coley and Logan Ormerod
Mark Coley and Logan Ormerod tied the knot on December 7, 2024, in a stunning winter wedding at the Governor Thomas Bennett House in Charleston, South Carolina. Their journey to the altar began with a simple first date at an Italian restaurant in Frankfort, Kentucky, a convenient meeting point between Mark's then-home in Lexington and Logan's in Louisville. It was the week before the pandemic shutdown, so their subsequent few dates were video calls where they got to know each other and ultimately fell in love!
Photos by Justin Leon Brown, justinleonbrown.com
I’ll Drink to That!
In a 2009 feature story for Sophisticated Living, Dr. Matthew Bessen wrote: “Jason Brauner, Louisville restaurateur and co-founder of Bourbons Bistro, traces his affection for the renowned Kentucky distillate back to times with stouthearted comrades and boyhood companions. The environs at Bourbons Bistro are unambiguously manly. Decorative flourishes adorning the interior of its simple 19th-century building include wooden lids from bourbon barrels posted beneath the ceiling like bold medallions saluting the major leagues of distilling. Dark frames enclose black and white historical photographs, procured with the aid of the University of Louisville archives and the Filson Historical Society, which depict the processes of bourbon distilling, the laborers, the revenue men and some of the industry’s founding fathers. The unique bar, constructed from barrel staves, was assembled by Brauner himself and stands in front of a galaxy of assorted bottles covering the space like a mural.
Text: Bridget Cottrell
Photo: Tony Bailey
Society Calendar, Presented by Kentucky Select Properties
Happenings of note in March & April
Celebrations are better when they’re shared! Think beyond a Facebook or Instagram post by commemorating special events in our Sophisticated Celebrations section. Send your high-resolution images with a brief description to bridget@slmag.net.
Is there an upcoming event you’d like us to cover? If so, drop us a message below with the details!
Sophisticated Society
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Sophisticated Society 〰️
SPARC Hope
Photos by Bill Wine
Paws for a Cause
Photos by Bill Wine
Celebration of Science
Photos by Chad Henle
Green & Gold Social
Photos by Bill Wine
Imagine!
Photos by Chad Henle
Wrapped in Red
Photos by Chad Henle
Restarateur’s Gala
Photos by Chad Henle
A Time Remembered
Photos by Chad Henle
The Soviet Union wasn't the only entity melting down over a convergence of crises in the waning days of the 1980s. In my case, a spectacularly failed attempt to recreate the tousled pixie-esque bob actor Meg Ryan sported in the movie Top Gun made my already fraught high school experience much worse. My chopped locks and any notions I had that "the cut" would imbue me with the same coveted "America's Sweetheart" stature held by the queen of 1990s romcoms were both quickly relegated to the trash. The lingering rotten egg odor of the perm solution was nearly as strong as my dread of walking the halls of my all-girls school the following morning. What I imagined to be the worst hair disaster in history (I've always been prone to melodrama) came on the heels of rebounding from a bout with anorexia, brought about more by my competitive nature related to playing sports rather than feeling like I needed to lose weight. "Bridget used to be so pretty," I heard a classmate not-so-quietly whisper to a group gathered at the lockers as I walked by. Ouch.
Text: Bridget Cottrell - bridget@slmag.net.
From the Editor-In-Chief
Get to Know Us
Editor-In-Chief
Bridget Cottrell
A co-founder of the company, Bridget is Editor-In-Chief of both the Lexington and Louisville editions in addition to serving as the editorial director for shared content across all Sophisticated Living issues. Originally intending to become an archaeologist, she transfers her global curiosity into content that takes multiple perspectives into account.
bridget@slmag.net
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