Dinner Party Honoring Valentino

It’s pretty beautiful sipping cocktails at Christie’s amongst Warhols, Basquiats, Ruschas, and more works that are about to be auctioned off in a few days. Such was the case at the dinner hosted by Giancarlo Giammetti, Laura Paulson, and Pedro Girao in honor of Valentino Garavani’s new coffee-table book, Valentino: At the Emperor’s Table. Giammetti floated around the room greeting his guests warmly, camera in hand as always, ready to snap some quintessential moments, while Valentino stood surrounded by Beatrice Santo Domingo, Carolina and Reinaldo Herrera, Bob Colacello, and various other New York personalities.

Over risotto, beef, and handmade crepes, I learned from André Leon Talley (who wrote the foreword to the book) that the lifelong friends celebrate and share their love for table settings as well as delicious recipes. A chef travels with Valentino everywhere he goes. “And it’s all so healthy, wholesome . . . everything is healthy,” Talley raves about the book’s recipes. Anyone who has been invited to Valentino’s home knows that he takes his culinary experience and presentation to the next level.

Last night, for example, four long tables were set with such distinctive sophistication that we all assumed that Giancarlo had his personal collection sent over for the dinner, but we learn from Christie’s post-war and contemporary art chairman Laura Paulson that in fact these were from a future Christie’s sale that Giancarlo was delighted to pick and choose from, and well, curate another perfect dinner. The younger scene included Harry Brant and Peter Brant II, Stavros Niarchos III, Alexa Chung, Genevieve Jones, Zani Gugelmann, and Paris Hilton and they were all very excited to see a surprise performance by Lil Buck.

Everyone watched his eye-popping movements in between the tables shortly after dinner. Giancarlo was radiant leaning in, he whispered that Madonna told him he was a must. Meanwhile Lauren Santo Domingo, in a stunning metal dress by Wes Gordon, and Hamish Bowles seemed equally enthralled by the spectacle taking place between bites of macarons, petit fours, and other delicious nibbles of dessert.