Larry Abel of Larry Abel Designs collaborated with Allen and the magazine’s director of merchandising and promotions, Eric Johnson, to create a contemporary black-and-white event with subtle feminine touches (a look they felt was in keeping with the spirit of the magazine). Abel took over the Four Seasons ballroom, decking the stage with black drapes with white satin tiebacks, and transforming the room by covering its walls in white seamless paper adorned with 12-foot-tall three-dimensional black flowers. Soft purple lighting on the papered walls and floral centerpieces in varying violet shades were the only hints of color incorporated into the decor.

Abel introduced guests to the black-and-white palette long before they entered the ballroom, decorating a tented archway along an outdoor corridor with the same black drapes and white sashes that made an appearance onstage, and lining the corridor with a black carpet. Directly outside the ballroom, a cocktail reception area featured black-and-white photographs of sponsor Cadillac's cars, which the carmaker printed and framed for the event.   —Rosalba Curiel