Problem: Your guests have seen every venue worth seeing in the city. Problem solved: Invite them to a party outside Manhattan. It’s worth a trip if the space is the lovely and unusual Foundry in Long Island City, Queens—and if the host is a high-end cognac purveyor pouring liberally. So Hennessy Paradis’ record release party for Kanye West’s album Late Registration—which included a dinner for approximately 40 guests, followed by a larger after-party—was packed. So packed, in fact, that after-party guests were turned away before dinner guests even got their desserts.
Overseen by Kai Rosenthal, vice president of event marketing and PR for Moët Hennessy U.S.A., the event was part of the company’s new marketing strategy to host lavish parties for brand-appropriate celebrities, whose photos show up all over the wire in front of logoed step-and-repeats the next day (Moët Hennessy does not pay celebrities outright).
The party—for West’s personal friends and colleagues, as well as the press—began with cocktails amid Hennessy-branded pillows on a west-facing terrace with panoramic city views. Guests then moved inside for the dinner party, where seashell centerpieces and albino goldfish swimming in giant snifter-shaped vases topped chocolate-brown linen tablecloths. Matching napkins had a matte finish on one side and satin on the reverse. (Event designer Margo Lewis of Toni Brown & Associates was especially proud of the nontraditional fold she created, which showed both textures at once. “I love my fold,” she cooed. “Check out my fold!”)
Chef Harlan Greene from Le Monier Catering prepared a mesclun salad with cranberries, grilled pears, toasted walnuts, and chevre; butternut squash and shrimp soup with black truffle oil; spinach and egg cheese ravioli; ginger-dusted black bass; and .phpberry crème brulee with white chocolate glaze. Of course, Moët Hennessy spirits accompanied all the courses.
After the meal, dinner guests moved downstairs to join a less-elite group of attendees who’d made it inside the Foundry before the V.S.O.P.-sponsored after-party exceeded capacity. There, a tent from Parties to Go covered a cobblestone courtyard full of furnishings from Party Rental. Inside the main space, clear Lucite chairs and natural colored area rugs complemented chocolate-brown pillows. Scharff Weisberg handled the Hennessy logo and Kanye West video projections on flat screens throughout.
Surveying the space, Hennessy Brand ambassador Mahnaz Hatami said, “This look is exactly the experience of Hennessy Paradis: chic, lustful, and passionate. The only thing is—it’s really hot in here.”
—Alesandra Dubin
Photos: Ray Tamarra/Getty Images (terrace, dining room, centerpiece)
Related Stories
Moët Hennessy Launch Is Stripped and Stylish
House of Dom Has Baroque Bling, Bountiful Bubbly
Overseen by Kai Rosenthal, vice president of event marketing and PR for Moët Hennessy U.S.A., the event was part of the company’s new marketing strategy to host lavish parties for brand-appropriate celebrities, whose photos show up all over the wire in front of logoed step-and-repeats the next day (Moët Hennessy does not pay celebrities outright).
The party—for West’s personal friends and colleagues, as well as the press—began with cocktails amid Hennessy-branded pillows on a west-facing terrace with panoramic city views. Guests then moved inside for the dinner party, where seashell centerpieces and albino goldfish swimming in giant snifter-shaped vases topped chocolate-brown linen tablecloths. Matching napkins had a matte finish on one side and satin on the reverse. (Event designer Margo Lewis of Toni Brown & Associates was especially proud of the nontraditional fold she created, which showed both textures at once. “I love my fold,” she cooed. “Check out my fold!”)
Chef Harlan Greene from Le Monier Catering prepared a mesclun salad with cranberries, grilled pears, toasted walnuts, and chevre; butternut squash and shrimp soup with black truffle oil; spinach and egg cheese ravioli; ginger-dusted black bass; and .phpberry crème brulee with white chocolate glaze. Of course, Moët Hennessy spirits accompanied all the courses.
After the meal, dinner guests moved downstairs to join a less-elite group of attendees who’d made it inside the Foundry before the V.S.O.P.-sponsored after-party exceeded capacity. There, a tent from Parties to Go covered a cobblestone courtyard full of furnishings from Party Rental. Inside the main space, clear Lucite chairs and natural colored area rugs complemented chocolate-brown pillows. Scharff Weisberg handled the Hennessy logo and Kanye West video projections on flat screens throughout.
Surveying the space, Hennessy Brand ambassador Mahnaz Hatami said, “This look is exactly the experience of Hennessy Paradis: chic, lustful, and passionate. The only thing is—it’s really hot in here.”
—Alesandra Dubin
Photos: Ray Tamarra/Getty Images (terrace, dining room, centerpiece)
Related Stories
Moët Hennessy Launch Is Stripped and Stylish
House of Dom Has Baroque Bling, Bountiful Bubbly
Hennessy Paradis’ record release party for Kanye West’s Late Registration album took over the Foundry, a Queens venue with sweeping city views.
The rapper posed in an intimate dining room decked out in chocolate-brown hues and seashells.
On the tabletops, albino goldfish swam in giant snifter-shaped vases amid seashells and white flowers.
A less-elite group of guests came to V.S.O.P.-sponsored after-party, partly tented by Parties to Go.
