On October 17, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong celebrated its 50th anniversary with an 800-guest bash. A 3-D projection on the building's façade told the story of the hotel's history, starting with its 1963 opening and detailing its development as a global luxury brand.
The evening also included a dramatic "Dance of the Golden Fans," performed by the City Contemporary Dance Company.
At the 2004 opening in New York, body-painted performers perched on a sculpture in the lobby. Playing off the property's name, the whole evening had a dreamy, surreal vibe.
On September 30, the New York property celebrated its milestone anniversary with a party for 600 guests (including Oscar de la Renta and Naomi Campbell.) David Beahm Design handled production, giving the event a Chinese-carnival vibe. On the red carpet, a traditional Lion Dance accompanied by drums honored the hotel's Asian heritage.
In 2007, to mark 100 years—to the day—since the Plaza first opened, the property's owners, El Ad Group, had cake maker Ron Ben-Israel build a 12-foot-tall edible replica of the iconic building. The cake included intricate details such as planters out front and the bricks on the sides, and it took three days to build on site.
A fireworks display—reportedly the largest ever launched from a building's rooftop—drew thousands of onlookers in addition to the event's 2,000 guests. More fireworks spelled out "100" on the building's façade.
The 2011 bash had a Windy City theme and included dancers from one of Chicago's iconic institutions: the Joffrey Ballet. The company's dancers performed throughout the evening—but with a modern twist. Done up in rock-star-inspired makeup and dressed in dip-dyed tutus, the dancers improvised instead of using traditional choreography to the likes of Lady Gaga.
Las Vegas is known for its blowout New Year's Eve bashes. In 2011 the hottest ticket—and some might also say the death knell of the recession—was a multiday program to open the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, topped off with a Jay Z and Coldplay concert.
New Year's Eve began with a luxe 7:30 p.m. caviar and Dom Pérignon black-tied reception, which progressed into a dinner for 1,300 guests. Planner Colin Cowie wanted the event, however large, to feel like an intimate dinner party, and he dressed the tables accordingly. Peonies and dark purple calla lilies filled the space.
The dress code for the Peninsula Chicago's 10th anniversary party, held in 2011, may well have been “prerecession chic.” The sprawling soiree, which occupied the lobby level, bar, two restaurants, ballroom, and terrace, and included elements such as flowing champagne, caviar bars, ice sculptures, and a ratio of one server to every four guests, harked back to economically flush times.
The country was in the midst of a deep economic recession, but it hardly looked that way at the SLS Hotel Beverly Hills opening-night party in 2008, a lavish fete for 1,000 well-heeled invitees. One luxurious touch: Servers passed cocktails and poured endless Dom Pérignon.
On their way into the Roosevelt Hotel's 80th anniversary party in 2004, guests were invited to pick up a fedora or a strand of pearls and experience the flavor of the New York hotel's opening days in the 1920s. To give the event an era-appropriate look, Design Fusion created a black, white, and silver Art Deco look accented with magenta lighting.
Coinciding with Bastille Day, Fête Paradiso brought authentic French carnival amusements to Governors Island this summer. Rides included a bicycle carousel from the late 19th century, one of only two in the world that were created in Paris to encourage the use of what was then the new mode of transportation: the bicycle. (The other carousel can be seen in the film Midnight in Paris.)
To launch its Jason Wu collection in January last year, the retail giant remodeled Skylight SoHo in New York into a Parisian street scene. In keeping with the night's theme, the waitstaff wore black and white clothing, with white shirts and black bow ties for the men and striped sweaters and pleated black skirts from the Jason Wu for Target collection for the women.
The Lyric Opera's February event in Chicago had a "Midnight in Paris" theme. In the lobby of the downtown opera house, Event Creative designer Jeffrey Foster erected giant replicas of Parisian street signs. An illuminated windmill nodded to the iconic signage of the Moulin Rouge; downstairs, cocktail tables were covered in giant tutus in a cheeky reference to the dancers.
In April, the Washington Ballet hosted "A Movable Feast: the Hemingway in Paris Ball" at the Library of Congress. Dancers from the professional company dressed in character and put on a skirt-lifting show inspired by the legendary performers of—you guessed it— the Moulin Rouge.
At the premiere party for the film at New York's Metropolitan Club in 2009, a raw bar filled with jumbo shrimp, clams, oysters, and crab claws was decorated with an elaborate Eiffel Tower ice sculpture.
During Art Basel in Miami last December, the Reprise Parisienne party at Villa 221 had a surreal French carnival theme. A theater troupe, Josepher the Ringleader and the Danger Kitties, dressed as freak-show mime characters and added to the arty vibe.
At the 2010 store opening in Chicago, New York-based caterer Olivier Cheng prepared a buffet of French desserts. Offerings included strawberry topiaries, macaron towers, rosemary-honey-almond tarts, and salted-caramel mousse in chocolate cups.
For an event hosted by the Travel Channel last October, Levy Lighting provided a surround-sound video that let guests feel like they were traveling. A floor-to-ceiling, wraparound screen formed a circle around the reception space at Center548 in New York, and the custom video projected footage from Paris and other locales.
Chambord hosted the official global launch party for its vodka at Mondrian South Beach in 2010. Entertainers dressed in risqué versions of Victorian-era French costumes greeted arriving guests.
The World Presidents' Organization New England Chapter Gala had a French theme in 2010, when it took over Boston's Langham Hotel. The dining room's decor, inspired once again by the Moulin Rouge, had feather-topped centerpieces that were illuminated from within.
In 2009, the Los Angeles event channeled a haunted French theater. Lounge areas around the room included black and gold seating accented by French-style lamps.
The Museum of Modern Art hosted the New York premiere party for Marie Antoinette in 2006. Sponsor Van Cleef & Arpels displayed jewels atop colorful confections.
The 2011 luncheon in Chicago took place at the Four Seasons Hotel but was dubbed “Lunch at Maxim's.” To bring the famous Parisian eatery to life, planners arranged for mustache-bearing maître d' characters to greet guests and lead them to the ballroom on a path lined with mini Eiffel Towers.
Lingerie Française Paris hosted a runway show at Toronto's Wychwood Barns in 2010. The event, dubbed “A French Rendez-Vous,” adopted a Parisian theme with images of iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge as a backdrop. Dancers from Hit and Run Productions added a theatrical element to the runway show and sported Parisian-inspired tropes such as parasols and ballet slippers.
French-inspired Hollywood spot Les Deux became an all-out 18th-century Parisian playground for TV Guide’s Emmy after-party in 2007. Models in period costumes lounged in the outdoor French manicured garden.
Phillips Collection Gala in Washington in 2008 had a French theme inspired by the collection's famed canvas: Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party." The masterpiece was pictured on the event's program.
At the 2007 event in New York, umbrellas printed with an Eiffel Tower scene added a dreamlike quality—and a little French flair— to the deck of the Dream Hotel.
At the 2008 gala at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex in Toronto, replicas of the Eiffel Tower topped tables in a Paris-themed dining area.
An Eiffel Tower ice sculpture decorated one of the bars at the 2010 gala in Washington.
The National Geographic Society hosted one of the biggest events in its history on June 13, bringing large-scale projections of iconic National Geographic videos and still images to Washington's National Building Museum. An 80-foot screen hung on a curved truss in front of the columns in the National Building Museum’s Great Hall.
Women in Film's annual Crystal & Lucy Awards Gala took place at the Beverly Hilton on June 13, and the intricate stage set really let guests focus on the evening's theme. Designed by Tony Schubert of Event Eleven and built by MEI, a 12-foot-wide wooden lens was painted black on the outside and had a graphic applied to its front. A dimensional "WIF" logo was back-lit with LED lights, and a custom-built channel accepted additional lighting for the lens's circle.
The staircase at the May 6 gala in New York was flanked by oversize American and British flags made entirely of 150,000 red, white, and blue roses
At the April New Museum spring gala honoring artist Christian Marclay, guests arriving at New York's Cipriani Wall Street were met with a larger-than-life live installation of white PVC balloons that set the tone for the duration of the event, a four-month project in the making.
Held in Chicago on May 18, the ball had comic-book-inspired decor from Kehoe Designs. A cartoon-like, illuminated city skyline served as a fitting backdrop on the stage where comedian Martin Short performed. Crystalline centerpieces were meant to look like fallen kryptonite.
