God Is in the Details: Ideas to Steal From This Year's Hamptons Events

There was so much fabulous food at the James Beard Chefs & Champagne event, which was chaired by Bobby Flay—on hand with his beautiful wife, Stephanie March (they live in my building and both are so nice)—I couldn’t even begin to mention them all. But Rotisserie Georgette chef Chad Brauze was on hand serving foie gras with quail and apricot. It was a little pillow of heaven. This display was the Sea Grill chef Yuhi Fujinaga’s inventive medium for plates. It was always empty because his sepia carbonara with poached quail egg and jamón crisps were divine! Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly identified the chef responsible for the display.

At the Traditional Home Hampton Designer Showhouse, clever event organizers used sponsor-supplied umbrellas from Paramount Homes of the Hamptons to shield gift bags from the drizzle, and got more exposure for the builder of the house in the bargain.

Having the hot tub bubbling the entire time during Traditional Home's Hampton Designer Showhouse added both visual and aural stimulation, and made me think, “Why doesn’t everyone do this?” While I was looking at gift bags and bar placement, my cousin Meredith McBride Kipp was diligently cataloging every beautiful room for her fabulous design blog Amerelife.com, which you can check out here.

Pampelonne Rosé Lime, where have you been all my life? This was my go-to drink of the summer and they served it everywhere, at Southampton Hospital Ellen Hermanson Breast Cancer Center benefit, then at the South Fork Natural History Museum (pictured). It was bubbly and tasty and low-alcohol and, most importantly, not too sweet.

I didn’t stick around to see what got staged on the tiny platform outside the South Fork Natural History Museum's event—I assumed dessert or something—but I love when events have things go on at different times at different parts of the venue. As you can see, this place has these magnificent windows and decks, and then later the party moved down the stairs and into a swinging tent.

At the Southampton Animal Shelter gala chaired by Jean Shafiroff—she had kind of joined the ranks of Alec Baldwin and Christie Brinkley as one of the most tireless V.I.P.s on the fund-raising circuit in the Hamptons—everyone got the red carpet treatment, even me. (That’s me on the left and my photographer, Chris Arnold, arriving embarrassingly late.) But what fun for guests!

Tesla was everywhere this summer, auctioning off weekend test-drives. World-famous chaos theory mathematician Mitchell Feigenbaum (pictured) was considering signing up for one at SciHampton, a new symposium for brainy types.

But I was more interested in the red one with racing stripes at the Ellen Hermanson Breast Cancer Center of Southampton Hospital event. Lots of events have display cars on deck in the Hamptons, but the idea of a test-drive as an auction item is clever. The carmaker gives away something it’d likely give away for a fee if you walked into the dealership, the charity gets the money from the prize, and the event gets a nice shiny object for the guests to ogle.

Take a close look at these swans, they are made of fabric flowers. I loved them floating in the pool at the Pet Philanthropy Circle's Pet Hero Awards.

And here is Pet Hero Jean Shafiroff (it was one of two animal events she headlined this summer!) with a flower poodle. I just thought these things were so funny.

While outside, First Hampton International’s Dana Bartel wanted to steal the Last Chance Dog Pound of Mandrake Falls, Vermont’s fancy ride.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation drew A-listers. Here the glow-stick centerpieces—see how the lighting above picked up the theme—later became dance floor props for some guests, even though they were wet! Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly identified the pictured event. 

The Hampton Classic Horse Show is always a bittersweet end to summer. You look forward to it, but it means that it is all over. Sigh. I dropped by the kitchen to say hello to the chef team from Robbins Wolfe (pictured, with proprietor Chris Robbins). They had just served dinner the night before at the Parrish Art Museum event for Samuel Waxman, and they were just beginning an eight-day run as the house catering team at the event, where the humble kitchen will serve 8,000 meals and 1,200 drinks over the course of the event.

Hermès is always one of the main sponsors of the Hampton Classic, and this year its table was beautifully decorated with succulents, thistles, anemones, white roses, and, of course, Wolffer Rosé, another sponsor. (On August 27, Page Six reported that Wölffer Estate Rosé is among the vintages of rosé that are so popular that restaurants are running out of and liquor stores are limiting customers to four bottles per!) Nonetheless, it's a fabulous tableau, n’est-ce pas?

I grew up riding, but I have learned from my friends that didn’t that the appeal is universal. I think it was Mark Twain who said, “There is nothing so good for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.” The Hampton Classic is like a mini resort with food and shopping, all with this moving wallpaper of beautiful, proud animals. Get there by Sunday, August 31, 2014!