Phillip Lim x Hennessy Ushered in the Year of the Dragon With an Epic Lunar New Year Celebration

Last night, Phillip Lim managed to take New York Fashion Week-goers minds off of their hectic weekend schedule of shows and invited them to ring in the Lunar New Year with a fabulous night of food, dancing, and a whole lot of Hennessy. Marking the third annual Chinese New Year celebration from Phillip Lim and Hennessy, guests braved the mid-town traffic to make it in time for pre-dinner cocktails before being whisked into the private garden room at the Times Square Edition to enjoy a menu curated by Chef Calvin Eng of Bonnie’s and an exclusive dessert by Chef Eunji Lee of Lysée.

No detail was spared at this affair as each place setting included a custom giant fortune cookie name card and a traditional red envelope that held a crisp one-dollar note to ensure good luck and prosperity to all guests for the upcoming year. The energy in the room was palpable; guests only remained in their seats long enough to enjoy each course before they hopped up to quickly embrace a friend across the room before the next dish was placed. With notable attendees such as Awkwafina, Laura Kim, Fernando Garcia, Ezra J. William, Soo Joo Park (DJ), Ronny Chieng, Amber Ruffin, Mona Matsuoka, Chriselle Lim, Jeannie Mai, Aoki Lee Simmons, Geena Rocera and Blake Abbie, Lim ensured a sense of family remained at the forefront of the night.

“Three years later, it’s almost like, what are we going to do? How are we going to do something interesting? How are we going to surprise and delight the guests?” Lim told Vogue. “Honestly, a lot of the people there are really busy people, and we never see each other besides for these dinners, and it’s like… not Thanksgiving but like… Thanksgiving!.”

Between the exclamations of joy and sips of Hennessy (there was a separate pairing for each course), eyes grew wide with delight as the doors swung open and a dragon dance sequence broke out into the middle of the room.

And just as the dessert plates were being cleared, everyone was reminded that the night was far from over as the guests were ushered down to the VIP section of the Paradise nightclub at the hotel. The room partied well into the late night as the spectacles kept coming with a luminous Dragon Dance and X.O Dragon Cocktail bottle parade while acrobats hung from the ceiling. Before the night was even over, you could hear mumbles of attendees already gushing over how excited they were to attend the annual dinner again next year.