A recent burst of warmth in the Northeast brought a sense of excitement to a celebration of Aerin Lauder’s new book, Living With Flowers. Hosted by David Lauren and Lauren Bush Lauren, the cocktail party was held at Ralph Lauren’s Upper East Side store, which was filled with elegant floral arrangements. It featured Polo Bar favorites like their specialty margaritas and old fashioneds, as well as pigs in a blankets and beef bites taken straight from the restaurant’s menu.
Is there anything new left to say about flowers? Plenty, according to Lauder, whose book is an exploration of blooms in all forms. “[There is this] idea about the language of flowers, which is really interesting, and the symbolism,” she tells ELLE.com. Lauder, who is the founder and creative director of the lifestyle brand AERIN and the style and design director for Estée Lauder’s Re-Nutriv line, is also fascinated by “flowers in different ways. Not everything is always a beautiful feminine floral arrangement of flowers. It could be a fern, it could be branches, it could be something made out of paper.”
The book features photos of arrangements in Lauder’s homes in New York City, East Hampton, and Palm Beach; the story behind her grandmother Estée’s prized floral china (Estée, of course, built an empire in part on floral scents); and tips on which vases to use when, all with historical interludes woven in.
Lauder believes that the joy flowers bring can be found anywhere. “New York City has Central Park, but you’re not exposed to flowers everywhere. That’s even more of a reason to go and find some. Even if it’s just one beautiful flower to put in the bud vase on your desk, it’ll change your whole mood and your whole vibe,” she says.
Guests at the event included Aerin’s parents, Jo Carole and Ronald Lauder; Andrew Lauren; Jerry Lauren; Athena Calderone; Wes Gordon; Paul Arnhold; Natalie Massenet; Sheila Bridges; Jacquelyn Jablonski; Indré Rockefeller; and Jane Keltner de Valle.
Click through the gallery below for a look inside the party:
Adrienne Gaffney is a features editor at ELLE and previously worked at WSJ Magazine and Vanity Fair.
