When designer Charlie Casely-Hayford received the invitation to Away’s holiday dinner party in London last December, he looked at the address and did a double take.
“Weirdly, 128 Shoreditch High St used to be my old studio,” he responded via email. “I’d love to join you and see it now.”
The white-washed loft he stepped into a few days later likely looked very different from the space he and his father used as their atelier for Casely-Hayford, the luxury British menswear line. Instead of sketches and fabric samples, fairy lights and hundred of candles served as decoration.
Servers greeted him at the entrance of the apartment (now owned by a photographer, as evidenced by the black and white pictures on the walls) with flutes of Moët and canape created by fashion’s favorite caterer, Peardrop London: mini crostini topped with homemade pesto, roasted tomatoes and plantain crisps, or eggplant and pomegranate seeds.
The evening was co-hosted by SUITCASE magazine, a quarterly travel publication that emphasizes fashion and photography and introduces a new theme with each issue. We ran with their recent “Myths and Legends” theme during dinner, bringing a tarot card reader and astrologers to entertain guests.
As 8 o’clock rolled around, SUITCASE editor-in-chief Serena Guen, the Hemsley + Hemsley powerhouse duo Melissa and Jasmine Hemsley, Instagram superstar Caroline Calloway, and TV personality Amber Atherton, among others, took their seats at one long table lined with garland and even more candles. The dinner menu included roast poussin with sweet potato fries and a mouth-wateringly delicious sticky-toffee pudding for dessert.
We think Casely-Hayford will agree that the evening was nothing short of legendary.
