Tanya Taylor’s Recipe for a Successful Party? Poker & Poodles!

In the year since its launch, Delphine, aka Tanya Taylor’s party-centric spin-off from her eponymous womenswear line, has found its stride—or rather, its shimmy. With a penchant for feathers and bows and a flare for the theatrical, the brand acts as the fun-loving alter ego to the designer’s more everyday-friendly wares. True to form, a celebration of all things Delphine hosted chez Taylor enticed guests with the promise of poker and poodles.

Upon arrival, revelers were greeted by Ray Ray. A regal yet relaxed pooch with the prerequisite bouffant hairdo. Ray Ray, a neighbor of Taylor’s, is no stranger to fans of Delphine—he’s appeared as a model in lookbooks after all. Acting as a greeter for the night, alongside a strikingly handsome doorman, guests could get past him with the not-so-secret password: poodle poodle, apple strudel.

“Delphine likes to play,” Taylor told Vogue, referring to her hypothetical muse. “She never wants to just go to a dinner party and sit still. So I thought, ‘What’s better than a house party with some poker?’ No one ever has a house party in New York anymore. I remember doing this so often when I moved to the city…I miss it!”

Inside her home, the poker tables were in full swing, with Glamour’s Samantha Barry, Chelsea Clinton, and Taylor’s husband, Michel Pratte, holding court with the expert players. Beginners learned the ropes in another corner, enjoying bite-size burgers while a fountain of pink Negronis cascaded down a tower of coupes nearby. “This is a very fancy version of a girl dinner,” one guest quipped, adorned in a Delphine gown adorned with rhinestone tassels.

Those not tempted to try their hand on the tables gathered in the candlelit living room, tempted instead by sterling silver platters of jiggling jelly—petit fours infused with cheeky cocktail flavors from the Brooklyn-based Solid Wiggles.

“Seeing women on my own sofa wearing the collection is surreal, because Delphine has existed in my mind for at least 20 years” Taylor added. “When I applied to Parsons, the application asked us to create a mood board for a girl that I thought was my mythical muse for my brand, and I called her Delphine Pratte. Now she’s real!”