Design World Darling Brings International Entourage to Memorable Dallas Dinner Party

When my recent Bomb Girl, Peggy Sewell, reached out to me to see if I was available to join a dinner she was hosting in honor of Martina Mondadori Sartogo I actually canceled other plans so that I could reply with an emphatic “Yes.” Mondadori Sartogo was coming to Dallas as part of her book tour for the coveted tome, Cabana Anthology, and her new product line in collaboration with Lauren Santo Domingo on the Moda Operandi website.

It turned out to be one of the most elegant and effervescent dinners I have attended in recent memory.

With twilight on the horizon on the appointed day, I threw on my most colorful of floral Tom Ford-era Gucci pants in celebration of the first few days of Spring and made my way to Peggy’s stately home. Mondadori Sartogo had just jetted in from Houston where she had been for the numerous events around Texas Design Week.

She is a darling of the design world, with an almost cult-like following. (For those unfortunately out-of-the-know she was the founder and is the editor-in-chief of the sacred bi-annual magazine, Cabana.)

Upon entering Sewell’s parlor, I realized that of the 16 dinner guests (chic girl-about-town Ann Hobson only popped in for cocktail hour), half weren’t Dallasites. As part of Mondadori Sartogo’s entourage were Brits Beatrice Vincenzini, representing Vendome, publisher of her book and Giulia Constantini, from Cabana magazine. Another guest from the other side of the pond was Jane Pendry, the brilliant and effortlessly stylish force behind the Dovima Paris collection.

We immediately locked eyes over our stemware since we both had on larger-than-life eyeglass frames which made us look as if we were separated at birth. Apparently, she was in Dallas for a trunk show at Merry Vose‘s shop, Cabana (was there a theme I wasn’t aware of?) and was then off to the Left Coast to share her recent designs with her legions of fans.

Sewell began to gently usher us outside so that we could actually appreciate the incredible weather (it was the tiny window we get where we feel as if we live in temperate southern California) and to begin dinner. It was then that I knew that I was in for a festive evening having spied Brad Kelly, escorting his aunt Nancy (Dedman) into the scene.

The scene seemed pulled from a Truman Capote playbook with swans gracefully gliding about Sewell’s lawn and entertaining the only other three boys in attendance: Brad, Nick Even and Alvise Orsini. I’m always in heaven when that’s the ratio of boys to girls.

Peggy Sewell’s outdoor entertaining space might be called a folly save for the fact that it is actually utilitarian. This is where I show that design isn’t the strongest part of my wheelhouse. Perhaps one might call it a loggia since it can host elegant meals or perhaps drinks and cha-cha’ing for 20 to 30 close friends. A long table was ablaze in shades of spring all done under the watchful eye of Margaret Ryder who handled the styling of the meal and provided the china.

From the pink ranunculus, peonies and carnations to the traditional Indian orange sari that was used as a runner I was in visual and scent sensory nirvana.

The light as air dinner mimicked the ethereal quality of the entire evening. Cassandra Catering started us off with a lobster salad accessorized with compressed watermelon, avocado, radis and jalapeno vinaigrette. Then on to loup de mer with baby zucchini and carrot-mustard puree, fennel sauce and zucchini blossoms.

And how should every evening end if dancing isn’t involved? Some chocolate morsels and more intoxicating conversation, of course.

Over my meal, I had a fabulous time catching up with another past Bomb.com girl, Cathy Kincaid. She had just deplaned from a flight to, of all places, Abilene, where she is in the midst of imbuing a home there with her signature, classic style. We discussed old-school, cowboy’esque dining establishments there and in adjacent Albany, such as the Beehive and Perini Ranch (where one might spot Robert Duvall, a frequent diner).

The evening started with an upbeat Latin tempo playing then moved to a Lucy Wrubel curated list for dinner. Those beautiful swans assembled reminded me immediately of the lyrics of one of my favorite songs which would have been so appropriate for entrance music as they all arrived, “Girl From Ipanema.”

When she walks, she’s like a samba that swings so cool and sways so gentle
That when she passes, each one she passes goes – ooh

Some of the other chit-chatty crowd assembled around the well-set tablescape were Peggy’s beautiful and expecting daughter, Jacquelin Sewell, Christina Lynch, Heather Furniss, Kerri Davis, Elizabeth Robertson and Lisa Fine.