PARTIES

Rich Kids of Instagram Hit Mainstay NYBG Conservatory Ball


Reya Benitez, Andrew Warren, Gaia Matisse

On Thursday night at the New York Botanical Garden’s annual conservatory ball, six hundred guests added a new layer to the spring exhibit on view: “Impressionism: American Gardens on Canvas.” Many of the women were adorned in heavily floral dresses, some made by Oscar de la Renta, which sponsored the evening (incidentally, the garden’s 125th anniversary). The unofficial attire matched the cocktail hour in the Perennial Garden, where guests like Cornelia Guest, who chattered with Oscar de la Renta designer Peter Copping, Gala Chairman Alexandra Lebenthal and Gillian Miniter, and Arianna Rockefeller and Kick Kennedy teetered about before entering the main building, winding through flowering trees and thousands of peonies before sitting for dinner. After several courses including crab cakes and chocolate cake and many conversations (Gaia Matisse and Reya Benatiz laughed and whispered with their designer pal, Andrew Warren; Marjorie Gubelman held court at a table hosted by Oscar de la Renta), guests hit the dance-floor. Even Judith Giuliani, carrying an Edie Parker clutch that sported her famous last name, did a spin around the dance floor with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani before the two exited for the night.

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Reya Benitez, Andrew Warren, Gaia Matisse. Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.

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Rudy Giuliani. Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.

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Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.

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Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.

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Berdie Brady. Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.

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Ariana Rockefeller. Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.

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Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.

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Gillian Miniter. Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.

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Peter Copping and Cornelia Guest. Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.

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Gaia Matisse. Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.

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Photo by Jonathan Schoonover.