La Ligne’s Thursday night soirée scored a perfect ten across the board—not just due to the decade milestone that the anniversary dinner marked, but in the curation, conversation, and connection that transpired. Swapping the brand’s signature striped sweaters for leather mini dresses and sleek suits, an A-list array of guests filed into iconic Midtown institution, The Pool + Grill, to celebrate with Molly Howard, Valerie Macaulay, and Meredith Melling.
Upon entering the sweeping ballroom, a male model in trunks and waders stood atop an ice luge, tempting people with a chilled margarita or martini. Long, grand tables were covered in coupes of crayons and paper tablecloths that sported colorful hand-drawn doodles by Arianna Margulis depicting distinctly New York pigeons, skyscrapers, taxi cabs, and tulips. A step-and-repeat lined in blue and yellow stripes commanded attention in the corner.
Over spicy tuna toasts and lobster tostada, Hilary Clinton chatted with her daughter Chelsea amongst the room’s La Ligne’d-out interiors as Emma Stone’s lilting laugh could be heard from the other side of the ballroom.
Seth Meyers told Vogue: “It’s very exciting any time your friends can do anything for 10 years—be it a raising a kid or maintaining a marriage—but to start a company, especially one that is this stylish and unique, is really cool. And it is nice to be here, especially because it wasn’t a cash bar.”
Olivia Wilde mingled with Grace Gummer, while Nina Dobrev and her best friend of 20 years giggled from their perch on the edge of the room’s famous pool. On his way to the ice luge for a tipple, musician Noah Kahan remarked, “I love the brand and what they stand for. [The founders] are wonderful people, so this is an obvious and easy thing to support.”
The assortment of invitees wasn’t random; there was intention behind every invitation. “La Ligne, in a nutshell, is being able to lean on all the amazing people we know,” Molly Howard said. Valerie Macaulay leaned over: “I keep saying it’s the wedding—it’s a renewal of vows. We were a scrappy business in the beginning, starting off at Meredith’s apartment, and really not knowing what we were doing. So to be here now and celebrating what we’ve achieved after a lot of insecure years—with Covid, tariffs, and everything else—this is also a thank you to everybody in this room who has helped us along the way.”
The evening did have the loved-up air of a wedding about it. And not just because of the festivities and friends and family in attendance, but in the sentimental details too. “My parents got married here. Their altar was on top of this pool, and they’re both here tonight,” Howard told the crowd during her toast. Meanwhile Macaulay stood next to her, in silky white satin pants that she and the brand custom made in 2016 for her own wedding.
As for the venue, it was a no-brainer. “We went back and forth. We looked at some really scrappy Lower East Side places. We looked uptown. We talked about family, and [co-owner] Mario Carbone is part of the La Ligne family,” Melling said. “We do a collection of menswear called Our Lady of Rocco with him. So it’s like we’re in a family space. It felt iconically New York, as Francophile as we are.”
“We always try to pretend that we are French, but when it comes down to it…we’re not,” Howard laughed. “At the end of the day, we are just three American girls.”
As the cocktail hour turned into a three-course dinner which segued into a disco-worthy after-party, one thing became crystal clear: man, do these three American girls know how to throw a party.
