On Thursday night, Angie Mar traded dinner service for a festive dînatoire at her popular downtown restaurant Les Trois Chevaux. The chef teamed with Lanvin to celebrate the Lunar New Year and commemorate the brand’s Botanica capsule collection, which pays homage to the Year of the Rabbit.
“There are so many amazing similarities between our brands: they’re one of the oldest couture houses in France, but it’s owned by a Chinese group,” noted Mar, who connected with Lanvin executive president David Chan and chief executive officer Joann Cheng during their initial public offering late last year.
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Mar is classically trained in French cuisine but also pays homage to her Chinese heritage through her West Village restaurant. “For me, Lunar New Year is really about family and friends getting together and celebrating,” said Mar, wearing a red hand-painted Lanvin dress for the occasion. “I love the idea of really celebrating my culture, because I got to do this all the time when I was a kid, and as an adult and as a business owner you don’t get to do these things very often,” she added. “So to be able to host something like this and really share a bit of my culture with all of our guests and our regulars, it’s very special.”
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Guests included designers Bach Mai, Peter Som, Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia along with Jennifer Fisher, Jessica Wang, Ashley Graham and Tanner Reese.
“The lion has just arrived,” said Lanvin deputy general manager Siddhartha Shukla, clocking the latest VIP arrival just before 7 p.m. The sound of drumming grew louder as a lion dance troupe readied its performance on the sidewalk outside the restaurant.
Shukla touted the synergy between Lanvin and Mar’s approach to cuisine.
“There’s a natural parity in this unique encounter between French identity and Chinese identity,” added Shukla, as two lions entered the dining room, followed by a drummer and big head Buddha. “And to celebrate it at the time of the Lunar New Year felt quite auspicious. So that’s why we’re here — and that’s why there’s a lion coming into the restaurant right now.”
Fellow French chef Gabriel Kreuther arrived shortly after the energetic dance had concluded, but the party was still in full swing.
“We chefs, we always support each other,” said Kreuther, standing by a pork-carving station next to the bar. “Chinese New Year is a way of celebrating and coming together and seeing all the people at the beginning of the year,” he added. “And it’s a way of exchanging beauty.”