White Doves, Meter-Long Baguettes, and More: Laila and Nadia Gohar Celebrated Their Tableware Collection With a Midtown Garden Party

In true Laila Gohar fashion, the artist—who's masterminded larger-than-life langoustine towers and sculptures made of butter and bread for the likes of Hermès, Simone Rocha, and Galeries Lafayette—had a surprise planned for the soirée that she and her sister, Nadia, threw on Tuesday night to celebrate the launch of Gohar World, the surrealist tableware line. Exactly 27 minutes after guests were asked to arrive at Rockefeller Center's tucked-away rooftop garden, white doves were released into the twilight sky. 

"It's like sitting front row at a fashion show," one Tigra Tigra-clad reveler remarked to another, as they took in the visual feast while sipping Las Jaras wine from doily-adorned glasses. Artist Cassi Namoda, wearing an oversized yellow sweatshirt with an iridescent sea-green frock, chatted with director Hailey Benton Gates, whose signature plaits reached the hem of her belted mini dress. Closeby, Doing Well's Daphne Javitch, in head-to-toe vintage Dries Van Noten, and designer Maryam Nassir Zadeh, in a floor-length suede coat, picked from a soaring triangular radish, turnip, and potato topiary, which nearly outshone the surrounding skyscrapers.  

Of course, that wasn't the only elaborate edible display. For the event, which drew downtown fixtures like Emily Bode, Gray Sorrenti, and Haley Wollens to midtown, the Gohars also concocted meter-long jambon beurre sandwiches, anchovy pepper gildas speared in slabs of clay, and long braids of mozzarella, which guests cut into with steel gardening scissors. Later on, an almond orange blossom cake — designed to resemble Gohar's signature striped shirt-inspired tablecloth (complete with a frosting collar) — made a brief appearance before being devoured by those who'd worked up an appetite while dancing to Sister Nancy and Mark Ronson. 

"The idea was about a collectsive moment of joy and happiness and magic after not being able to celebrate for a long time," said Laila, who donned a pale pink spring 2022 Prada dress and a smattering of temporary tattoos of beans, which also decorate the collectsion's trompe l'oeil dinner plates. Simply put: "I felt like New York really needed a good party." Moments after DJ Mia Moretti played her final set and guests finally began to descend back out onto 5th Avenue, she continued, "Throughout the night, I was looking at people's faces, and they just looked so euphoric. I thought, Ah, mission accomplished."