Paperless Post Celebrated 15 Years Of Parties at Café Sabarsky

Fifteen years ago, James and Alexa Hirschfeld revolutionized the way we celebrate special occasions with their design-focused digital invitation platform, Paperless Post, which they launched as Harvard students. To commemorate their own milestone, the sibling duo hosted an intimate dinner at Café Sabarsky inside Manhattan’s Neue Gallery.

Upon arrival, notables such as Amy Fine Collins, Angelica Hicks, and Anna Wintour were welcomed with wine and a band playing Austrian marching tunes by the marbled beaux-arts stairway. Meanwhile, inside the Viennese restaurant, two long tables adorned with tablecloths and lampshades designed by Paperless Post’s in-house design team spread across the mahogany-paneled space.

“For a company that thinks so much about design, I was really drawn to Austrian art and design from the early 20th century,” James Hirschfeld, co-founder and CEO of the online invitation company, tells Vogue. Drawing inspiration from the Wiener Werkstätte design movement, each menu card was a nod to the artistic period and each place card was adorned with Paperless Post’s signature email design, a subtle homage to the company’s roots.

To mark the company’s milestone anniversary, the Hirschfeld siblings enlisted top design partners and former collaborators—including Oscar de la Renta, Schumacher, Cabana, and more—to create an invitation that speaks to the notion of celebration through the lens of their work.

At 8 P.M., dinner commenced with a beet salad followed by a classic wiener schnitzel, staying true to the evening’s Austrian theme. Hirschfeld thanked guests for their support and their coming to celebrate the company’s founding anniversary. But before dessert arrived, guests were treated to a band performance of the Radetzky March.

The Hirschfeld siblings have redefined what it means to host and attend parties. But their goal for the next fifteen years? “We haven't reinvented ourselves and become something wildly different than what we were 15 years ago,” Hirschfeld quipped. “But we've tried to get better and better at helping people express themselves when they're having parties for moments that matter to them. To make that easier, more delightful, and accessible to everyone is what we want to do.”