The most fashionable people in New York came together for the official inauguration of Alex Ohebshalom’s Fifth Avenue Hotel in NoMad on a late November evening. The festivities transcended the typical and notable figures. Sarah Jessica Parker added a dash of glitz to Café Carmellini, the hotel’s main restaurant that Chef Andrew Carmellini designed, by making a daring fashion statement and pouring champagne into a 16-foot, 1,200-coup tower.
In an interview with Vogue, Sarah Jessica Parker acknowledged her honor in celebrating the Fifth Avenue Hotel’s debut and lauded its beauty as a masterful addition to the city. Prominent individuals, including Andrew Carmellini, Annabelle Moehlmann, Derek Blasberg, Ivy Getty, Charly Sturm, Sean O’Pry, Noor Pahlavi, Alex Assouline, Peter Som, Amah Modek, and the artist JR, were among the guests.
Attendees received passports upon arrival, which served as a guide for the discovery moments dispersed throughout the hotel. Every step of the immersive journey—which was created in association with renowned event designer Bronson van Wyck—was revealed. Before the formal launch, prospective visitors could only glimpse The Fifth Avenue Hotel’s Café Carmellini at Moda Operandi’s NYFW trunk show for Oscar De La Renta.
Guests enjoyed five of Bar Director Darryl Chan’s distinctive New York City-inspired cocktails inside the Portrait Bar, along with small snacks and live jazz music by Claire Khodara. Artist Maimouna, nominated for a Grammy, mixed the music for Café Carmellini. The study hosted a lavish charcuterie table with potato chips and caviar. Meanwhile, the Conservatory had a Rococo-style dessert presentation befitting Marie Antoinette, complete with Bridgerton-esque harpists performing classical versions of contemporary songs. In between sampling sweet treats, street artist JR, a French photographer, took large-scale photos of guests, which were then reproduced and presented as keepsakes in specially branded art tubes. The festivities culminated in a farewell toast given by founder Alex Ohebshalom.
