Whether it’s a long, lazy dinner by the flicker of citronella candlelight or a post-work apéro on the terrace, summer entertaining is in full swing, and we’ve enlisted the help of the most stylish hosts we know to serve up their party tricks. Pour yourself a Campari soda and settle in—it’s Aperitivo Hour.
There is a time and a place for a formal, sit-down dinner. The end of summer, with its dimming heat and the dregs of a luxuriously unstructured schedule, is not it. This time of year, the best moments are found in the simplest triumphs: one last haul of perfectly ripe tomatoes, a bouquet of green sunflowers whose fading color feels perfectly in step with the changing seasons, corralling your friends, back from various far-flung vacations, all together for one final laid-back meal before everyone is thrown into fall’s fast pace. Vertigo founder Taylor Sade knows this well: “There’s a real laissez-faire energy to this time of year that I love—things feel more undone,” she says. “During winter, I’m inclined to bring out the tablecloths and intricate details. Right now, I’d rather lean into the ease of it all.”
Such was the prompt for her latest gathering, a casual, late-summer dinner at home where the menu was simple and the “dinner table” was really more of an abstract concept. “If we wanted it to feel like a restaurant, we’d just go to one,” explains Sade. “Instead, we usually do a home-cooked meal served family-style in the kitchen, then everyone finds their own spot—the couch, the daybed, the dining table, wherever there’s room. Every corner gets claimed by the end of the night.”
Of course, when the setting is this stylish, it doesn’t take much to make any spread look impressive. Sade’s apartment, a treasure trove of one-of-a-kind collectibles and vintage furniture in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, is full of cozy nooks—factor in bowls of spaghetti pomodoro, and it’s guaranteed to be a party. “We hosted a very impromptu Friendsgiving last year that was, hands down, my best memory from my last ten years in New York,” says Sade of her informal entertaining style. “The more at-home I can make you feel, the better.”
Photography by Emma Beiles Howie
Set the Scene
“I’m religious about fresh flowers. Whatever’s current at the market usually dictates the home aesthetic of the week—I always aim for entertaining to feel like an extension of my home rather than something that takes over the space. At night, I like to keep everything low and warm, and opt for side sconces and lamps instead of overhead lighting.
