Angelica Hicks Has a Few Rules for Hosting a Party People Actually Want to Attend
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Welcome to House Party, where we ask expert hosts for their top entertaining tips, tricks, and tabletop tactics. Come party with us.
Angelica Hicks has a talent for making high fashion out of everyday materials. The British artist, illustrator, and fashion satirist is known for using household supplies to recreate runway and red-carpet looks , capturing couture's most elaborate details with candy wrappers and duct tape. A sharp eye runs in the family: Her father is the artist and interior designer Ashley Hicks, and her grandfather was the influential decorator David Hicks. But her visual wit is distinctly her own, evident in everything from her illustrative book Tongue in Chic to her collaborations with Gucci.
Her newly launched invitation collection for Paperless Post brings that humor to entertaining, with designs including a shrimp holding a martini. Hicks's own hosting philosophy is similarly spirited, though she's quite serious about a well-considered seating chart. For House Party, we asked her about the best parties she's attended, the merits of an emergency ice delivery, and the extravagance she'd happily import from Japan.
ELLE Decor: What are your three essentials when hosting?
Angelica Hicks:A great invite that sets the tone before the event. A shrimp holding a martini inviting you to a cocktail party perhaps?
The "Shrimp Cocktail" invitation from Angelica Hicks for Paperless Post.Courtesy Paperless Post
What's your top entertaining/hosting tip?
People love to complain about placement, but I am pro placement. I think telling people where to sit, and actually spending time considering it, will only benefit the flow of conversation—especially when mixing people who might not already know each other. I think it's a fabulous thing to do when hosting a dinner party.
Who, dead or alive, is coming to your dream dinner party?
Noël Coward, Joan Crawford, Aretha Franklin, Cristóbal Balenciaga.
What's the worst dinner party faux pas?
Announcing dietary restrictions upon arrival.
If you could add one exorbitantly extravagant component to a party, what would it be?
Aretha Franklin.Michael Ochs Archives - Getty Images
I think I would fly in urchin from Japan if it were the season.
Who threw the best party you've ever attended?
Unemployed Magazine always throws an excellent Halloween party. What makes it so great is that they select one iconic person as a theme and everyone dresses up as that person or someone in the universe. Last year was Liz Taylor, and the year before was Princess Diana.
Elizabeth Taylor.Keystone - Getty Images
What's your go-to host/hostess gift?
I'm ashamed to say I rarely bring anything. But once I have arrived, if I notice there is something missing, I will order it, which I think is far more helpful. A bag of ice can come in much more handy than a mid bottle of red.
Marisa Berenson at the Rothschild Surrealist Ball in 1972.Cecil Beaton - Getty Images
What historic party would you have liked to have attended?
I think I would have had great fun dressing up for the Rothschild Surrealist Ball.
What's your entertaining motto?
Buy too much wine; you'll probably go through it.
What's your entertaining pet peeve?
I don't have a dishwasher, so I always lament the washing up.
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