The Inaugural Luncheon - Beyond the Food

While the news world has spent the past 48 hours chasing its tail on whether or not Beyonce Knowles-Carter did or did not pre-record the Star Spangled Banner, I've been on a not too dissimilar quest...

Obsessed by the gorgeous table settings at the Inaugural Luncheon, I have scoured the internet for information on the patterns of the china and silver.  For all that these two pieces of information have been kept secret, you'd think that they were in a North Korean intelligence file or a deep, dark room where the secret behind JFK's assassination is kept under multiple locks.

But beyond the lovely meal of hickory grilled bison and Hudson Valley apple pies, the speeches and now-famed eye roll performed by the First Lady, I am completely fascinated by the color palette conjured to dress up a rather dour, classically-appointed space and make it a showplace within which an elegant luncheon would unfold.

The color scheme of Statuary Hall, just outside the Chamber of the House of Representatives, is hard to work with.  Grey columns, deep wine-colored draperies, a tiled black and white floor, and dozens of statues executed, variously, in bronze and marble dominate the half-round room.  Cap that off with a creme, puce, and gold coffered ceiling and you have a slightly nightmarish room to dress up when the moment comes.

So what did this year's luncheon planners do?  They went with cerulean blue for the head table, bright orange floral settings, tables dressed with metallic woven cloths, and place settings that can best be described as banded with Tiffany blue and a gold rim.

The combination sounds like it should be some nightmarish agglomeration of disparate elements.

Instead, it was incredibly bold and wholly gorgeous.

It shouldn't work.  On paper, blue, metallics, pink, black, and white should not combine to create a dignified, sublime environment for one of the most exclusive luncheons in the political world.

I think all credit must begin with the flowers.  The orange reminds me of the robes worn by Buddhist monks and Jeanne-Claude and Christo's 2010 Central Park art installation, The Gates.  It's Japanese Torii and Fuyu Persimmons.  It's shocking, gorgeous, and it lights up the room.

The arrangements were created by Jesse Bailey of Jack Lucky Floral in Alexandria, VA.  Bright citrus shades, always appropriate to lift a pale winter mood, draw the eye to the center of each table as one soaks in the enlivened colors dotting the room.  Large silver cachepots anchored the mounded orange Ranunculus and Free Spirit roses, yet allowed the sightlines to remain open for conversation.

Can we talk a minute about those cane back chairs?  All at once, they're incredibly retro and yet so much more noteworthy than the oh-so-typical ladderback ballroom chair that one so often sees as these events.  The wood stain ends up echoing the bronze statues more perfectly than should be allowed.  But in the end, the cerulean velvet cushions win the day, bringing an unexpected note of color - and one's gaze - down, elevating the humdrum black and white floors.

The plates and silver are, of course, lovely, but since I lack information about them, we need to talk about the linens upon which they sat.  The head table, as you see above, was swathed in the same cerulean velvet that covers the chair pads.  It provides a visual anchor at the front of the room and breaks up the monotony of grey columns and creme walls.

The many individual tables, though, are where the real triumph is to be found.

This is no play out of the written rules.  The table linens tie the entire product together effortlessly.  One could easily overlook them except for the fact that they combine the bronzed metallics echoed by the chairs and statuary, the cerulean blue evoked in the chairs and head table, and the creme that suffuses the room's natural, staid decor.

I can only believe that they were custom work that was commissioned for the occasion because if this design existed beforehand, it's Kismet that they found their way into this overall look.

All too often the word "triumph" is tossed around regarding a design.  I cannot but think that this was a 12th round knockout won by the designers.  Gone are the expected reds, whites, and blues.  In their place, a bold, wholly interesting look animates and energizes a space distinctly lacking in visual spice.  The colors are optimistic, unifying, and the kind of audacious desertion of the same old same old we have come to expect in the land of Brooks Brothers suits and flag lapel pins.