The original Dinner in White  held it's first event over 20 years ago in Paris, the most recent edition being held this past May. Here is the premise of the event, as described by the company who not only presents the happening but controls the *guest list.

"After Paris, Lyon, Amsterdam, Munich, Zurich, Berlin, and Montréal, New York will have at last its first Dîner en Blanc (Dinner in White) this summer."

"Thousand of people, dressed all in white, and conducting themselves with the greatest decorum, elegance, and etiquette, all meet for a mass “chic picnic” in a public space."

"Over the course of an evening, the diners enhance the function and value of their city’s public space by participating in the unexpected. Beyond the spectacle and refined elegance of the dinner itself, guests are brought together from diverse backgrounds by a love of beauty and good taste."

"The 'Dîner en Blanc' recalls the elegance and glamour of court society, and diners engage one another knowing they are taking part in a truly magical event."

"There are no disruptions: no car traffic, no pedestrian traffic — except for the occasional amazed and astonished looks from passersby at the scene unfolding before them. And we, as they, wonder whether it’s all not a dream ..."

There are two websites and a Facebook page that can be consulted.  (http://newyork.dinerenblanc.info/, http://newyork.dinerenblanc.info/) The date is set for the first New York version  (August 25th ) and perhaps all the invitations have been sent out to a secret, selective list, limited to 1,000 guests. The Paris event nowadays numbers are quoted totaling as many as 15,000.

*However, you can register for the Waiting List. In the meantime, here's a YouTube of the event in Paris by an American tourist, who so aptly mused that it could be a speed-dating event.

The New York Times story recently described the beginnings of the event thusly:

This annual event, called the Dîner en Blanc — the “dinner in white” — is like a gustatory Brigadoon, equal parts mystery, anachronism and caprice. Now attended by thousands at some of the best-known Parisian spaces, it began humbly in 1988. That year, François Pasquier, now 67, returned to Paris after a few years abroad and held a dinner party to reconnect with friends. So many wanted to come that he asked them to convene at the Bois de Boulogne and to dress in white, so they could find each other.

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