StyleWhipped: Event Recap: Jeremy Argyle & The Balvenie

This past week, my husband and I hosted a fabulous little event at the Jeremy Argyle store in NYC's Soho. Joined by single malt Scotch maker The Balvenie, this party brought together friends, fashion-industry insiders, TV personalities, and Scotch drinkers alike. But first, a little background...

Recently I brought you a profile of my new favorite men's dress shirt designer, Jeremy Argyle. With a gorgeous, decked-out-in-purple store on Spring Street, owner Brian Guttman has brought to the menswear market exactly what it was missing...perfectly tailored dress shirts with thoughtful details that you could wear with a suit or with jeans, to a meeting or out at a lounge. When I first visited the store, Brian and I got talking about how great it would be to host an event together in their space. At the same time, my husband David is a passionate collector of single malt Scotch (and even had a 3-page article written about him in "Bloomberg Markets Magazine" last year...). Because of this, he has established relationships with many of the distilleries' Brand Ambassadors, including the equally-passionate Sam Simmons from The Balvenie (a collection of single malts coincidentally distilled by "David Stewart"!). Together, we all decided it would be a great pairing...Scotch and dress shirts...Soho and the fashion crowd...a warming spirit at the end of September. And so this event was created...

More than 60 people joined us to browse Jeremy Argyle's current collection and preview just some of his upcoming Fall '09 collection, which brings even more intricate details like contrasting shoulder seaming, the tiniest bit of gold thread woven through a dark plaid, as well as both bolder new prints and some serious classics like an embellishment-free-but-totally-perfect-as-is white shirt. Our guests, which ranged from Wall Streeters and attorneys to fashion editors and TV actresses, were also treated to a tasting of five fill-the-air-with-an-amazingly- rich-aroma single malts. Offered were The Balvenie's 12-year-old Double Wood, 15-year-old Single Barrel, 17-year-old Rum Cask, 21-year-old Port Wood, and their newest launch, the 17-year-old Madeira Cask bottling that very few have yet to try.

We had veteran Scotch drinkers in the crowd who were thrilled to sample the newest bottling, friends who had never had one sip of the spirit (and were, of course, quick converts after that first taste), and even a nightclub owner who was ready to place an order right then and there. Meanwhile, across the room, other guests couldn't tear themselves away from the seamingly endless array of shirts from Jeremy Argyle...I think a new devotee of the brand was created just about every other minute! I can only imagine how many returned as customers this week alone (well, actually I can imagine from the amount of emails I've gotten!).

In the end, everyone had a really good time and was so excited to attend something a little "different" from our usual packed-in-a-massive-room, vodka-sponsored fashion events. David and I have to extend personal thank-you's to Brian Guttman at Jeremy Argyle for inviting our crew into his lovely store, Sam Simmons for his extensive knowledge and making our guests feel like they were getting personal lessons in Scotch, and all of our friends and colleagues for joining us and making the night truly one-of-a-kind...