Cockatoo Island: Diner En Blanc 2016 Sydney

Last night, around 5,000 people attended the annual Dîner en Blanc event in Sydney, which was sponsored by IKEA, to whom I was lucky enough to be a VIP guest of.

Each year, thousands of guests dress up head-to-toe in white for a mass “chic picnic” which is held within a secret open-air iconic location that does not get announced until the day of. 

The event itself is rich in history, dating back 27 years ago in Paris by François Pasquier in what originally began as a “friends and word-of-mouth only” gathering. Dîner en Blanc has since grown internationally and has been hosted in incredible sites around the world including the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Hudson River Park in New York, Pershing Square in Los Angeles and Kings Cross in London.

This year, we were required to board a ferry crossing Sydney Harbour, on route to the unknown — and in good time it was finally revealed that the venue chosen was Cockatoo Island.

The table which we were sat at was beautifully styled with IKEA trimmings and as day turned to night, it was filled with a many tradition; like the twirling of the napkins before dinner commenced and the lighting of sparklers before nights end.

With all the formalities of the evening completed, guests took to the dance floor to dance under the stars, with the city skyline in the background.