Designer (and now author) JJ Martin brought her signature brand of La Dolce Vita to Midtown New York on Thursday evening with a chic Milanese aperitivo hour. At the splashy Italian Rockefeller Center cafe Lodi, copies of her new tome Mamma Milano: Lessons From The Motherland were displayed throughout the intimate space that was playfully decorated with the vibrant and maximalist prints her label La DoubleJ is known for.
They were placed alongside pieces from her new Milan-inspired homeware collection, from the scented candles to the colorful plates that were used to serve Chef Ignacio Mattos’s Calabrian chili-flecked tuna crostini and fontina risotto.
Over cucumber-gin tonics and spritzes, guests like Jenna Lyons, Leandra Medine Cohen, and Katie Sturino mingled and congratulated the Californian native, whose book is an ode to her now-beloved motherland, Italy (she moved there in 2001). Naturally, many attendees donned La DoubleJ’s signature floor-length dresses rendered in exuberant patterns. Martin was wearing a short-sleeved A-line dress that was the first silhouette they ever did.
“Coming to a place like New York, where I’ve lived for three years, is so fun; I have so many friends here,” Martin tells Vogue. “It’s just so powerful whenever I come back to America. Even though Italy is my spiritual home, I still have America in my bones and my blood. I get so jazzed up and energized.”
Before heading out for the night, guests got to pick which copy of Mamma Milano to take home—each volume comes bound in one of three signature La DoubleJ patterns. Martin’s favorite is the cover with the yellow “Ananas” print.