How Miaou Founder Alexia Elkaim Throws An Epic Dinner Party

Alexia Elkaim knows how to make clothes an “It” girl wants to wear. As the founder and creative director behind Miaou, she’s created a cult-favorite brand that is equal parts sexy and effortless. For her, throwing the perfect dinner party is not so dissimilar.

On Thursday, August 24, Elkaim hosted an intimate gathering to celebrate the brand’s latest collection, as well as the end of summer. Instead of hosting it at some popular LA hotspot, however, Elkaim opted to welcome guests like Salem Mitchell, Sarah Staudinger, and Fai Khadra to her Hollywood Hills home for a candle-lit dinner al fresco. To co-host the evening, she enlisted friend and current face of the brand’s L’Amercaine in Paris campaign, Gabbriette Bechtel, who also curated the evening’s French-leaning menu. “To continue the narrative of the American girl in Paris, we wanted to bring Paris to Los Angeles and offer a French inspired menu — to me it's a rotisserie provencal chicken with fresh produce, greens,” Elkaim tells NYLON. “What I love about french cooking is that it's simple and fresh.”

For Elkaim, the crux of a good dinner party starts with good company (her three dream dinner guests, living or dead, are Marilyn Monroe, Vivienne Westwood, and Marie Antoinette), and the evening’s crowd also happened to be a particularly well-dressed one, showing up largely in Miaou’s latest designs. “She's a smart shopper — travels light and is intentional with what she packs in her bag,” Elkaim says of the Miaou woman. “She packs pieces that are versatile and can be worn from day to night. The collection offers more mature palettes and silhouettes for the everyday woman.”

The evening, soundtracked by “R&B, old ‘90s hip hop, and some older UK garage music,” concluded with Gabbriette’s TikTok famous grain-free vegan blackout cake. Here, the model shares the recipe, exclusively with NYLON.

GRAIN FREE VEGAN BLACKOUT CAKE

Cake:

3 tbsp ground flaxseed + 9 tbsp water

1 cup almond flour

1/4 tapioca flour

1/4 cup coconut

1 cup Dutch cacao (I used 3/4 Dutch and 1/4 black cocoa to make it extra dark)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2tsp vanilla

1/2 cup +2 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 cup avocado oil

Ganache:

1 bar of dark chocolate (about 2 oz)

1/2 cup non dairy milk

Dash of maple syrup (Should be quite liquidy, add more milk as needed)

*Double for two tiered cake

Instructions:

Whisk ground flaxseeds and water in a small bowl and set aside.

In separate bowls combine your dry and wet, add the flax egg to the wet and combine everything.

Line a 9 inch cake pan with parchment.

325F for 20-25 minutes until it’s set but not firm!

Wait for cake to cool completely before topping with ganache. Serve cold