Take us into the moments before your guests arrive. Describe where you are, what you are doing and the feeling you want to create before the evening begins.

I am usually moving between the table, the kitchen and my bedroom, adjusting the flowers, lighting the candles, changing the music and inevitably reconsidering what I am wearing at the very last minute.

I like a home to feel beautiful but never too perfect. There should be warmth, a little spontaneity and the sense that everyone can settle in and stay longer than they intended.

What I am really creating is not simply a dinner, but an atmosphere in which people immediately feel at ease.

Tell us what the season between November and December means to you personally, and how the people, memories and traditions from your life become part of it.

November and December have always felt like a time to slow down, reflect on the year and set goals for the one ahead.

I am French, but I spent so many years in America, so the season brings together traditions from both places: long dinners, Thanksgiving, family recipes, beautiful tables and friends who have become family. There is nostalgia in the season, but also the pleasure of creating new memories with my children and carrying certain traditions forward in our own way.

Describe your ritual of getting dressed for an evening, from the first instinct to the moment when the look begins to feel entirely your own.

I rarely begin with a complete look in mind. Usually, there is one piece I instinctively want to wear—a dress, a jacket, a pair of shoes—and everything develops from there.

I like the contrast between something polished and something unexpected, so even when I am wearing a very beautiful dress, I may add vintage jewelry, an oversized jacket or an accessory that makes it feel less prescribed. I always need one element that creates tension and gives the look some personality.

Bring us back to a gathering that has stayed with you. Tell us about the people, the atmosphere and the small details that made that particular evening unforgettable.

The gatherings that stay with me are rarely the most elaborate ones. I remember one evening when friends and family were all around the same table, people from completely different parts of my life who would not normally have been in the same room.

The candles had burned down, the table was covered with empty glasses and finished plates, and no one seemed interested in leaving.

There were several conversations happening at once, people changing seats and music playing in the background. Nothing about it was perfectly orchestrated, but everyone felt connected. That beautiful disorder at the end of the night is often the sign that the evening has been a good one.

Describe the quiet after everyone has left, and what you tend to carry with you from an evening spent with people closest to you.

After everyone leaves, the house becomes suddenly still. I usually keep the music playing while I collect a few glasses and look at what remains of the evening—the crumpled napkins, the melted candles, a chair left slightly away from the table. I do not rush to erase all of it because I like that small trace of what just happened.

What I carry with me is rarely one particular conversation; it is the feeling of having brought the people I love together and created a moment that belonged only to us.

There is a little sadness when an evening ends, but mostly there is gratitude.

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