When Alexandra O'Neill, the founder and designer behind the NYC-based fashion line Markarian (she dressed former First Lady Jill Biden for her husband's inauguration in 2021, among other accomplishments), picks up her video call, she’s coming live from South Africa—and tells me that a hyena just ran by. “We're sitting at the lodge right now, and they have a really beautiful watering hole right here that all the animals come to,” she says, promising she'll alert me to any more wildlife sightings.
O'Neill's partner lives in South Africa, so she visits the country often, but that doesn't mean she's become immune to its beauty. “Each visit is always really special,” she says. That’s also how most people would describe her designs, which are often blooming with floral prints and intricate embroidery.
O’Neill founded her line in 2017 and all of the clothing is still made right in New York City. This means she has easy access to fabric swatches to use as linens when she's creating opulent tablescapes when hosting events, something she loves to do.
Below, read our conversation about crafting the perfect holiday table and the seasonal drink O'Neill always brings to the party.
**Alexandra O'Neill: **I love it. I mean, I think it's the fact that I love dressing up so much that really kind of gets me in the mood. Decorating your house for the holidays is kind of the best way to get into the festive spirit. So I always like to do something a little bit special—I love a garland over the fireplace. I love tying ribbons into things and putting different flowers around.
Similar to what I do with Markarian, I like to layer prints on top of each other. So much of the collection is based off of prints and fabrics and embroidery and design. So I kind of approach the table that way with all these different layers. I like mixing different prints together, but obviously there has to be a common thread, so it all looks nice. You can pull different elements from the prints too, so you have the pop of color.
For a dinner at the Mayflower Inn and Spa, I did pops of red with the amaryllis, which tied back to the place tags. Then we made custom little Christmas tree ornaments.
For my recent collaboration with Woodford Reserve bourbon, I wanted to create the perfect hostess gift or host gift—a bottle you'd be excited to display it in your home. It's beautiful enough to have out on your shelf and it feels festive—you're just dying to break that bottle open and share it with your closest family and friends. It really sets the mood for the holidays, I think.
I actually approached it in a similar way to designing a dress or designing a print for a dress. Basically, at the end of the day, we're putting clothing on this bottle, right? So I wanted it to feel appropriate for Woodford, but I also wanted it to feel appropriate and look like something that would be Markarian.
So I turned to florals, which I often do for my own collection. It felt appropriate for the holidays. And since we were wrapping the bottle, I wanted it to feel like antique or vintage wrapping paper.
We got a really beautiful tour of the distillery to understand what the essence of Woodford is about, and where and how it's all made, and I love how artisanal it is. So we took some of the bourbon's tasting notes and incorporated them into the design—there's citrus, cinnamon, spice and figs. We also have our little floral stripe, which feels holiday, but not too-on-the nose holiday.
It's always delicious neat, but I have a big sweet tooth, and I absolutely love an old fashioned. My other go-to, especially during the holidays, is a hot toddy. I make a mean hot toddy—I often bring jugs of hot toddies to friends’ houses.
Obviously, you start with a really good bourbon, and then I like to cut up some lemons, and I stick little cloves and the lemon slices in there. I like to make mine with honey. So I mix some honey in there, and then basically just some hot water and a full cinnamon stick.
