I discovered something recently when interviewing eveningwear designer Naeem Khan for a Wall Street Journal Tricks of the Trade column on how he throws dinner parties.

I realized: I’ve been a complete clod all these years.

Hearing Naeem talk about the importance of plating and presentation as appetite inducers, noting that he doesn’t like to serve several things on the same plate as it’s a “nightmare,” made me think of my own parties. While the designer prefers to serve small portions on over-sized plates so the dish frames the food nicely, my presentations have been known to look like this …    

                                                                            

… which, I suspect, would qualify in Naeem’s book as a “nightmare.”

Granted, that picture was from Thanksgiving, a meal that’s often all about more, not less. But still, his advice lit a fire under my tush to step it up in the presentation department. The man designs for Beyonce and Eva Longoria, after all, so he knows a thing or two about how things should look.

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