New York City hosts its fair share of glitzy celebrity-filled events, and Thursday night was no exception. If you walked through the Lower East Side in Manhattan around 7 p.m., you may have seen the commotion caused as A-listers walked the carpet.
Passers-by did a double take. A group of teenagers screeched and snapped photos on their phones.
Who was causing all this commotion? The guest wasn’t quite Beyoncé-level — but almost. With more than 2 million Instagram followers Marnie, a 14-year-old Shih Tzu, is a bonafide social media celebrity. “She’s the Beyoncé of dogs,” a teenage girl told her skeptical friend (“I think it’s just a lookalike,” he insisted).
Along with other dog celebrities, including Toast (more than 350,000 Instagram followers) and Menswear Dog (more than 275,000 followers), Marnie was in the city for a formal banquet hosted by mattress startup Casper, to celebrate the launch of its line of dog beds. The mattresses, which cost $125 for a dog that weighs less than 30 pounds and $225 for dogs up to 90 pounds, are available now.
After walking the carpet, the canine guests — or “dogfluencers” — were treated to a three-course meal (a bone appetizer, steak and sweet potatoes, followed by an dog-friendly take on an ice-cream sundae). Bow-tied waiters served each course with coordinated flourish, while a live string quartet played classical music.
For more on the event, watch the video above.