Tickets will cost S$60, released in three phases starting Aug 1. The first phase is for previous guests; the second, from Aug 8, for those invited by team leaders; and the third phase, starting Aug 12, will be open to the waitlist which has ballooned to over 50,000 people. (That’s at least 16 times the spots available.)
Naturally, the final phase involves some quintessentially Singaporean competition to secure a ticket. Those keen to attend can try searching for and connecting with team leaders on social media or online forums in the meantime, where some may have started sharing about their role for the event.
Chiang doesn’t want Diner en Blanc’s inherent elusiveness to be a deterrent, but pique people’s curiosity and bring them together to “enjoy the secrecy” as a community trying to figure out the mystery location. And if he’s able to create an experience that guests still remember fondly 10 years from now, like previous hosts have, he’ll consider his job done.
It’s an admirable goal, in part because it feels personal. He was, after all, just becoming a teenager when the pandemic hit – an age where connection starts to shape identity and isolation hits harder.
At the same time, it is hard to overlook Diner en Blanc’s undercurrent of old-school luxury, typically associated with invite-only circles where access often depends on who you know. It feels to me at odds with Chiang’s community-driven ethos.
Or maybe that’s my millennial cynicism showing. Where I see luxury through a lens of wealth and exclusion, and instinctively question any attempt to rebrand indulgence as something egalitarian, it’s been said that Gen Z’s idea of luxury lies in “interestingness”.
They may still admire standard markers of luxury, but exclusivity alone isn’t enough. A thing becomes desirable when it tells a story, and when that story feels authentic and speaks to their identity and values.
And by that measure, Diner en Blanc’s concept fits the brief. It’s what Chiang believes his generation would call “experiential luxury”.
“It’s not about carrying a physical item, but experiencing that once-in-a-lifetime moment. It’s a core memory you make with your best friends and loved ones,” he said, hopeful that more young people will “get the idea” and attend the event.
“It’s about friends of friends – making new friends through your connections. I want to create a feeling that everybody will somehow get to know each other. If not, it will become a networking party, which I don’t want.”
When we first started talking, Chiang described himself as “an ordinary boy with extraordinary dreams”, and I found myself instantly sceptical. I’d been quick to see tone-deaf hedonism, instead of someone trying, in his own way, to carve out space for joy and connection.
An evening of unity won’t fix a “divided world”, he knows that. But in a time when it’s easier to give in to distrust and disillusionment, maybe such events do offer something simpler that we’ve long overlooked. A reminder that community, if only for a night, still matters.
Full details for Le Diner en Blanc in Singapore on Sep 6 (except for its location) can be found here.
