This coulda turned into New York City’s biggest wet T-shirt contest.
The 2019 Dîner en Blanc got drenched Wednesday night when more than 5,500 guests — all clad completely in white attire — got caught up in a torrential downpour.
The ninth edition of the annual al fresco feast got gate-crashed by a thunderstorm sweeping the city — forcing many frustrated foodies to evacuate Battery Park City’s Nelson A. Rockefeller Park.
The waitlist for the exclusive “rain or shine” event reached 80,000 people — so some sturdy souls chose to tough it out with umbrellas and rain ponchos. After all, they had paid $ 53 a ticket to schlep their own eats, table, chairs and tablecloths to the pop-up party. (Organizers for what’s billed as “the world’s largest dinner party” do, however, offer rental services for such things.)
“Walking through Manhattan soaking wet in a white dress is deeply liberating!” tweeted satisfied patron Elizabeth Worcester, summing up the overall vibe on social media.
“Even if it rains, we still shine! Thanks for another lovely evening,” Jeannine Payne chimed in to her pals in Noir en Blanc, a group of “4 dope brown girls who love all things Dîner en Blanc.”
The culinary concept originated in France in 1988, when founder François Pasquier told his social circle to don white for a picnic in the park — so that they would be easy to spot in the crowd at Bois de Boulogne, Untapped Cities reports.
The outdoor dinner party was such a smashing success that Pasquier prodded each guest to invite more friends the next year — and the event eventually grew into the 10,000-plus extravaganza it is today in Paris.
François’ son, Aymeric Pasquier, went on to launch Dîner en Blanc International, which grew the party to more than 80 cities and 30 countries spanning the globe.
After pitstops in Bryant Park, Governors Island, Hudson River Park and Lincoln Center, Wednesday marked the first time since 2015 that Dîner en Blanc was served in Battery Park.