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I n the 1980s, New York party girl Cornelia Guest smoked Marlboros like a chimney. She was rebellious for a debutante, but Guest was no typical society ingénue. As a teenager, she hung out with Mick Jagger and danced till dawn at Studio 54 and Odeon with Andy Warhol, who attended her 18th birthday bash along with Truman Capote and Doris Duke. For her partying ways, the press crowned her "Deb of the Decade" and voraciously covered her many late nights out. In 1983, she told a Washington Post reporter that she estimated she'd gone to 365 parties the previous year — in essence, one every day. The former deb, who turned 59 last month, is still down for a good soirée. "I love to get a house ready for a party," says Guest, now an animal rights activist and actress whose recent roles include a turn as Cassie Brooks in Ryan Murphy's cult series American Horror Stories, airing now on Hulu. In 2020, she sold her house in upstate New York and decamped for Dallas, where the climate suits her better. "People like to have fun in Texas," Guest says. She speaks with the same patrician Mid-Atlantic accent as her late mother, C.Z. Guest, a legendary socialite immortalized through the lens of photographer Slim Aarons. Her father was the late British polo champion Winston Guest. Wild-child days behind her, Guest entertains several times a month, either at her Dallas home or her East Texas ranch. "It's fun to do the flowers, think about where you're going to put people, and all the little touches for the table," she says. For a casual, seated dinner Guest hosted recently at her 1920s house in Highland Park, the table was set with dinnerware inherited from her parents. There were bone china plates depicting racehorses that belonged to Winston, along with his old polo trophies filled with vibrantly hued roses, Guest's favorite flower. The horn-handled cutlery and etched-crystal tumblers and goblets belonged to C.Z., TAUGHT MOTHER ME THINGS MY A DINNER AT HOME IN DALLAS WITH FORMER DEB OF THE DECADE CORNELIA GUEST, WHO TAKES A LEAF FROM C.Z. GUEST'S PLAYBOOK By Rebecca Sherman. Photography Afritina Coker. Stylist Brianna Larson. Hair and makeup Heather Fitzgerald. 71