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Royal Blush
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTAs, for short) have traditionally suffered from a Sally Field complex—but we like you, we really do. How could we not, with Prince William named the organization’s new president? When he walked the red carpet last night, the dapper royal incited a near riot—drawing screams a notch higher than even Robert Pattinson managed to elicit. William started his new tenure by delivering an award (beat that, Oscars), and the lucky recipient of his affection was Vanessa Redgrave. She blushed like a little girl when he gave her the British Academy Fellowship—a strange reaction from an actress who has built a secondary career in bashing the monarchy. Oh well, all’s fair in love and war.
The ceremony attracted a constellation of stars: Kate Winslet and Uma Thurman flew the flag for U.K. designers in Stella McCartney and Burberry, respectively. Vera Farmiga and Audrey Tautou wore Marchesa and Lanvin, and newly blonde pixie Carey Mulligan owned the red carpet in Vionnet. We caught up with the Leading Actress-winning star of An Education to ask her how she would top this magnificent dress at the Oscars. She responded with a wink: “I would tell you…but that means I would have to, well, you know how the saying goes.” Right then, better keep it a secret.
—Afsun Qureshi Continue reading
The Sunday Funnies
It was an invitation that seemed too good to be true: Mulberry invites you to a special live performance of the band Delphic at Kensington Palace (yes, the Kensington Palace) to celebrate the label’s Fall offerings. The line outside the gate was dozens deep, and this reporter was initially denied entry, until a publicist came to fetch me. Once inside the palace’s Orangery, there was but a single bar. “I saw someone steal a bottle of Champagne, and I thought, good for them,” said Alexa Chung, who co-hosted with designer Emma Hill. But beyond stolen cocktails, there was much to be distracted by: face painters, glittery oversize leopards, and, of course, the Kensington Gardens. “I’m scared to go in there,” Trish Goff told us. “What happens if I don’t come out?”
Goff needn’t have worried, as her driver found her and whisked her to much more familiar territory: the Ivy Club, where Matthew Williamson was having his post-show soirée. Sienna Miller was his belle of the ball. “I’m so proud to introduce you to Maureen,” the actress beamed, walking Williamson’s mother around the party. “This is the special lady that, if you think about it, we have to thank for tonight!” Later, Miller joined the designer in the DJ booth to help pick the evening’s many tunes, and as the night wore on, all of the cool kids—from Leigh Lezark to Jodie Harsh—hit the dance floor, and hard. “I work hard and I play hard,” Williamson said. “Today was work, and tonight is play!” He wasn’t kidding.
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
The Night Before the BAFTAs
For more than a decade, the movie industry’s modern Renaissance man Charles Finch has hosted a pre-BAFTAs dinner at Annabel’s. Invitations are hard to come by, the dress code is strictly enforced (Chanel helps the ladies with that), and the cocktail hour swells with all sorts of fancy film folk: Thandie Newton, Kristin Scott Thomas (in Lanvin), Claire Danes, Tom Ford, and Rosamund Pike were all in the crowd last night. “Crowd” being the operative word. Wes Anderson joked, “I don’t think it’s that I’m claustrophobic, it’s that it feels sort of dangerous to stand here.” Lily Allen added that no matter how many times she’s been in situations like this, she needs a little bit of liquid courage to fit in. “This is the third year in a row I’ve been to this dinner,” she told her friend and escort Kim Jones, “and I still don’t know what to say half the time. Maybe after a few drinks it’ll be easier.” Apparently it was: Before the night was over, Allen and Alexa Chung split a DJ set.
Allen’s nerves notwithstanding, what’s made this night so special for 11 straight years is its casual, calm-before-the-storm spirit. Ford and Anderson swapped Texas youth stories; Elizabeth Saltzman Walker gave Tamara Mellon some advice on living in New York; and Natalia Vodianova, who had just appeared on Jonathan Ross’ television show the night before talking about the half-marathon she’s running next month, got some tips on public speaking from Tracey Emin. In fact, by the time Paloma Faith got up on a chair for an impromptu performance, Carey Mulligan had forgotten that in 24 hours she may—or may not—have a BAFTA for her bookshelf. “Tonight is all about fun—and pepper vodka,” Finch joked. “Tonight, we are still all winners!”
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
The White Party
New York fashion week, ladies and gentlemen, is officially over. “That’s something to celebrate!” cheered Calvin Klein Collection’s
Francisco Costa at his post-show bash last night. “For me, though, the real party is tomorrow, when I sleep late and actually have a weekend.” The way the drinks were flowing, it didn’t look like anyone else was in the mood to wait to unwind.
The former studio of the late interiors guru Robert Isabell, a man known for his outlandish event schemes, was the party spot. “I wonder what this place looked like before they Calvinized it,” Visionaire‘s Cecilia Dean said. “I would’ve loved to look at some of the things he kept in here.” Not a chance; in keeping with Costa’s spare collection, the decor consisted of nothing but fire pits, white couches, and stars like
Kate Bosworth,
Isabel Lucas,
and
Naomi Watts, all in the designer’s wares.
But the actress
Melissa George saw some possibilities. “Back home in Australia, we do this thing called a snowball, where the girls stay on the wall and the boys roller-skate past to pick them up,” she explained. “Do you think I could get the guys at Calvin Klein to do a party like that?”
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
Costume Drama
Last night’s Vogue-hosted party for the new Quicktake: Rodarte exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum offered further proof of
Kate and Laura Mulleavy‘s
magnetic pull: They had lured a sizable contingent of their downtown followers into really uncharted territory, i.e., all the way up to 91st Street.
Among the well-wishers was
Natalie Portman,
who recalled wowing her The Other Boleyn Girl co-star Scarlett Johansson the first time she wore Rodarte. “I remember at the premiere she looked at the dress, and she’s like, ‘Oh my God, that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,’ ” Portman said.
Kirsten Dunst,
another devoted fan, got turned on to the sisters well before Portman. “We started a friendship via letters and random, whimsical little gifts and packages—birds on strings, little fairy villages to put together,” she recounted. Opening Ceremony’s Humberto Leon, a classmate of the sisters at UC Berkeley, recalled the Mulleavys watching horror movies, studying art history, and working student jobs at the science building. “What I like about them is that it really was never about fashion specifically. It’s always been about a greater idea,” he said.
“I don’t think our maturity level has progressed at all since college,” Kate Mulleavy added. “It’s good to stay true to who you are. In order to be creative, you can’t lose that.”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
It’s All Over Now
Why does
L’Wren Scott like to throw a party on the final night of fashion week? Because that’s when the movers and shakers can really cut loose, of course. On Thursday night, all went according to Scott’s plan: Kenmare, the
Nur Khan and
Paul Sevigny hot spot that has been fashion party central all week, was elbow to elbow with industry A-listers getting down and drinking up, post-show fatigue be damned. “Actually, this is my first night out,” said model turned actress/director
Rie Rasmussen.
“I figured this would be a good one. I even got dressed up!” Indeed, Rasmussen was looking pretty on-trend in a high-neck Antonio Berardi blouse with slashed sleeves, though her miniskirt flew in the face of the longer hemlines that have been showing up on the Fall ’10 runways.
Downstairs, Scott herself could be found shaking a leg with her beau,
Mick Jagger,
as the likes of
Michael Stipe and Olivier Zahm looked on. Jagger continued to grind his famous hips as Scott, beacon-like in a metallic sheath, addressed the potential logistical hazards of long skirts. “Sure, they might drag on the ground and get dirty,” she acknowledged between dance steps, “but that’s why you have a good dry cleaner! And you can always hold up the skirt,” she added, pretending to gather a few folds of fabric in her hands, “and do one of these…” At that, Scott gave her pretend dress a little shimmy, a move that earned her an approving grin and a shoulder shake from Jagger. Moral: It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing, as long as you’ve got a good dance partner.
—Maya Singer Continue reading
Fashion Fêtes Film
In case we forgot, some of the Hollywood actresses who descend on New York fashion week also have a day job: i.e., selling movie tickets. Demi Moore was able to combine business and pleasure over the last couple of days, making a front-row appearance at Donna Karan on Monday and attending the Cinema Society-hosted premiere of her film Happy Tears at the MoMA last night. “That was just for fun,” Moore said of supporting her friend Karan. “This is work—not that I’m complaining about my job or anything!” For this particular gig, Moore plays Laura, one of two sisters—the other is portrayed by Parker Posey—who come back to the family home to assess the health of their father (Rip Torn). Not to give too much of the plot away, but more than one person remarked on the appropriateness of the casting of perennial off-screen naughty boy Torn.
After the screening, the crew moved to the uptown outpost of Mr. Chow. The place was packed, and with seating only available for the cast, many guests received an impromptu lesson on how to eat messy gourmet Chinese food on their feet. “As a model, you get really good at it,” Angela Lindvall explained. “And we’re good at standing in heels all night.” It was the second skill that Posey could have used; toward the end of the night, she plunked herself down at a table and kicked off her stilettos. “These shoes are not nearly as comfortable as the ones I wear in the film,” she said, referring to an important prop in the movie. “But don’t spoil that for anybody—they’ll have to see the movie themselves!” After fashion week, of course.
A few blocks over, on Fifth Avenue, fashion was mingling with some other movie types. Martin Scorsese, Isabella Rossellini, and Leonardo DiCaprio will be at the premiere of Shutter Island tonight, but first, Roberta Armani wanted to host a cocktail party for them at Armani Ristorante. As is often the case when it comes to the Armani group and Hollywood heavyweights, there was a family feel: “Martin and Mr. Armani have known each other for many years,” said Roberta, adding that Shutter Island “really is an example of Martin at the top of his game.” Another one to put on our viewing list—post-fashion week, that is.
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
After Burn
Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy conjured up some wizardry for the runway yesterday, then pulled another rabbit out of their hat at the after-party—namely Bono, who “crashed” the pair’s East Village shindig. “It’s a little awesome,” Kate giggled, after making a pit stop at the table where the U2 front man had installed himself between Karen Elson and Irina Lazareanu. Apparently, editor Jefferson Hack had tipped off the pop star about the Pasadena girls who don’t do things like everyone else. Per usual, the Mulleavys had brought a bunch of their West Coast friends with them and economized by renting an apartment they’d found online: “Really grand and ridiculous, fake Fragonard on the walls,” as Laura described it. They’d eaten tacos and watched the Olympics there before heading out to their bash at Avenue A’s Black Market. That sounds adorably low-key, until you realize that among the well wishers were Spike Jonze, Kirsten Dunst, and the Olsen sisters.
Libertine’s Johnson Hartig took over the playlist in an attempt to get some dancing started downstairs, while Natalie Portman lingered upstairs with her boyfriend, that day’s Rodarte show still on her mind. “It was magic, especially when they came out in the glowing heels,” she enthused. The gorgeous invitations had been hand-dipped in wax—but that was news to Portman, who only recalled getting hers by e-mail. “Now I’m going to make them give me one!”
Meanwhile, across town, Narciso Rodriguez was sipping a martini and soaking up kudos at his after-party on the Standard’s 18th floor. Installed in a corner, he darted over to greet Cindy Sherman and David Byrne. “Cindy’s actually the inspiration for the makeup in the show,” Rodriguez revealed. No dance parties for this vet, who confessed his preferred post-show itinerary is to “go home, take my clothes off, take a shower, and then move on.” Given all the people pouring in and eager to talk to him, it didn’t seem likely he’d be able to do any of those things anytime soon.
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading