Perhaps it's something about being a design duo, but Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana don't do things by halves, least of all parties. D&G's celebrations are legendary, and so it was on Monday night, as fashion week wound down, that the two found themselves at the helm of the hottest ticket in town, the opening of the Extreme Beauty in Vogue photography exhibition.
The exhibition, curated by Anna Wintour and featuring nearly 100 photos by Annie Leibowitz, Irving Penn and Helmut Newton, among others, was certainly a worthy cause for celebration, as was the launch of Dolce & Gabbana's new make-up line and the presence of its muse, Scarlett Johansson. She, of course, was the guest of honour at the party, which took place in a gigantic plastic tent set up outside the exhibition's home in the Palazzo della Ragione in the shadow of Milan's central landmark, the Duomo cathedral.
Star Struck
Guests sipped prosecco and cocktails and munched on smoked salmon canapes and mushroom quiche after being the lucky first few to check out the exhibition. The overall favourite that night? "Irving Penn" said Scarlett Johansson - and that sentiment was echoed by every single other star I spoke to, including Claudia Schiffer and Orlando Bloom. "I think Penn's unbelieveably prolific," gushed Bloom. "I didn't realise he'd done so much."
Bloom spent much of the evening either occupied with his Blackberry or in finding another drink, although he did make time for some shop talk with Eva Mendes. The two had a very animated discussion about working as an actor, Mendes telling Bloom about a film she might be working on - "it's not the best film" - and that she likes to be directed. "Perhaps it's because I'm Cuban." Bloom, for his part, expressed his dismay with producers who, apparently, had been "taking over my life".
The actors weren't the only clique around. Claudia Schiffer, Nadia Auermann and Eva Herzigova spent the evening in a supermodel pow-wow, Schiffer and Auermann breaking into German on occasion.
Being the star of the show, Johansson, of course, was talking to everybody, but spent much of her time in the protective care of Domenico Dolce, who at one point introduced her to a group of young men he called his friends. "I'm Scarlett," she said, holding out her hand. Frieda Pinto stuck close to her too, and when Johansson turned around and suggested they all go for dinner, Pinto nodded and followed eagerly.
Kate Hudson - who had been backstage at the Dolce & Gabbana show earlier in the day, snapping pictures of the designers with her own compact camera - arrived late in the evening, as did Alice Dellal and Peaches Geldof. So what was the most beautiful thing Dellal had seen that day? "That girl right there," she said, laughing and pointing at Geldof.
