Last night in Paris, mustachioed dandies welcomed guests with trays of masks and pins decorated with cartoon hearts, stars, polka dots, and heavily lashed eyes. That last bit should have been a clue to anyone who wandered into Le Trianon unawares: The fête was to celebrate Lancôme Show, the limited-edition capsule collection of eye makeup created in collaboration with Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz, who lent his signature doodles to the collection’s packaging.
Lanvin lovers like Catherine Denueve, Anna Dello Russo, and Lancôme spokesmodel Daria Werbowy came by to toast the partnership, though, in the blink of a mascara’d eye, they disappeared into the VIP area to join Elbaz. Not long before midnight, the evening’s entertainment took the stage: Sharleen Spiteri of Texas, the nineties-era Scottish alt rock band. Younger revelers scratched their heads until the sounds of Texas’ hit singles, like 1998’s chart-topping “Say What You Want,” filled the auditorium. It was a happy blast from the past, as the Lancôme Show collection itself will soon be. The limited run will not be renewed once it sells out, so once it’s gone—as it already is at many of the department store counters that received it mid-June—it’s gone.
Meanwhile, at the nineteenth-century Hôtel Potocki near the Arc de Triomphe, Bulgari was celebrating with another diva: its new Diva collection, inspired by the queens of the silver screen. Wearing a one-of-a-kind splay of gemstones known in-house as the Botticelli necklace, Bulgari gemologist Lucia Silvestri was explaining to admirers—Milla Jovovich, Bradley Cooper, and Liu Wen among them—that the piece was one of several inspired by the iconic Helmut Newton photograph of Elizabeth Taylor in her pool holding a parrot, wearing nothing but a diamond and sapphire necklace. (Bulgari repurchased that necklace at auction, in case anyone was wondering.) Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who will be the face of the Bulgari advertising campaign breaking in September, was also present, wearing the Forever Glamour necklace, a 43-carat sapphire set amid diamond and sapphire fan motifs inspired by the makeup Liz wore in Cleopatra. Fashion’s own larger-than-life diva Anna Dello Russo was looking on approvingly. “It’s a statement for strong women with a lot of character and a major lifestyle, like Elizabeth Taylor and Anna Magnani,” she said. “Who cares about the price of the stones? It’s all about la dolce vita.”