35 and Kicking

With all eyes on the L.A. art scene, MOCA had its moment in the spotlight on Saturday night, celebrating its 35th anniversary. Sponsored by Louis Vuitton, the gala evening at the Geffen Contemporary debuted the new multimedia exhibit of the late Mike Kelley, and functioned as the official welcoming party for the museum's new director, Philippe Vergne . (Jeffrey Deitch left last year.)



"That's what I call the art world," Vergne said from the stage. "I wish Mike Kelley could see this room." Kelley was the subject of the very first exhibit at the museum three and a half decades ago. Since then, MOCA has become known as the artists' museum, and Catherine Opie , Ed Ruscha , Shepard Fairey , and Doug Aitken were among the artists who turned out to support an institution just back from the brink. (Last year, financial instabilities almost forced it to merge with another museum.) Pharrell Williams and Jane Fonda were tablemates, and Katy Perry was also in the crowd. Chloë Sevigny , Dianna Agron , and Haley Bennett all wore dresses from Nicolas Ghesquière's first collection for Louis Vuitton.



"Every other person here is an artist," China Chow enthused, seeing the city's resident talent in attendance. André Saraiva echoed the sentiment. "As an artist, a lot of my friends are moving here compared with New York," he said. "There is something that New York is missing lately for young artists." The night capped off with a surprise performance by Diana Ross, who rather fittingly sang "I'm Coming Out," bringing partygoers to their feet.

—Alexis Brunswick

The Year Adidas Popped

And the winner is…

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The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

In the supremely enchanting setting of the Hotel Bel-Air, friends and fans toasted Nicholas Kirkwood last night in his first stateside event since becoming part of the LVMH family. "I think here in L.A. there's a good reason to wear high heels because no one has to walk anywhere," the designer said, as the likes of Liz Goldwyn , Katherine Ross , and China Chow took in his new collection. "I think here it's sneakers or it's your going-out shoes. It's good for me because I like to design those going-out shoes," Kirkwood added.



Hosts Emma Roberts and Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears welcomed the Brit to town, alongside photographer and filmmaker Todd Cole , stylist B. Akerlund , and Rachel Zoe . It being L.A., talk inevitably turned to red-carpet dressing and the necessity of celebrity to designers today. "I think it's becoming more and more important for me," Kirkwood said of the evening part of his collection, which caters to this clientele. For the red carpet, heels must be lighter and simpler. "But there's no dumbing down the collection to do it," he said of the process. "That's a very interesting exercise to me." And Kirkwood remains committed to it: He hinted that a Los Angeles flagship (the designer already has stores in Las Vegas and New York) is in the cards.

—Alexis Brunswick

Cornrows

NT

Dinner With Dries

Barneys New York CEO Mark Lee hosts work events at his sprawling Chelsea penthouse when the occasion is "special," he explained last night, and Dries Van Noten coming to town certainly qualified as that. Hence the presence of Maggie Gyllenhaal , an avowed fan of Van Noten's, and many of the big wheels responsible for keeping the New York fashion world rolling.



The reason for the gathering was Dries Van Noten: Inspirations, the remarkable show now running in Paris at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Barneys has just unveiled an Inspirations-inspired window display of its own, complete with original films by Andrew Zuckerman. It's also the exclusive vendor of the luxury edition of the exhibition catalog, which comes with an extra volume of archive dresses and a saucy belt holding the whole thing together.



Pamela Golbin , the show's curator, praised Van Noten for "letting everyone into his private world." Indeed, rarely has a designer pulled the curtain back quite this far while still in the game. "There's a lot of superstition in fashion," Golbin added, noting that Christian Dior rarely made a move without consulting a clairvoyant. "If you show how it works, will it still work afterward?"



Van Noten, for his part, acknowledged the show was "kind of a big step," and the fact that some of the colleagues who helped him on it were born after his first collection made it seem even bigger. His latest initiative, for the show's subsequent stint in Antwerp, is tracking down clothes from his earliest collections. "As a young designer, of course, every garment means money. You sell as much as you can," Van Noten said. Later on, if you're lucky, you buy them back.



Inès de la Fressange , meanwhile, hosted a dinner over at Mari Vanna, where the likes of Anh Duong , Alexis Bittar , and Ambra Medda clinked glasses over the Spring 2014 Vivier's Codes collection for Roger Vivier.

—Darrell Hartman

Palm Tree Prints

Runway Rookies

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Meet Cute

The Cinema Society screened Divergent last night, a dystopic teen action flick starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James , based on the massively successful books by Veronica Roth . One hundred years after what is referred to as "The War," society is divided into factions—warriors, intelligentsia, farmers, and so forth—and the plot kicks off when Woodley's character, Beatrice, discovers that she is "divergent." Unable to be categorized, Beatrice becomes an enemy of the state. In one pivotal scene, she eschews the dowdy, drab clothes of her peasant upbringing by tossing them into an incinerator. As she grows into her role as heroine, she adopts sleek, sporty ribbed knits and pants with articulated seams—the better to fight in.



Woodley wore an Elie Saab jumpsuit with metallic Brian Atwood pumps to the screening, and in a tender moment, pulled off her heels on the red carpet after finishing her video interviews: "Well, I already passed all the cameras!" For the after-party at The Wayfarer, she made a costume change into a slouchy camo tee, leggings, and Converse. She told Style.com, "I ate a lot of dinner tonight and just needed to relax. You always have to bring a change of clothes to the party!" James, Woodley's costar, seemed genuinely smitten: "Sometimes in movies, if women are trying to become strong or tough, they have to almost become a male archetype—Shailene is strong, without sacrificing her femininity."

—Todd Plummer

Deep Blue Sea

The Supreme Glamour of Diana Ross

AF1 Ready for Takeoff

"Naked. In a bathtub. With pride," said Ladyfag . "At school. Or going out," said Harry Brant . "With leggings. And a big sweater," said Jamie Bochert . Nike celebrated its capsule collection by Riccardo Tisci last night with a party at 151 Wooster, the pop-up space where the shoes will go on sale this weekend. Q-Tip was on the decks and Team Tisci was busy comparing how they plan to wear their Nike R.T.s. "It means everything to see people actually wearing the shoes on the street because I came from the street," Tisci told Style.com. "Since my childhood, I know what it's like when you love something and you can't reach it financially. That's why this is such a beautiful project."



The designer recalled his first Nike's, a pair of blue-and-white Air Force 1's. That memory informed the collaboration: "I chose to do an R.T. Air Force 1 because it's a classic shape with so much history. I did an all-white or all-black base, with a mask of graphic, pop colors over it. People know me for my dark side, but I do also have a happy side, celebration side, pop side."



Dark or happy, Tisci isn't shy about his influence. When asked why he thought sneakers were such a big part of the fashion conversation right now, he said, "It's because of me. Last year [when] we announced Nike + R.T.s, the fashion world went voom. It's the first time in history that a couturier is doing a project talking to the world of the streets, the young generation. Now that I'm working with Nike, it opened so many minds in fashion. And some big designers—I don't want to mention names—admitted that I opened their eyes."

—Todd Plummer

NT

Socks With Sandals—It's Happening!

Passion Project

Arden Wohl summoned a group of friends to Hecho en Dumbo on the Bowery last night to see her new Fall collection for Cri de Coeur vegan footwear. Her pal Derek Blasberg hosted, Eleanor Friedberger and Ariel Pink performed, and each pair of shoes was displayed under a bell jar terrarium. "I want the presentation to feel like Dante Gabriel Rossetti hanging out in Tennyson's living room," Wohl told Style.com.



Socialite projects can sometimes seem insincere, but this is definitely a cause Wohl cares about deeply. "Chic vegan shoes—except for Stella McCartney's—really just don't exist," Wohl said. "Shoes have been made from leather from the beginning of time, so it feels really huge to be changing that in a way that's high fashion." Jessica Stam , Tennessee Thomas , James Kaliardos, and Dustin Yellin all raised a margarita in support of ethical footwear.

—Todd Plummer

Most Wanted

Everybody's All-American

Motor City pride was in the air on Friday night at Shinola's Tribeca flagship, where the brand was celebrating its new Bruce Weber -lensed, Carolyn Murphy -fronted campaign, "The Spirit of Detroit." Shinola sold 50,000 American-made watches last year, and even had to add a night shift of watchmakers in order to keep up with demand. Said one editor at the party: "Well, I've never been to Detroit, but it sounds like there's more going on over there than we think!"



Weber says he has a soft spot for the Michigan city—"great hot dogs and really great jazz clubs!" he told us—having first visited it for a Kate Moss shoot in 2006. And despite having worked with Murphy for some twenty years, shooting her in Detroit felt fresh. Said Weber: "In the spring and summer, the people barbecue all along the streets, and they will just stand up and sing. I like going to places where the people are so open." Murphy added, "Meeting the people in Detroit and visiting the Shinola factory, there's more of a visceral feeling to the campaign than just the image. It's really a snapshot of an American revival."

—Todd Plummer

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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex

Shia LaBeouf wasn't on hand in another bid to make the paper bag acceptable red-carpet attire, but last night's New York premiere of Nymphomaniac: Vol. 1 at MoMA had plenty else going for it. To wit, nearly all of the film's other stars: Charlotte Gainsbourg , Uma Thurman , Stellan Skarsgård , Christian Slater , and Stacy Martin . Supporters like Emmy Rossum , Michael Shannon , and Kathleen Hanna turned out, too. Lars von Trier's latest flick offers an explicit look at one woman's sexual escapades from birth to age 50 (Vol. 1 takes us to her mid-20s). So unsurprisingly, the cast's primary task ended up being in-depth clarifications to eager members of the press about the mechanics of on-screen intercourse. Martin, 23 and plucked from obscurity for the title role, explained with a patience and poise that would give Grace Kelly a run for her money about porn doubles and prosthetic genitalia. Skarsgård offered up a few pragmatic words for the film's critics ("It treats sexuality like normal human behavior, which it is. Most of us have been there, done that") and pithily dismissed any comparisons to standard skin flicks: "You can't wank to this."



By the time guests trickled over to an after-bash at Butter's Midtown outpost, many of them were still in hot debate about whether or not certain acts were simulated. (A disclaimer in the film's credits vows that they were.) Others bemoaned a distinct lack of Willem Dafoe, who lent his best climax face to Nympho's posters but doesn't appear in the first installment. Once again, the film's stars offered a bit of clarity about what makes the subject matter work. "Lars doesn't do many rehearsals. If he does rehearsals, he captures those rare moments of illumination," Martin said. Slater concurred: "The most difficult thing is finding directors you feel comfortable and safe enough with to work with, that you want to take those chances for. Lars is that guy."

—Kristin Anderson

Out for Blood

"Hey, man, let's make a vampire movie." Those were words spoken nearly a decade ago by Jim Jarmusch to Tilda Swinton , and they came full circle last night as the Cinema Society and W hosted a screening of the resulting flick, Only Lovers Left Alive, at Sunshine Cinemas. Swinton and costar Tom Hiddleston play inarguably the coolest cinematic bloodsuckers since Deneuve and Bowie's fanged turns in The Hunger. If teenybopper vamp fare of recent years has perhaps decimated public taste for the genre, it turns out that Jarmusch is just the man to rejuvenate it. Steve Buscemi , David Byrne , Patti Smith , Maria Cornejo, and Joel Coen all turned out to raise a glass at Broome Street's newest addition, Chalk Point Kitchen, where the cozy basement bar reverberated with camera flashes until late into the evening. Peter Sarsgaard , belly up at the bar, professed his love for the film, as Smith and Jarmusch waxed poetic about Detroit, where much of the movie is set. More than a few revelers murmured over the din about Hiddleston's oft-shirtless performance as the depressive undead musician. Swinton, for her part, said her preferred vamp is Christopher Lee (aka Saruman from The Lord of the Rings), and offered some advice on keeping a centuries-long romance alive: "Try not to mess with people and edit them, or edit yourself." Vampires: They're just like us.

—Kristin Anderson

Tattoo You

Emmy Rossum got the nape of her neck tattooed last night at Art Production Fund's White Glove Gone Wild benefit. "I have to do Kelly & Michael tomorrow morning," she told Style.com, "so I figure I'll wear my hair down, because if my mom sees me on television with a tattoo, she might disown me." Not to worry, Ma, the tattoo was only temporary. With artist Wangechi Mutu designing the tats, plenty of people in the crowd, which included Marina Abramovic , Dita Von Teese , Dianna Agron , and Karlie Kloss , were eager to get inked. "Can they make me a bracelet with a 'CH' on it?" asked Carolina Herrera , one of the gala's honorees. Max Snow , however, wasn't allowed near the station. "He has too much ink already. I put a cap on it," said his wife, Vanessa Traina Snow .



In addition to honoring Herrera and Linda Yablonsky , APF enlisted top-tier talent to collaborate on the party. Marilyn Minter was on hand to do portraits of guests (for $1,000 a pop); Vanessa Beecroft did her first New York performance since 2009; and Aurel Schmidt designed the table centerpieces. On top of that, Jeff Koons, Enoc Perez, and Ugo Rondinone all donated pieces for the live auction, which raised more than $100,000. The evening started to wind down around 11. "My table started to talk about orgies," one male guest reported. "I decided it was a good time for me to go."

—Kristin Tice Studeman

Insta-Memories

LVMH

Is It Spring Yet?

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Frisco Kids

Thomas Wolfe famously wrote that "you can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood." But tell that to Dylan Penn and Lily Kwong , both of whom returned to their beloved San Francisco on Saturday night to attend the annual Mid-Winter Gala at the Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museums. "It's my first time at this event, even though I'm a San Francisco native," Kwong told Style.com. "Plus I get to see my parents, so this is the perfect weekend in my mind." Also making her way back to SF was Camilla Belle , clad in the night's sponsor, Salvatore Ferragamo, which just opened its newly renovated store on Post Street. "I haven't been here in ten years," Belle shared. "The last time I was here I was looking at colleges. This time I did a lot of the touristy things, like walking though Chinatown and riding the cable cars. I'll definitely be back." Other guests seen mingling inside the marbled courtyard of the museum included Dita Von Teese , co-chair Vanessa Getty , and tech titans Marissa Mayer and Jony Ive . "Tonight was quintessentially San Francisco," Getty said. "Amazing art surrounded by the breathtaking architecture of the Legion and incredible views of the Bay."

—Azadeh Ensha

The Wild Ones

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Ghesquière's Vision for Louis Vuitton

Goude Till the Last Drop

After a month of shows, it takes something pretty exceptional to lure the exhausted fashion pack out at night. Fortunately, the dinner that André Saraiva hosted at Caviar Kaspia had a few things going for it: the restaurant's famous baked potato with caviar, Saraiva's notoriously hard-to-resist charm, and—above all—the chance to meet a genuine legend. That would be Jean-Paul Goude , the groundbreaking photographer who collaborated with Saraiva on the latest issue of the latter's magazine, L'Officiel Hommes. Throw in a crowd that included Olympia Le-Tan , Victoire de Castellane , and Lindsey Wixson , her hair still in cornrows from a shoot earlier in the day, and guests ending up staying until late—even though they all had to be up bright and early the next morning for Nicolas Ghesquière's debut at Louis Vuitton.

—Style.com staff

LV Juergen 54

LV Juergen 12

Go Fetch

It was hard to say what the biggest attraction was at the Paris dinner Farfetch's José Neves hosted to welcome Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz and her D'NA boutiques to his digital shopping platform. There was the location—a grand private residence on the historic Place des Vosges, complete with artwork by Gilbert & George and a mirrored ceiling that made the already double-height room stretch to the heavens. There was the fashion insider crowd that included contingents of designers from the U.K. (Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos , Roksanda Ilincic , Mary Katrantzou ) and the U.S. (Prabal Gurung , Creatures of the Wind's Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters ). And most of all, perhaps, there was the guest of honor herself, a whirlwind of energy in an intricately embroidered dress and matching cape straight off Katrantzou's Fall runway. "Look," said Abdulaziz, pointing to the exercise-monitoring Up band that nestled on her wrist among half a dozen more expensive trinkets. "I've done 8,000 steps today." And that was before the dancing part of the evening began.

—Style.com staff

The Young Ones

"We chose the Rex Club to celebrate the collection because it's fun and industrial and it sort of extends the theme we've been working on. Also because my Paris friends told me no one's really come here in, like, fifteen years," said Humberto Leon of his and Carol Lim 's choice of the underground boîte as Kenzo's after-party spot. If Leon's sources were right, then last night would have marked a first for just about everyone in the place, save perhaps a few local insiders like André Saraiva, Olympia Le-Tan , and a stylist or two. The deeply hip, young crowd included Jessica Alba , Henry Holland , Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Dion Lee, Mademoiselle Yulia , and Monique Péan.



Jungle headlined a musical lineup that also featured chart-topping U.K. import Katy B . "I was supposed to be on vacation now, but I couldn't say no to Kenzo," she told a packed house before launching into her set. Leigh Lezark and Geordon Nicol of The Misshapes, Opening Ceremony friends from back in the early days, were also on hand to celebrate. "They have just totally reinvented Kenzo in the best way possible. More than any other New Yorkers, Humberto and Carol just know how to tap into youth. They are their own creative hub," said Nicol. Added Lezark, "They just love to be at work, plus they're really having fun. There's no fancy thing, they just want people to let their hair down—and that's what this week needs!"

—Tina Isaac-Goizé

The 86th Annual Academy Awards

Enjoy this slide show of looks from the red carpet at the Academy Awards, and check back later for our full report.

Print's Not Dead

Porter magazine's third—and biggest—launch party of the season, in Paris this time, took place at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, the neo-Louis XVI hôtel particulier that was once the home of Adèle de Rothschild. And to underscore its hominess, Natalie Massenet and the Porter team brought in an interior decor complete with two Irish wolfhounds lazing in the foyer and posh wheels parked in the courtyard. As anyone tracking Instagram feeds will have seen by now, several bold-faced personalities were having a blast splaying themselves across the hoods of those cars, even before they lifted their first glass of champagne.



And the bubbly flowed amply as Massenet and Porter editor-in-chief Lucy Yeomans welcomed a host of friends and family—a fashion elite composed of designers, photographers, models, artists, actresses, and "everyone who inspires us," as Massenet put it.



One talking point among those present, including Isabel Marant , Peter Dundas , Anthony Vaccarello, Edie Campbell , Izabel Goulart , Phillip Lim, Richard Chai, Olivier Theyskens, Charlotte Dellal , and Kristin Scott Thomas , was the new book, of course, but also how Massenet has already changed their lives with Net-a-Porter. "I have three kids. If I shop anywhere, it's online," said Dellal. Goulart concurred: "I just don't have time for anything else." Commented Yeomans: "Porter will always be two steps ahead, but it's like a best friend. You don't tell your best friend, 'You have to be a goth virgin.' You tell her what she needs to know." Added Massenet, "And the day she wants to download her shopping in a microwave oven, we'll be there. Thirty seconds—ding!"



"Lots of magazines out there talk to women who are using their husband's credit cards," observed Caroline de Maigret, who was featured in the first issue. "To me, Porter is talking to the ones who wield their own." Speaking of owning, Hurricane RiRi touched down sometime after 1 a.m.—and judging by early morning's un-Instagrammed faces, this party was one for the record books.

—Tina Isaac-Goizé

A Winning Combination

Despite a still-soggy forecast, it was a bright night at the annual Charles Finch and Chanel pre-Oscars dinner at Madeo. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley arrived early with stylist Cher Coulter, while Sienna Miller , Anne Hathaway , André Balazs, Crystal Renn , and Naomie Harris mixed with the crowd of starlets, socials, and dealmakers. Alice Eve joked on her way in that she was just there for the Italian dinner, while Caroline Sieber gave up Paris fashion week to attend the weekend's festivities. "It's an exciting change of pace," Sieber said of her last-minute trip to Tinseltown.



As Poppy Delevingne talked animatedly with Rachel Zoe at the bar, a crowd including Julie Delpy , Oliver Stone, and Helena Christensen packed into the space. Greta Gerwig , though lamenting the weekend's many costume changes, was excited to be wearing Chanel for the very first time. "Chanel always seems like the most iconic to me," she said, before showing pictures of her Narcisco Rodriguez Oscars dress to Emilia Clarke . Clarke had her own take on the awards show circuit. "I'm getting used to it," she said. "But I take that back. No, you're never going to get used to it."

—Alexis Brunswick

Matchmaker, Matchmaker…

Talk about meet cute. It just so happens that two icons—one by way of Tokyo, the other L.A.—are celebrating big birthdays this year: Hello Kitty is 40; Playboy is 60. An unconventional pairing, to be sure, but with a little of Colette's magic in the mix, the couple has become an instant hit. Last night, matchmaker Sarah Andelman welcomed Yuko Yamaguchi (one of the cartoon's original designers, accompanied by Miss Kitty in person), Playboy brass, and a host of fashion folks to the Crazy Horse to fete the new couple with a dual birthday bash, complete with PG-rated dance numbers. "People thought I was crazy," said Andelman, "but now everyone agrees they look amazing together." The fused logos—Hello Kitty with bunny ears, and the famous rabbit sporting Hello Kitty's hair ribbon—are now appearing on more than a dozen or so limited-edition products, available only at Colette. Among them are a Charvet bow tie, boxers, and a Leica camera, as well as a Caron powder puff and lollipops; there will even be a cameo in the pages of Hef's famed title.



Through her translator, Yamaguchi said she found the show and bash "exciting and lively" and dubbed Hello Kitty's new iteration "really sexy cool." Designer Julien David , who splits his time between Paris and Tokyo, said, "Hello Kitty is a mega-star in Tokyo; she's everywhere—I think they make a good match because they're ageless." Carven designer Guillaume Henry had a slightly different take: "I believe that opposites attract. They're both icons, but they have nothing in common. I'm always more intrigued by a couple's differences than similarities, so I love the whole idea of sexy kawaii."

—Tina Isaac-Goizé

Picture Perfect

Despite a heavy downpour, the stars aligned last night as Roberta Armani toasted Italy's cinematic achievements and the Academy Award nominations of two heavyweights. The cocktail party stood out on the weekend's social calendar, honoring Martin Scorsese 's best director nod for The Wolf of Wall Street and Italy's own Paolo Sorrentino , whose film The Great Beauty is up for best foreign language film on Sunday. Attention turned to Scorsese as he entered the Rodeo Drive flagship, greeting well-wishers including New York transplants Fran Lebowitz and Graydon Carter. Cate Blanchett elicited quite the stir as she made her way inside, radiant in an Armani Privé jumpsuit. "I've been doing primarily theater for the last six years, so I've had a hiatus from film," Blanchett, the face of Armani's Sì campaign, said. "So it's an extraordinary and once again unexpected way to come back into the arena—I'm shocked and surprised and delighted." She's up for best actress for her buzzed-about role in Blue Jasmine.



Among a crowd that included Robert De Niro, Patricia Clarkson, Emmy Rossum , and Mamie Gummer , Samuel L. Jackson discussed his imminent trip to London to begin filming Avengers: Age of Ultron. As Glenn Close made her way to greet Scorsese, Jamie Foxx had him doubled over in laughter before his daughter asked the director to pose for a selfie. But it being Oscars weekend, talk casually veered from film to fashion. Olivia Munn remained coy about her pick for the Vanity Fair party: "It's the first dress I tried on, and it's a special dress because of the history and the story that goes with it," she said of her decision. "If everyone around me that knows fashion is happy, then I'm happy."

—Alexis Brunswick