Dior and Elle Host Dinner at Cannes

High above the hustle and bustle of the Croisette, guests including Harvey Weinstein, Zhang Ziyi, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Paz Vega mingled on Sunday night at a poolside cocktail and dinner hosted by Dior and Elle magazine to celebrate the Cannes Film Festival. Dior had decked out a section of the Club Costes by Albane on the rooftop of the JW Marriott hotel with a mix of exotic blooms and fake foliage inspired by the hanging garden set of its spring 2014 catwalk show. Fresh from the previous night’s

screening

of “Saint Laurent,” one of 18 films in competition for the coveted Palme d’Or prize, Jérémie Renier said he was globally pleased with critics’ reaction to the movie, the second about Yves Saint Laurent to be released this year.

“I think the film is bound to split opinion a little because it takes a stance. It’s a real film d’auteur, it’s a Bertrand Bonello movie, so he brings it his touch, his vision. I think at least it’s original. It’s not the kind of biopic people are used to seeing,” said the Belgian actor, who stars as Saint Laurent’s partner Pierre Bergé.

Renier said he played off his longtime friendship with fellow actor Gaspard Ulliel, who plays the late couturier. “I think our friendship means there is a bond that you can see onscreen and in the way I look at him,” Renier remarked. Aymeline Valade made the jump from modeling to movies to play Saint Laurent muse Betty Catroux, but she didn’t take any acting classes beforehand. “Bertrand wanted me to stay authentic,” Valade explained. “I try to be focused on what I’m doing and not to intellectualize or rationalize everything.”

The French model dyed her hair blonde for the part and has kept it that way since. “For the time being, it’s like a fetishist thing, I think, to bring the movie, I don’t know happiness? Luck?” she said. On the subject of hair, John Nollet said he was getting ready to launch a collection of haute couture hair accessories at Colette during Paris Couture Week in July. He revealed that the braid Nicole Kidman sported for the screening of “Grace of Monaco” on the opening night of the festival was actually a feather made of hair.

The one-of-a-kind pieces are handmade by couture ateliers including embroiderer Lesage and feather house Lemarié. “I want to launch this trend, especially since we have so little time to prepare actresses for the red carpet, so the more elements are prepared in advance, the more you can achieve a different effect. Otherwise, with only 20 minutes to work with, you always end up with similar looks,” Nollet explained.

Dior Hosts a Cocktail Party to Celebrate CFDA

And then a vision arrived . . . ” announced perennial party boy Harry Brant upon spotting Giovanna Battaglia in a show-stopping silver Dior mini dress at the SoHo outpost of Ladurée last night. They were just two of the many fashionable friends of Raf Simons who gathered for a post-CFDA soirée at the famed French confectionery to celebrate the Dior designer and recent recipient of the 2014 International Award.

Even artist Rachel Feinstein raced downtown after putting the finishing touches on her newest public installation Cliff House to raise a glass to the maestro. Let’s just say, if anyone can pack a room, it’s Raf. Summer arrived just in time for the festivities, gracing guests with the perfect weather for refreshing caprese salad, raspberry mojitos, and ever-flowing coups de champagne.

Brandishing matching mini Lady Dior bags and decked in the brand, Atlanta de Cadenet and Laura Love took selfies beneath the trellises in the candlelit courtyard where Shala Monroque and Stephanie LaCava, both in Dior, and Jamie Bochert, Bee Shaffer, and Vanessa Traina Snow enjoyed chilled-out tunes and macarons.

Adorations and air kisses fluttered about the star-studded crowd all night, where a number of elated CFDA winners including Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters of Creatures of the Wind, Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of Public School, and Joseph Altuzarra swapped congratulations.

Many of the well wishers made their way to the Man of the Hour who received praise from Love (his self-professed number one fan) and Leandra Medine, wearing a delicate draped blouse and trousers by CFDA nominee Rosie Assoulin. “I think genius is an overused word, but it’s a perfectly allocated term to describe Raf Simons,” Medine gushed. “The thing about Raf is that he designs clothing that women actually want to wear.

Even if you don’t have a personal connection to him, just by virtue of wearing his clothing, you feel like you’re forming a relationship like somehow someone is hugging you. That’s all you want to feel when you’re wearing clothing: This intimate connection to something bigger.” Perhaps, as she suggested, “Dior CEO Sidney Toledano said it best: Dior is like a tree and while Raf understands the roots, he’s not afraid to plant his own flowers.”

Fall 2014 Ready-to-Wear Christian Dior

Raf Simons radicalized menswear physically and philosophically, which is why the fact that he is now helming , still has such a pinch-me potency. The possibilities inherent in the tie-up are enough to make the senses swim.

Today, sight was the first sense to feel the power of possibility. The enveloping, surreal floral bower that was last spring's set had been replaced by an industrial simulacrum, flowers of light radiating in a spectrum that turned red into searing orange (Grace Coddington's hair was a flaring corona) and blue into bright turquoise. Then the light turned white, and hearing, the second sense, surrendered to the martial techno pulse of French Fries' "Bug Noticed"…