The Cinema Society hosts the premiere of Yves Saint Laurent

“To be totally honest with you, I didn’t know about fashion and I didn’t really care about fashion,” said Pierre Niney last night at the premiere of the Weinstein Company’s Yves Saint Laurent hosted by the Cinema Society and Yves Saint Laurent Couture Palette.

After playing the title character of the film, however, his outlook understandably changed. “To me it was something kind of superficial, but when I saw the dresses arriving on the set especially the Mondrian dresses, which are in the movie I was touched deeply because I understood all the work and the patience and the craftsmanship that exists behind them.”

Getting to that point wasn’t simply a function of learning the script; Niney took

drawing classes

so that the shots of him sketching would be genuine (“a big challenge,” he said), and worked with a stylist to learn how to make a dress, how to handle materials, and “how a fashion house runs.” By that account, it seems that the 25-year-old Parisian actor is ready to start a fashion line of his own, should he desire a career change. “Theoretically, I can, but technically, I couldn’t,” said Niney. “[Yves Saint Laurent] has many qualities I don’t have.”

Good qualities and bad, viewers like Karlie Kloss, Monique Péan, and Chelsea Leyland learned last night after watching the movie, which chronicles the designer’s life from Christian Dior’s assistant to jet-set club kid to world renowned clothier. After the screening, guests spilled into the recently opened Beautique lounge, where they drank Qui Tequila cocktails named “Yves” and “Qui Couture.”

It was a far cry from Saint Laurent’s booze and drug-addled world but then again, a lot of things have changed since then. “I tried to tell a little bit about fashion before the fashion that we know now,” explained director Jalil Lespert. “Now haute couture is almost finished, and I would say fashion is for everybody. But I’m sure Yves Saint Laurent would be happy about that.”

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.”

De Grisogono hosts Fatale in Cannes party

It’s the last days of the Cannes Film Festival and the stars are showing no signs of slowing down. Last night at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, Fawaz Gruosi welcomed a bevy of beauties including Amber Heard in a subdued Vionnet top and skirt accented with dangling, shoulder duster diamond earrings from the jewelry house, Cara Delevingne in a beaded, flapper-esque dress from Roberto Cavalli with a diamond sautoir from de Grisogono, and Riley Keough in a slinky cocktail dress from Saint Laurent. Joining them to take in a performance by Jason Derulo were models Anne V, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Cushnie et Ochs, and Toni Garrn in Elie Saab.