Three weeks ago, after presenting his Armani Privé couture collection in Paris, Giorgio Armani decided to restage the show…in Beverly Hills…on Oscar weekend. The fashion gods might have called even this perennial Hollywood favorite crazy to attempt such a thing, but the Milanese designer and his phalanx of publicists showed their outsize pull on Saturday, as nearly every major star turned up to Ron Burkle's Green Acres estate for the private viewing.

"I could fit my entire house inside the pool," noted Dita Von Teese, stepping out onto the palatial terrace during the cocktail hour. It was there that Josh Hartnett hovered around Penélope Cruz; Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese huddled in a corner; and Katie Holmes, fresh from a round of solo shots, asked the photographer, "Do you mind taking one of me and my mother-in law?" (Apparently it was a girls' night out for Mrs. Cruise, who also brought her hubby's sister.) As dusk fell, it became increasingly difficult to make out who else was filing through. Was that George Clooney? John Travolta? Al Gore? The answers were yes, yes, and yes.

Around 7:30, guests were directed into an elaborate makeshift pavilion, prompting one reveler to comment, "[Agent] Ed Limato had his party in a tent just like this last night." Inside, Hartnett now hovered around Natalie Portman, Adrien Brody sat enmeshed with his girlfriend Elsa Pataky, and Oscar nominees Helen Mirren and Cate Blanchett held an animated conversation. "I think he channeled the Ganges with this collection," said the latter, who had also attended the original show a few weeks earlier.

With that, the first of the 60 or so Indian-inspired looks started down the runway. And when minutes later the designer came out for his bow, he received a standing ovation from the well-stocked front row. Veni, vidi, vici.