Wild Ending
A Night of Partying Closes Paris Couture Week
Ralph Lauren's new watch collection made its Parisian debut at a party at the designer's Avenue Montaigne boutique last night. And joining co-hosts David Lauren and Paris Vogue's Carine Roitfeld was quite the selection of catwalkers: Natasha Poly, Iris Strubegger, Raquel Zimmermann, Vlada Roslyakova, etc. As is often the case when models mingle with men of means (these timepieces can go for upward of $50,000), flirtation was rampant. In fact, one guy asked every pretty girl in the store if she'd like his card. Our favorite overheard response: "Sure, I'll take your card—your credit card."
Meanwhile, at the Valentino headquarters in the Place Vendôme, it was time to party. "The crowd is young and they're ready to dance," declared Carlos de Souza, the irrepressible public relations force who just returned to the brand. So what if Bianca Brandolini d'Adda, Lauren Santo Domingo, her sister-in-law Tatiana Santo Domingo, Dasha Zhukova, and Fabiola Beracasa admitted they couldn't pick the house's new designers, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, out of a lineup? With music courtesy of DJ Julio Santo Domingo, smoking permitted, and seemingly bottomless buckets of Champagne, the fête went into the wee hours—or more specifically, until the police insisted that the windows on the Place Vendôme be shut. "This is the new era of couture and the new era of Valentino," the French actress Joana Preiss proclaimed. "And I like it."


