Almost everyone harbors vivid memories of their first brush with the Palace of Versailles.
For fashion and interiors designer Alexis Mabille, it was back when he was designing haute couture jewelry for John Galliano at Christian Dior.
“We did so many shows in Versailles, so it was always a crazy moment backstage and amazing parties in the l’Orangerie afterward,” he related Monday evening as the golden-hour light filtered into the Hall of Mirrors.
Hugo Marchand, dressed in velvety Giorgio Armani, recalled a magical 2019 night when he donned a “Swan Lake” costume for a pas de deux with Dorothée Gilbert in the Hall of Mirrors at a charity gala for cancer research.
Hugo Marchand in Giorgio Armani and Alexis Mabille.
François Goizé/Courtesy of The American Friends of Versailles
Did the grand, Baroque-style gallery inspire the Paris Opera Ballet star to leap even higher?
“Oh, I would not jump so much here, because there’s no sprung floor, and so it could be dangerous for the ligaments and muscles,” he related. “But it is very beautiful, very inspiring.”
A few years ago, Marchand was also conscripted to do a dance performance in a Versailles fountain amid Jean-Michel Othoniel artworks, but alas, it never came to pass. “It rained that day, and it got canceled,” he lamented.
Mabille and Marchand joined the likes of Christian Louboutin, Diana Widmaier Picasso, Peter Brant Jr. and Emmanuel Perrotin for “Legacy of Light,” the American Friends of Versailles’ latest mega fundraiser, with proceeds earmarked for the painted ceiling of Le Salon de Diane, which required urgent restoration work.
Diana Widmaier Picasso in Oscar de la Renta with Emmanuel Perrotin.
François Goizé/Courtesy of The American Friends of Versailles
Becca Cason Thrash, distinguished honorary chair of the American Friends of Versailles, greeted guests in a pink Alexis Mabille tuxedo skirt with an elaborate black confection over it.
“This is John Galliano Dior haute couture 2005,” she related. “I wore it with a different skirt to Versailles 25 years ago. It’s my lucky top, and I’ve resurrected it again tonight.”
Later, after a lavish dinner in the Galerie des Batailles, Cason Thrash cajoled the well-heeled guests to bid up a storm for a David Yurman diamond bracelet, a Nile cruise on Louboutin’s picturesque houseboat, and a safari at a game refuge in South Africa.
Picasso and Alicia Bryan, president of The American Friends of Versailles, both opted for Oscar de la Renta gowns, waving the flag for 250 years of Franco-American friendship.
Alicia Bryan and Becca Cason Thrash
François Goizé/Courtesy of The American Friends of Versailles
“I feel a debt of gratitude to France,” said Yurman, whose artistic career began under French-trained sculptor Jacques Lipchitz. “The birthplace of modern jewelry that we know of is France at the turn of the century.”
Rumor has it Yurman and his painter wife Sybil will be the subject of an exhibition next year at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
A one-of-a-kind diamond bracelet by David Yurman was sold at auction.
“They are Francophiles on steroids,” Thrash declared about the designing couple, grand patron of Monday’s lavish event, which climaxed with fireworks and an after party.
Bryan, who studied art history in Switzerland, said she climbed up on the scaffolding to inspect the deteriorated fresco depicting Diane, goddess of the hunt, last restored in 1955.
“It’s very, very cloudy, and at first glance, you thought maybe that’s how it was painted,” she related. “And now it’s so vibrant and beautiful.”
Though he’s known for his silvery interiors and furniture, architect Harry Nuriev said he’s a regular at Versailles, appreciating its lesser-known rooms — the library, architect room and secret passageways — and the “spectacular” gardens by André Le Nôtre, especially the optical feat of the Grand Canal.
The event raised 3.5 million euros.
A giant birthday cake for America’s 250th by Bastien Blanc-Tailleur.
François Goizé/Courtesy of The American Friends of Versailles
