Gucci‘s full-court press-on silk scarves rolled into Paris on Wednesday night at a lavish dinner party complete with a giant cube stuffed with blooms, a 9-pound Assouline tome — and actress Julia Garner, star of the Italian brand’s new “Keep It Gucci: The Art of Silk” campaign.
Even though she was weary, just off the plane from the U.S., WWD put Garner’s improvisational skills to the test, quizzing her on how some of the characters she has famously portrayed might make use of a square of decorated cloth:
- Ruth Langmore, the feisty, cunning tritagonist in money-laundering opus “Ozark”: “She would probably choke someone,” Garner shot back without even blinking.
- Con artist Anna Delvey, the basis of the Netflix series “Inventing Anna”: “I mean, she would look fabulous in the Riviera!” she enthused.
- Her infected hubby in the recent horror flick “Wolf Man”: “Choke the werewolf, for self-defense reasons,” Garner suggested.
- Shalla-Bal, a version of Silver Surfer from the Marvel comic series Garner incarnates in the upcoming “Fantastic Four: First Steps:” “Wrap it around her neck, and then it would just fly away in the wind.”
As for herself, Garner imagined herself wearing a scarf like a kerchief or headscarf — “in a convertible, playing the part of a movie star.”
Ditto Lou Doillon, though she had different characters in mind: “A mixture of Elizabeth II and Miss Moppet from Beatrix Potter,” she said, the latter referring to a cat who styles a cloth duster on her head.
Lou Doillon
Courtesy of Gucci
Doillon, who modeled in her teenage years, hit the runway for Miu Miu last month and said she had forgotten how manic and high-pressured the job is. She admitted that she and other “personalities” in the show fretted about “random stuff, suddenly wondering if you knew how to walk, or what happens if a shoe falls off, or if you go completely purple, or if you sneeze.”
Germain Louvet, a principal dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet, mused that winding a scarf around the neck seems like second nature for Frenchmen.
“I’m wearing one almost every day, except when it’s more than 10 degrees (Celsius),” he shrugged. “I have in mind those actors from the ’50s and ’60s in movies like ‘Les Enfants du Paradis’ and all the Nouvelle Vague films.”
Louvet is performing at Opera Garnier in Mats Ek’s “Appartement” and rehearsing for “Sylvia” by Manuel Legris.
Guests including Pixie Geldof, Farida Khelfa, Mélanie Laurent, Little Simz, India Mahdavi, Golshifteh Farahani and Cindy Bruna lingered in the garden of the Paris mansion known as L’hôtel de Maisons, enjoying the spring-like weather and free-flowing Jacquesson Champagne.
Tina Kunakey
Courtesy of Gucci
Well after sundown, they finally trickled into the grand salons, which had been set with square tables sprouting field flowers, evoking the Flora scarf, one of Gucci’s most iconic designs. Latecomer Juliette Binoche settled in next to Gucci honcho Stefano Cantino for a four-course feast by Italian chef Massimo Bottura, who splashed colors on his plates like artisans do on squares of silk.
Gucci managed to squeak into the book an image from the new campaign by Steven Meisel in which a scarf artfully drifts around Garner’s head.
“There was a giant wind machine,” she said. “I was just protecting myself from the dirt coming into my eye with the scarf.”
Juliette Binoche
Getty Images for Gucci
