On the night before the Oscars, the stars shine bright at the Charles Finch and Chanel dinner

Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sienna Miller, Kristen Stewart, Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow were among those who celebrated Oscars Eve at the Charles Finch and Chanel dinner on Saturday night. At Madeo Restaurant in West Hollywood, Mann was weighing whether to dig into the eatery’s traditional Italian cuisine.

“I would love to eat some pasta,” Mann said, “but I’m not supposed to have pasta tonight because I have a really tight dress that I have to put on tomorrow, which sounds ridiculous. But I don’t want to be puffy.” She paused. “But I think I’m going to cave and I’m going to eat the pasta anyway.”

“I already look puffy all the time,” Apatow, her spouse, chuckled.

The event

Filmmakers and trendsetters gathered to toast the intersection of film and fashion at the 10th annual cocktail and dinner party. Naturally, most of the crowd was decked out in head-to-toe Chanel. “This is something I would wear every day,” Mann said of her multicolored cotton and polyamide skirt from the brand’s spring/summer 2018 Act 1 ready-to-wear collection. “I’m super comfortable, and it’s super cute.” (She had paired the look with a nude cupro and polyester pullover from Chanel’s cruise 2018 collection.
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Tracee Ellis Ross was a big fan of her look as well. “I always love the demure sexiness of Chanel,” she said, clad in a white silk Chanel blouse. “It’s a little chilly and it’s a little rainy. So feeling covered up is lovely. … It’s the mystery of the female body as opposed to letting it all hang out that I find really elegant and badass.”

Ross said the pièce de résistance was her Chanel bag. “This is the feature of all features,” she said holding it up. “This is the most beautiful bag I’ve ever seen. It’s like a piece of jewelry.” Meanwhile, Ross’ hairstyle evoked visions of her mother, Diana Ross. “I can’t help it,” she laughed. “From her womb, I came. I thought, ‘Lean into the frizz in this weather.’”

The crowd

Rounding out the guest list were Daniel Kaluuya, the star of “Get Out,” which picked up best picture at the Independent Spirit Awards earlier that afternoon, as well as Alejandro González Iñárritu, Oliver Stone, Joe Wright, Faye Dunaway, Adrien Brody, Danny Huston, Gael García Bernal, Jeff Bezos, Edgar Wright, Jessica Hart, Stella Maxwell, Matthew Modine with daughter Ruby, and Yara Shahidi with her mom, Keri.

The menu

Guests dined on artichoke salads, lemon chicken and branzino with tiramisu for dessert. “I pick up from Madeo’s a lot,” Ross said. “I am a gluten-free bolognese-and-a-carciofi-salad girl. And [I’ll add] a minestrone if I’m feeling extra hungry. They have beautiful wine and really good food.”

The scene

Per tradition, a mariachi band greeted guests at the party’s stairway. “It’s an amazing touch,” Edgar Ramirez said of the music. “We’re in L.A., and mariachi is such an intimate part of California.

“I love the crowd and the opportunity to see friends and people that I admire,” he continued. “This is a very relaxed, no pressure way to talk about storytelling and films.”

Before taking their seats for dinner, Jack Huston and Jamie Dornan caught up. “Hello, mate!” Huston said as they shook hands. Meanwhile, Mann found a friend in Haley Bennett as Apatow chatted up an industry insider nearby.

Earlier in the night, Mann and Apatow discussed the Academy Awards. Apatow produced “The Big Sick,” which is nominated for best original screenplay. Its screenwriters, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, had picked up a trophy earlier that day at the Spirit Awards.

“I was so happy for them,” Apatow said of the couple’s win. Of Sunday’s odds, he joked, “If we don’t sweep, I’ll be furious. I don’t know how we sweep when we only have one nomination, but we better.”

For her part, Mann said she went through about 40 dresses before finding the one she’ll wear on the red carpet. “We tried on a lot of dresses,” she admitted, sharing that she’ll be wearing a look by Zac Posen. “I wore Zac Posen last year, and he’s such a nice man. And he’s coming to the hotel to zip me up and send me on my way tomorrow, which is exciting.”

The looks

Kristen Stewart rocked a Chanel jacket with a black and white wool cloth skirt from the Métiers d'art Paris-Hamburg 2017/18 collection.

Yara Shahidi looked elegant in a coral lace embroidered dress with a leather belt from the brand’s spring/summer 2017 haute couture collection.

Margot Robbie wore a short black satin dress with faux pearl embellished straps from Chanel’s fall/winter 2017/18 haute couture collection.

Sienna Miller selected an ecru and white pearly tweed jacket from Chanel’s Métiers d'art Paris-Hamburg 2017/18 collection.