Dior Party Fit for the Stars

Although the final strokes of paint were barely dry, the Christian Dior boutique debuted Wednesday night with a party featuring a dressed-up cast of 1,000 (by one count), including cameo appearances by Carrie Fisher, Sonia Braga and Mickey Rourke--he entered and exited in under a minute.

The event marked the first of many more store openings to come (22, to be precise, from now through spring) in the Two Rodeo Drive complex and easily matched the delirium of any Hollywood premiere. Searchlights were erected on Rodeo Drive, and the street was filled with autograph seekers, crashers and video crews.

The 50 models all lined up outside in Dior’s latest white taffeta blouses and “stiletto” skinny black trousers prompted one guest, interior designer Michael Smith, to comment, “It’s like a Robert Palmer video. It’s like a Billy Rose spectacular. It’s like the Academy Awards!” And this was just the cocktail party.

“The store looks absolutely magnificent. I can’t wait to see it when the smoked salmon is gone,” Motown president Suzanne de Passe said to Beatrice Bongibault-Dhjan, chief executive officer of Dior worldwide, who wore a more expensive version of the white blouse/skinny pant look. In fact, practically the entire Paris contingent of all-female executives wore the same thing.

Nancy Vreeland, Dior’s official Los Angeles representative, along with her pals Wendy Goldberg and Lili Zanuck played co-hosts and stood at the entrance. Goldberg, who wore a black Dior suit studded with dozens of jeweled bumblebees, said she sold five of them just standing there. Price tag: $4,770.

“Everything you buy in this store is designed by Victor Costa--I’m being funny. I’m being a devil,” said Barbara Davis, who knows very well that everything was designed by Italian superstar Gianfranco Ferre. Costa, who was recently hired to design Dior’s lower-priced dress licensee and flew in from Dallas for the party, said, “Christian Dior is the most prestigious name in the world.”

Meanwhile, Two Rodeo developer Doug Stitzel fielded the most-asked question of the evening: What happened to the air conditioning? “There’s no way you can have air conditioning to accommodate the heat gain of 1,000 people,” he assured.

Afterward, Dior hosted a small dinner for 50 at the Bistro Garden that included Richard Baskin (seated at Bongibault’s side), Alan Ladd Jr., Patti and Tommy Skouras, Jami Gertz and Tony Ressler, Jayne (in green Dior couture) and Henry Berger, Selim Zilkha, Tim Vreeland, Tina Sinatra and Stan Dragotti, Cristina Ferrare and Tony Thomopoulos, Wendy Stark, and Christian Dior Inc. president Michael Burke. All the details had been mapped out in Paris, from the pale green tablecloths and matching seat cushions to the ivy topiary candelabra and small clusters of white roses.

* MORE BOUTIQUES DUE: Dior’s Rodeo Drive store is part of a long-term strategy. E10