Picture Perfect

Despite a heavy downpour, the stars aligned last night as Roberta Armani toasted Italy's cinematic achievements and the Academy Award nominations of two heavyweights. The cocktail party stood out on the weekend's social calendar, honoring Martin Scorsese 's best director nod for The Wolf of Wall Street and Italy's own Paolo Sorrentino , whose film The Great Beauty is up for best foreign language film on Sunday. Attention turned to Scorsese as he entered the Rodeo Drive flagship, greeting well-wishers including New York transplants Fran Lebowitz and Graydon Carter. Cate Blanchett elicited quite the stir as she made her way inside, radiant in an Armani Privé jumpsuit. "I've been doing primarily theater for the last six years, so I've had a hiatus from film," Blanchett, the face of Armani's Sì campaign, said. "So it's an extraordinary and once again unexpected way to come back into the arena—I'm shocked and surprised and delighted." She's up for best actress for her buzzed-about role in Blue Jasmine.



Among a crowd that included Robert De Niro, Patricia Clarkson, Emmy Rossum , and Mamie Gummer , Samuel L. Jackson discussed his imminent trip to London to begin filming Avengers: Age of Ultron. As Glenn Close made her way to greet Scorsese, Jamie Foxx had him doubled over in laughter before his daughter asked the director to pose for a selfie. But it being Oscars weekend, talk casually veered from film to fashion. Olivia Munn remained coy about her pick for the Vanity Fair party: "It's the first dress I tried on, and it's a special dress because of the history and the story that goes with it," she said of her decision. "If everyone around me that knows fashion is happy, then I'm happy."

—Alexis Brunswick