RED SKIES AT NIGHT: Guests at Lancel‘s 150th anniversary celebration were told the dress code was a “touch of red.”
Good advice, since the accessories firm went all out with the fiery shade, from the gift bags handed out upon arrival and the cocktail selections to the dining room at Pavillon Ledoyen, draped in red fabric, with red tablecloths and floral arrangements.
Kelly Rutherford walked the red carpet in a red dress while guests ranging from Virginie Ledoyen to Louis-Gabriel Nouchi opted for black, the fashion flock’s favorite shade.
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Those who did not stick to the dress code found elegant solutions. Clad all in white, Jérémy-Loup Quer, a soloist dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet, joked that his touch of red was his wife and fellow dancer Héloïse Bourdon.
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The evening began at Lancel’s Paris flagship on Place de l’Opéra, where guests were invited for a preview of the “Lancel, Toujours” anniversary exhibition that opens on Thursday and runs until Dec. 23.
Exhibits spanned purses from various periods, including its currently popular Ninon and Charlie models as well as cigarette cases, umbrellas, Aviona trunks, made-to-fit early plane holds and the Bambino Super-Luxe, a chic portable radio receiver dressed in wood panels.
There were also copies of the “Lancel: Objects of Desire” book, a 240-page tome published by Rizzoli that dives into the century and a half since Angèle and Albert Lancel established the brand that bears their name.
A handful of their patented inventions, such as clasps and umbrella holders, were printed on table napkins.
After tucking into a menu of chilled cardinal lobster, wild sea bass fillets with a more-ish sauce and a red berry Pavlova, diners shared personal memories around the French brand’s products as the sun was setting on the garden of Yannick Alleno’s Pavillon Ledoyen.
“Call My Agent!” star Nicolas Maury described “a leather briefcase, more of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde doctor’s bag in brown leather” that once belonged to his grandfather.
“Sometimes I wear it and it’s a bit Tim Burton,” said the French actor, who has recently stepped behind the camera as writer and director for drama miniseries “Les Saisons.”
Meanwhile, Germain Louvet, a principal dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet, said he’s been pinging between contemporary creations and classics.
He just wrapped several performances of “La Dame aux Camélias,” by choreographer John Neumeier, at Palais Garnier.
Next up is “La Bayadère, so very classical, of course — the Rudolf Nureyev version that we’re dancing at the Opéra Bastille in June,” he said, flashing a big smile.
Under a scattering of raindrops and cheers, a 15-tier cake decked in red was wheeled out.
“When a company survives a couple of centuries, it’s because there is a lot of emotion, of culture,” said Marco Palmieri, chief executive officer of Lancel’s parent Piquadro Group.
He also revealed that Tuesday’s celebrations marked the day the French brand was acquired by the Italian leather goods group in 2018. Lancel was previously owned by Compagnie Financière Richemont.
In the morning, celebrations continued with the unveiling of the French brand’s takeover of the windows of Galeries Lafayette Haussmann and seven other doors across France and Luxembourg, visible until June 23.