9.20.10: The Biennale in Paris and the American Fashion Designers' show

The Biennale in Paris and the American Fashion Designers' show

The opening preview of the American Fashion Designers' show house at the Aldyn Riverside Boulevard.

The Biennale des Antiquaires, the chicest and most glamorous of all the world’s art fairs opened to the public last Wednesday at the Grand Palais in Paris. The Biennale has great allure for all those students and collectors of the fine and decorative arts -- from antiquities to contemporary art. It attracts an international coterie in all its different guises -- interior designers with their clients, museum curators with their trustees, and top notch collectors with an eye for beauty and provenance.

This year, under the leadership of Hervé Aaron of Didier-Aaron et Cie., president of the Biennale and the Syndicat National des Antiquaires, the fair looked magnificent with a simplified floor plan that made it very easy to traverse the fair with its the eighty-seven beautiful stands, each of them works of art in their own right. There were pools of water, fuchsia roses, with pink velvet ottomans placed throughout the exhibition. There were also 25 young dealers invited to show a single object. Kraemer & Cie. got a lot of attention and press with their mock-up of the White House Oval Office with an 18th Century French style décor.

The fair, now in its 25th year, opened on Monday night with an elegant Soiree de Gala that benefited the Fondation Hopitaux de Paris-Hopitaux de France and the Institut National d’Histoire de le l’Art. The dinner was set up in the aisles of the Biennale with 1,300 guests attending. The menu prepared by three renowned chefs: Court-bouillon de cabillaud et légumes à la dent, by Michel Troisgros; Suprême de volaille, tatin de tomates, petit farci à la pulpe de cèpes, by Patrick Henriroux; and Tarte tiède chocolat & fruits rouges, by Régis and Jacques Marcon. Accompanying the meal were Graves Baronne Charlotte 2008 Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Château Clerc Milon 1997 Grand cru classé Pauillac.

Among the crowd were: Hervé and Marina Aaron, Jacques Chirac, Mr. and Mrs. Eli Broad, Peter Marino, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Bouygues, Mr. and Mrs. Henri de Castries, Madame Secretary of State Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, The Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterand, Jean-Paul Cluzel, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, Jean-Pierre de Beaumarchais, Mr. and Mrs. Alain Minc, Anna Mouglalis, Prince et Princess Stanislas Poniatowski, Danielle Steele, Monica Bellucci, Mr. and Mrs. Dominique de Villepin, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kravis, Pierre Passebon, Jacques Grange, Prince Amin Aga Khan, Baron et Baroness Eric de Rothschild, Valentino, Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Toledano Delphine Arnault, Victoire de Castellane, Baron et Baroness Albert Frère, Mr. and Mrs. Henri Loyrette, Maria-Pia de Savoie et Michel de Bourbon-Parme, Gong Li, Frédéric Mitterrand, Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand, Azzedine Alaïa, Christy Turlington, Yves Carcelles. Gong Li, Larry Gagosian, Antoine and Delphine Arnault, Jacques Garcia, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Picasso, Lee Mindel, Laurie Tisch, David Kleinberg and Robert Couturier.

Tuesday evening was the Vernissage, which is the Biennale’s official opening. The place is always packed and the champagne flows as heavily as the throngs of people do. Seen in the aisles were Brian McCarthy, Geoffrey Bradfield, Roric Tobin Patrick Gallagher, Alessandra di Castro, Matthew Patrick Smyth, Tom Scheerer, Robert Stilin, Joanne DePalma, Alexander Cohane, Jacques Grange, Liz O’Brien, Juan Montoya, Susan Gutfreund, Jared Gross, Ghenette Zeleke, and Christopher Monkhouse.

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Mr. and Mrs. Herve Aaron

Elisabeth Quin, Mr. and Mrs. Krzentowski, and Xavier Veilhan

Jacques Chirac and Herve Aaron

Anna Mouglalis

Mr. and Mrs. Martin Bouygues with Mr. and Mrs. Henri de Castries

Danielle Steel

Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterand, Herve Aaron, and Jean-Paul Cluzel

Robert Stilin and Francoise Klein

La Baronne Philippine de Rothschild and Jean-Pierre de Beaumarchais

Baron and Baroness Eric de Rothschild

Mr. and Mrs. Dominique de Villepin

Mr. and Mrs. Alain Minc

Herve Aaron, Gay Gassman, and Peter Marino

Beatrice Stern and Thaddaeus Ropac

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kravis

Valentino and Monica Bellucci

Pier Luigi Pizzi and Prince Amin Aga Khan

Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Toledano

Herve Aaron, Frederic Mitterrand, and Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand

Pierre Passebon and Jacques Grange

Christy Turlington, Yves Carcelles, and Gong Li

Baron and Baroness Albert Frere

Christy Turlington and Antoine Arnault

Marina Karella and Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand

Azzedine Alaia and Didier Krzentowski

Madame la Secretaire d'etat Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet and Jacques Chirac

Jacques Garcia

Larry Gagosian and Michael Kraemer

Roric Tobin and Geoffrey Bradfield

Sydney Toledano, Delphine Arnault, and Victoire de Castellane

Antoine and Delphine Arnault

Patrick Gallagher and Alessandra di Castro

Juan Montoya and Urban Karlsson

Last Thursday night at the Aldyn, they held an opening preview of the American Fashion Designers' show house on Riverside Boulevard. There are 22 rooms on display done by such designers as Nicole Miller and Jennifer Garrigues, Lambertson Truex, Jeffrey Banks, Diane von Furstenberg, Patrik Lonn.