“Billie!”
The shout came from the audience between songs, just as Andra Day stepped back to reset at the mic. She smiled, glancing into the room.
“Did someone just shout out Billie?” she laughed as she realized it was Natasha Lyonne.
Day smiled wider: “My Tallulah.”
It was a nod to Lee Daniels’ 2021 drama “United States vs. Billie Holiday,” in which Day starred opposite Lyonne’s Tallulah Bankhead.
It was Thursday night at The Grove in Los Angeles, where Giorgio Armani Beauty unveiled the reformulation of its Luminous Silk Foundation inside a pop-up space (previously housing Gigi Caruso’s Gigi C swimwear showroom).
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The Italian house transformed the interior into a Milan-inspired lounge: cream carpeting, sculptural furniture in soft neutrals, and sheer silk panels in tones of cream and chocolate brown suspended above the staircase and framing the entrance photo op. To the left of the entry, guests walked through an installation presenting the expanded Luminous Silk shade range, each paired with corresponding silk threads.
Upstairs, the floor opened into a low-lit, salon-like setting where guests — a slew of beauty content creators, along with Dakota Fanning, Jurnee Smollett, François Arnaud, Justine Lupe, Ali Larter and True Whitaker — settled in for the performance.
“It was stripped down a little bit,” said Day after the show. “That is my favorite way to play. You get to hear all of the nuance.”
She credited Armani with shaping the tone of the night. “They did a great job of creating just a really intimate memory here.”
Day wore a black crystal-embellished Armani dress, paired with cherry red lips and matching nails.
“We wanted something that felt classic,” she said of the look. Red, she added, is a constant for her. “I think there’s a red for everyone. You just have to actually find your red.”
The lipstick was Armani, naturally, “and hydrating,” she added, “It stays put…we don’t even have lip liner on with this.”
Day is currently in theaters in “Is This Thing On?”, directed and starring by Bradley Cooper alongside Will Arnett and Laura Dern.
“The film really deals with this idea that as people, we are transforming all the time,” she said of the project. “We should be giving each other the grace to do that.”
Larter, who has worked in film and television for nearly three decades — and is currently starring in Taylor Sheridan’s neo-Western series “Landman” — spoke about feeling a renewed sense of pride in her work.
“I feel so lucky to be an actress,” Larter said. “I feel so lucky to work on such a prestigious show with other incredible actors.”
Larter leaned into Armani tailoring for the night.
“I feel very comfortable in a suit,” she said. “It’s always my first choice. I’m usually in loafers, but I did put on a heel tonight, so I’m feeling like I spiffed up.”
She paired the look with slicked-back hair and a stronger eye. “I very rarely do a slick-back and put my hair up,” she said. “This was the night to do it.”
On beauty, her focus was practical.
“I trust it to be red carpet ready for me,” she went on, referencing Luminous Silk. “I don’t have time for touch-ups…I just want to blur out my skin and feel confident.”
The updated formula — introduced in 2000 and now including glycerin and niacinamide — spoke directly to her needs, she said: “My skin can get really dry. I love glowy skin…I hate when makeup sits in the creases.”
Whitaker, a longtime user of the product, took in the installation downstairs before heading up to the performance.
“It’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said of the design. “It’s draped and silky, it really gives the vibe of what the foundation feels like on my skin.”
Whitaker, who appears in “I Love LA,” said she’s in the process of moving back to the city after a decade in New York.
“I’m born and raised here,” said the 27-year-old daughter of actor Forest Whitaker. “I can’t do the cold anymore. I feel bitter there. I’ve escaped back to L.A. for the past few weeks and my seasonal depression is lifted. I feel happier here.”
