PARIS – “Because I have a sparkly blouse, I’m going to sing one more love song,” Carla Bruni declared as she doffed her Saint Laurent tuxedo jacket and launched into a breathy rendition of Abba’s “The Winner Takes it All.”
The singer held the audience rapt at the Italian embassy in Paris on Wednesday night as Valextra hosted a lavish dinner party to celebrate its new boutique at 267 Rue Saint-Honoré.
Among those taking in her performance were Bruni’s husband, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy; interior designer India Mahdavi; jeweler Elie Top; ballet star Germain Louvet; shoe designer Bruno Frisoni; deejay Michel Gaubert, and Google executive Zita d’Hauteville.
Guests steered clear of a rotating, mechanical display set in the first foyer — its snapping scissors, banging hammers and folding contraptions detailing the main steps to create a Valextra handbag — and roamed the embassy’s lavish salons.
Louvet said rehearsals for upcoming performances of “The Nutcracker” at the Opéra Bastille are helping him get into the holiday mood. “It brings all of the fairytale and the magic of Christmas on stage,” he enthused, noting it’s been almost a decade since Tchaikovsky’s ballet has been presented by the Paris Opera Ballet.
Asked about his favorite Italian things, Louvet tugged at the oversized lapels of his Gucci blazer and lifted his pant legs to show off the cheeky message stamped on both heels his Gucci boots: Sucker.
Spaghetti alla bottarga is what Mahdavi craves when she’s missing Italy. The design maven is currently working on multiple private residences, and a contemporary art museum in Trondheim, Norway.
When she’s feeling homesick, Turin-born Bruni said she turns to music by Lucio Battisti and Fabrizio De André, the Italian singers that marked her childhood in Italy.
As she tucked away her smartphone, a small image could be seen on the ivory clasp of her Iside handbag.
“That’s a picture of me, holding my guitar,” she said, marveling that one of the Kate Barry photos taken for her 2002 debut “Quelqu’un m’a dit” was deftly interpreted via embroidery.
Turns out the new Valextra boutique offers customized Iside bags with embroideries by artist Sandrine Torredemer, who works under the nom de plume La Filature.
