“I’ve seen museum exhibits and catalogs, but I thought it would be fun to look at how couture is made and not be academic about it,” she says.
In a toast, Coppola recounted being an awkward 15-year-old with braces when she arrived in Paris for her internship with Chanel. What began as an intimidating but thrilling experience for Coppola has blossomed into a now decades-long collaborative relationship. From being photographed as a teenager by Lagerfeld—a striking portrait of the young artist featured in the book—to working with Chanel to design Priscilla Presley’s iconic wedding dress in her most recent film, Priscilla, the brand has played an instrumental role in her career.
“My mom’s friend Jeanette in San Francisco used to let me come into her closet, and she would give me her Chanel ballet flats when they were worn out,” Coppola says. “I would get hand-me-downs and I was so thrilled.”
Now, experiencing a full-circle moment at Wednesday’s dinner, she completed her remarks by calling their latest collaboration “a dream come true.”
Sunday Rose and Romy MarsPhotograph by Myles Hendrik. Courtesy of Chanel.
Coppola was also joined by her husband, Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars and their teenage daughters, singer-songwriter (and budding TikTok auteur) Romy Mars, and Cosima Mars, who spotted Thomas from across the room in a sea of models and actors (“Hi, Dad! Miss you!”), making the star-studded affair feel more like a quaint family dinner. Both daughters, Coppola says, often borrow her collection of Chanel shoes and bags, which she subsequently has to track down. “Sometimes [my Chanel] migrates into my daughter’s room,” Coppola says with a laugh.
Fellow mother-daughter duo, Karen Elson and Scarlett White, were also in attendance, chatting with Kirsten Dunst by the bar as Jon Hamm and his wife, Anna Osceola, sipped cocktails and chatted with Lynn Hirschberg nearby. Eventually, all of the young It girls, like Gracie Abrams, Sunday Rose Urban, Chase Sui Wonders, and Havana Rose Liu were joined by Coppola’s daughters, holding hands and catching up, in a scene that could have been an outtake from one of Coppola’s films.