Good things come to those who wait. And on June 10, that came in the package of a 5-foot-10 blonde movie star in a wetsuit.
“I'm so sorry guys; I was stuck at work,” says Blake Lively, entering the wildlife-decorated tent set up temporarily on New York's Thomas Street and waving to the dozen or so photographers obsequiously waiting to snap her picture. I should have brought Shake Shack or something.”
Lively was last, but by no means late, especially by celebrity standards: The megastar will arrive at Chanel's 17th annual Tribeca Festival Artist Dinner, held this year at The Odeon (a change from the usual Balthazar). By the time she walked in to charm waiting photographers with excited glee over her double-C dress (it had pockets!) and themed manicure (more C!), the beloved Tribeca restaurant was already packed. celebrities ranging from Dianna Agron and Natasha Lyonne to Jude Law and Robert DeNiro (the latter left early because “he had a meeting at 5:30 in the morning”).
During cocktail hour, you might find the ingenues — Lucy Hale, Ella Hunt, Victoria Pedretti, Camila Mendes, hand-in-hand with boyfriend Rudy Mancuso — milling around the bar with martinis and Aperol spritz in hand. (Balthazar's traditional seafood towers are gone, but not forgotten.) Outside, Chanel's most headline-grabbing crowd lingered, including Mark Ronson and Lily Allen smoking their respective vapors until the bell of the dinner signaled them to sit down.
The annual event, which honors artists who have contributed original artwork to the festival's award-winning filmmakers, is consistently one of the brand's most star-studded events. This year's iteration also featured Katie Holmes, Trevor Noah, Grace Gummer, Selma Blair, Colman Domingo, Chloe Fineman, Olivia Munn, Hannah Einbinder, Hari Nef, Darren Aronofsky, David Harbor and Lizzy Caplan, among many, many others . . The Wenner brothers (Gus and Theo) held a corner of one table, while at another, Eva Chen compared art books: it is a tradition for each guest to receive a different coffee table book at their seat, with the his seat mate. Not everyone stayed in their assigned seats. Hale skipped out mid-dinner to catch up with Lively (Hale used to be represented by Lively's longtime publicist Leslie Sloane, who also joined the meeting), while Bee Carrozzini, who arrived after the entrance, he went around to greet his friends.
As plates of chips were cleared and plates of sugary donuts with raspberry jam and maple sauces began to appear, Jane Rosenthal, the co-founder, CEO and executive chairman of Tribeca Enterprises, invited guests to migrate to Spring Studios to see them. the art collection of that year. “Are you going for a walk?” a tweed-clad assistant asks her tablemate. “Yes,” they reply. “But first let's have one more martini.”
