A Girl Like Rihanna
(LOS ANGELES) No umbrellas were needed Saturday night when Gucci and Elle creative director Joe Zee hosted an extraordinary summer soiree and private dinner honoring Rihanna and the fall Hysteria bag collection. The venue: Jason Pomeranc's newly-opened rooftop bar and lounge, ABH, located at the Thompson Beverly Hills hotel. "We just put Rihanna on our June cover, so she's definitely the go-to girl right now," said Zee, joined by Elle style director Kate Lanphear, who described the evening as the perfect marriage of fashion and celebrity. "I can't remember when she wasn't the girl with the hit summer song, you know?"
While stars and starlets like Becki Newton, Minka Kelly, Radha Mitchell, Gabriel Macht, Camilla Belle, Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Malin Akerman and Dania Ramirez crowded onto the terrace to sip cocktails, lounge in the cabanas and take in the expansive views of the city, many attendees eagerly awaited the stylish songbird's arrival.
"Oh, I heart Rihanna! I met her in New York during Fashion Week and I think for someone to be so on top of the world as she is, and yet for her to still be so genuinely sweet and kind, is inspirational in this industry," raved Sophia Bush, who recently wrapped Table for Three, a romantic comedy starring alongside Jesse Bradford and Jennifer Morrison. "Whenever I can't get up in the morning, I play "Please Don't Stop the Music" and that gets me going. That's my jam!" laughed the actress, whose own first Gucci purchase was a Jackie-O bag.
Attendees enjoyed dinner al fresco, catered by Bond Street, and took home Hysteria clutches from the fall line--a gift that every girl, no matter her star power, was quick to covet. "I love everything Gucci. It's like working with family," Rihanna quipped, noting that her first Gucci purchase was a pair of python pumps with the company's iconic bamboo bit. "I am very fond of literally everything they do!"
After dinner, partygoers carried on well into the night, with an after-party that brought in some familiar Hollywood faces including Nicky Hilton, Jessica Paster, Phillip Bloch, Ken Paves, Tracee Ellis Ross, CaCee Cobb, Donald Faison and Dean and Davis Factor.
Despite a rough afternoon of paint balling with her boyfriend, Devon Aoki cleaned up nicely for the affair and admitted that she was finally feeling smug about living in Tinseltown. "We're a force to be reckoned with now! Just last week I was shooting with all of these great fashion people at the Chateau Marmont from Self Service and YSL, and it's like people are realizing that this city has something to offer," she offered. "It's just nice to see things are improving since I'm a native here and I've been in the fashion industry my whole life."
JENNIFER CHAN
