Sienna Miller strode into the Metrograph theater on the Lower East Side last Thursday night, looking every inch the movie star in head-to-toe Gucci. She embraced Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor, who was hosting a screening of “American Woman.”
In the independent film, Ms. Miller plays a working-class mother in Pennsylvania whose teenage daughter disappears. “It felt like a real character study of somebody, and that’s quite rare for a woman in film,” she said. “I wanted to spend some time with a woman who isn’t really looked at, let alone seen.”
Although Ms. Miller has been praised for her performance, the film, which was released in June, received no Golden Globe nominations. Thursday’s screening, with its guest list including Emily Blunt, Billy Crudup, Jill Hennessy, Marin Ireland, Josh Hamilton, Cory Michael Smith, Tara Summers, Joe Tippett and Huma Abedin, was intended to elevate its profile before the Academy Award nominations.
After the film, in which Ms. Miller’s character confronts all manner of challenges, many in the audience needed a drink. The party decamped to Omar’s La Boite on nearby Broome Street, a basement nightclub that has been hosting private parties ahead of a January opening.
Ms. Miller snuggled into a banquette with her boyfriend, Lucas Zwirner, the son of David Zwirner, the art gallery owner. Helena Christensen, the former model, swept down the stairs and squeezed in beside them.
Last to arrive was Aaron Paul, Ms. Miller’s co-star. He stayed an hour, mingling with guests on the dance floor, without removing his overcoat or beanie.
Mr. Paul’s sartorial choices seemed more in line with the hardscrabble lives portrayed in the film, rather than the high-fashion looks of the red carpet.
“Fashion and film are intertwined — I’m thrilled that Gucci and Anna put on this screening,” Ms. Miller said. “But if you see this film, it’s clearly not about fashion of any sort.”
A Gallic Christmas
Ines de la Fressange, the regal French model and designer who was named to the International Best-Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1998, knows when to stop trying.
“I’m underdressed because there’s only very sexy, glamorous girls here,” she said Wednesday night at the Russian Tea Room in Manhattan, where two dozen models and starlets had assembled for a holiday dinner hosted by Roger Vivier, the heritage French shoe brand.
Ms. de la Fressange, who was wearing a white Isabel Marant blouse with velvet slacks and a leather jacket, added with a Gallic shrug: “At a certain moment, don’t compete, just enjoy.”
Most of the guests in the baroque dining room weren’t even born when Karl Lagerfeld and Ms. de la Fressange, his former muse, were regulars here in the 1980s. Among the young swans, adorned in buckled Vivier shoes and bags, were Molly Gordon, Julia Schlaepfer, Hanne Gaby Odiele, Leandra Medine, Halston Sage and Soo Joo Park.
Jordan Roth, the Broadway producer, arrived in Givenchy couture with his long hair stacked in a tower of curls. He described the look as “Bernadette Peters in ‘Anna Karenina, the Musical.’”
Glamorous as some of the outfits were, they competed with the over-the-top grandeur of the space. In addition to the mirrors, chandeliers and gilded stag heads, Gherardo Felloni, the creative director of Vivier, added 20 metallic Christmas trees.
“This room, it’s a bit cheesy, but I don’t mind,” Mr. Felloni said. “It reminds me of movies, theatrical things. So I tried to build this forest of pines. It’s a little bit ‘Twin Peaks.’”
Shortly after 9 p.m., between the poached salmon and chocolate soufflé, Rainey Qualley, an aspiring singer who is a daughter of Andie MacDowell, took the microphone. She performed a mixture of original songs and holiday classics like “White Christmas.”
As the evening wound down, Violetta Komyshan, a ballerina with 1.1 million Instagram followers, eyed a centerpiece of red roses and pink peonies. “Do you think it’s O.K. to take it?” she asked, before tucking it under her arm and exiting into the chilly night.
