*Twilight’*s Cullen clan is a good-looking bunch, so it makes perfect sense that Peter Facinelli, who plays the vampire-family patriarch, started out as a model. “When I was young and good-looking, I modeled for a minute,” Facinelli told us at Giorgio Armani’s New York extravaganza on Thursday night. “I did some runway shows in New York City, when I was 19, to pay for college—I was going to N.Y.U. and studying acting at the time. I actually worked with Bruce Weber. He put me in a Versace campaign with Christy Turlington.”
Facinelli isn’t sure, but he thinks that the last time he met Armani was back then. “It was such a pleasure to see him again tonight, and be here and be a part of this,” he said.
There is no better word than “extravaganza” to describe what the iconic Italian designer presented on what Mayor Bloomberg dubbed “Giorgio Armani Day” in the city. His grand-scale fashion show had an audience of 700 people, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Renee Zellweger, Naomi Watts, Glenn Close, Hilary Swank, Ellen Barkin, and Ricky Martin.
Mr. Armani greeted his guests all evening. “He usually complains that I wear his old stuff, but tonight I’m wearing something new,” Jeremy Irons told VF Daily. “But I love old clothes, and the thing about great clothes is that they go on and on and on. So I think he’s quite relieved tonight that I’m not wearing what he calls ‘vintage’ Armani. I say, ‘It’s not vintage Armani. It’s five years old,’” Irons said, laughing.
Vanity Fair contributing photographer Bruce Weber recalled a spectacular party at an old palazzo after one of Armani’s runway shows in Milan. “The staircase had 30 people in clothes from the early 1800s, holding candles—it was all done by candlelight,” Weber said. “He made the cushions for the chairs and the covers for the chairs and the tablecloths. It was so extraordinary. So we’re sitting there, and I thought, What else can happen? And there was Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale.”
After the fashion show at Armani’s New York happening, held at the massive Superpier on the West Side Highway, the stars stuck around for the late-night dance party. DiCaprio was the center of gravity, taking over a seating area smack in the middle of the party, next to the dance floor that got more and more crowded as the evening wore on. When we left around midnight, people were still arriving in droves.
