PUDDLES IN PARADISE

Spending the morning in line to get press passes is not very glamorous or interesting, but it was actually funny doing it. I always imagined sending an assistant to do such a job, and it was quite interesting seeing how The Venice Film Festival works. Lots of tired out photographers stood on the quay side waiting for stars to arrive and there was a lot of clicking of cameras as I jumped out of the sleek wooden boat from the Cipriani.

We then went to the Architectural Biennale. It would take a blog all on its own but in brief, I don't want to live tomorrow. The Russians did it so well one hundred years ago, it was rather 'been there done that', as they had with their revolution. The British mocked as usual, and tax payers' money went on building a puddle. REALLY, A PUDDLE! (I jumped in it.) So in the future there will presumably be no puddles or swamps or was it about interacting with objects, we were told to draw, which we had no time for?. The Canadians understood that from plastics we have to create food. Theirs was the most beautiful. The summary is: when the day of reckoning comes, I am off .

If it's for you, silver babies will be in test tubes, and churches will be made up of lights running along perspex..

Not for me baby, I like reality and Italian Vogue.

Later, I went to the most fantastic party given for Quentin Tarantino by Italian Vogue. Franca Sozzani is a generous hostess. The dining rooms smelt of roses, petals were everywhere and the guest list was incredible. Tarantino looked surprisingly elegant, while Naomi Campbell came up to me and said how much she loved my sons. This woman is enchanting like a cheeky beautiful tiger she pounces. Many princesses looked ravishing with long legs. the most ravishing of all is Elisa Sebnauoi. I arrived with Robert Rabensteiner, famous for his style, wearing a beautifully cut and new design for evening dress. Franca's sister Carla looked gorgeous. There is nothing so romantic as speeding through the canals in a boat. The evening was a dream. I was saved by a dress from Zara and the most delicious cape from prada with black sequins.

Here from the excellent blog of Franca Sozzani, Editor of Italian Vogue, is her description

"9.30 p.m., cocktail candlelight in the Palazzo Coccina-Papadopoli garden, a building from the 15th century that faces the Canal Grande at San Polo, home of Giberto and Bianca Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga. Following, in the rooms and noble portego of the residence, a seated dinner for 150. Visconti atmospheres, candles, velvet dévoré polychrome tablecloths with rose petals, moldings and neo-rocaille gildings from the eighteen hundreds, frescos and mirrors, big sculptural fireplaces in white marble. All enriched by Moët & Chandon's beading, sponsor of the evening with Jaeger LeCoultre that, for the event, made a special personalized watch as a gift from L'Uomo Vogue and Jaeger LeCoultre to Quentin Tarantino.

A five-star parterre of guests that mixed cinema, culture, celebrities, fashion and society, especially from Venice. Other than an amused and particularly communicative Quentin Tarantino, seated next to Franca Sozzani, there were other beautiful people like Jessica Alba, Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores, Robert Rodriguez, Danny Trejo, Jasmine Trinca, Naomi Campbell,, Stefania Rocca,Lapo Elkann and Bianca Brandolini d'Adda, Renzo Rosso, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Giovanni Volpi di Misurata, Alberta Ferretti, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli from Valentino,Isabella Ragonese, Stephen Dorff, Rinko Kikuchi, Teresa and Francesco Maccapani Missoni, Silvia Fendi, Luca Guadagnino, Delfina Delettrez, Piergiorgio Bellocchio, who has a striking resemblance to his father the director Marco, Sabrina Impacciatore, Vittoria Puccini and Alessandro Preziosi.

Also in attendance super producers like Aurelio de Laurentiis and Pietro Valsecchi and Camilla Nesbitt, accompanied by their daughter Virginia. Very admired were Afef Tronchetti Provera, the mysterious and very sweet Shirin Neshat, Beatrice Bulgari, with her husband Nicola, that wore fabulous emerald earrings, Eva Riccobono, next to Matteo Ceccarini.

Among the Venetians, Brandino and Marie Brandolini d'Adda, Fabrizio and Carla Plessi, Luigino and Roberta Rossi. The last guests left Palazzo Papapadopoli late at night, then merged to an after-party at the champagne store Krug of Palazzina Grassi, were the dancing went on until dawn".