Luxury fashion’s L.A. season is in full swing, with Ferragamo, Balmain, Dior, Gucci and more descending on the city for a whirlwind of galas, parties and events. The cultural exchange continues next year, when The Broad heads to Paris. Plus, Kim Kardashian’s new style chapter with Law Roach, Amanda Seyfried’s other holiday film, and an afternoon of fashion, philanthropy and wine with Simkhai and Frank Family Vineyards in Napa Valley.
Meeting Hollywood Power Players on Their Own Turf
Come October, the luxury fashion world’s attention shifts to Los Angeles, where a whirlwind of museum galas, star-studded dinners, boutique openings and after-parties has made the city’s fall social calendar an increasingly important fixture on the international fashion circuit. For luxury houses courting Hollywood stars and their image-making teams, however, the parties are about far more than having a good time.
Gucci helped lay the groundwork in 2011, when it became the presenting sponsor of LACMA’s inaugural Art+Film Gala, co-chaired by Eva Chow and Leonardo DiCaprio. Fifteen years later, the event remains one of the most glamorous nights on the city’s social calendar. This year’s gala, set for Nov. 7, will honor artist Vija Celmins and filmmaker Denis Villeneuve. It will also be the first since the opening of LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries.
Other luxury houses have increasingly joined the party. The Academy Museum Gala, now in its sixth year, has become another major fashion occasion, presented in partnership with Rolex. At this year’s event, held Oct. 17, Giorgio Armani dressed 18 guests, including Kate Hudson and Sabrina Carpenter, before hosting its second annual after-party at the Chateau Marmont, where DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Colman Domingo were among the revelers. For brands, these gatherings offer a chance to cozy up to Hollywood power players on their home turf, just as awards season begins to gather momentum.
An Early Shoemaker to the Stars
The festivities aren’t confined to museum fundraisers. Ferragamo, which dressed Sarah Paulson, Andrew Garfield and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II for the Academy Museum Gala, celebrated the reopening of its Rodeo Drive flagship last week with a dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge, hosted by creative director Maximilian Davis and chairman Leonardo Ferragamo. Paulson attended the gala on Davis’ arm. Guests including Garfield, Gabrielle Union, Gemma Chan and Tracee Ellis Ross gathered for an evening celebrating the house’s Hollywood origins, dating back nearly a century to when Salvatore Ferragamo began making shoes for movie stars.
Ferragamo continued its Hollywood takeover Tuesday with a screening of the 1959 Billy Wilder film “Some Like It Hot” in a 4K restoration at the Egyptian Theatre, presented by Criterion. The event also featured a display of original pieces from Museo Ferragamo in Florence, including shoes worn by Marilyn Monroe, who is currently the subject of a fashion-filled exhibition at the Academy Museum.
As it turns out, the Egyptian is across the street from the site of the original Hollywood Boot Shop, which Salvatore Ferragamo took over in 1923. He soon established himself as the “shoemaker to the stars.”
Monroe became one of his most celebrated clients, although the two never met. After moving to New York, she ordered shoes from Ferragamo’s Park Avenue store. The shoes were made in Florence and shipped to her in the United States.
The Enduring California Influence
Meanwhile, Balmain, which dressed Elizabeth Debicki for the Academy Museum Gala, hosted a client event at the Simon House in Beverly Hills exploring the influence of California modernism, Hollywood glamour and desert counterculture on creative director Antonin Tron’s Spring 2027 collection. Tron is currently shooting the brand’s seasonal campaign in Los Angeles.
Moderated by vintage fashion guru Cameron Silver, the discussion featured Los Angeles historian Alison Martino, who runs the excellent Vintage Los Angeles Instagram account; architect Ron Radziner of Marmol Radziner, who restored Silver’s Schindler house; and fashion curator Dennita Sewell, director of the ASU FIDM fashion school.
Over cocktails and a private presentation of the spring collection, the panelists discussed the many influences that have shaped L.A.’s creative identity, from the radical acceptance championed by 1960s fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, who will be the subject of a 2027 exhibition at ASU FIDM, to the city’s wellness culture, rock ’n’ roll and punk scenes, and the “beautiful austerity” of modern architecture.
Fashion & Art & Film
Dior, meanwhile, found a way to get in on the LACMA action ahead of Gucci’s annual gala. The French house unveiled its Cruise 2027 advertising campaign, photographed by Sam Rock inside the museum’s David Geffen Galleries, featuring Jennifer Lawrence, Greta Lee, Taylor Russell and Drew Starkey posing among the artworks. The campaign builds on the relationship Dior established in May, when Jonathan Anderson staged his Cruise show at LACMA, complete with a Hollywood backlot-inspired set and a collaboration with Ed Ruscha. In a city where fashion, art and film are increasingly intertwined, the museum itself has become a backdrop for luxury brands.
And the fashion festivities are far from over. Next week brings a trio of events, beginning with the annual Women in Film Honors, where Max Mara will present actress Adria Arjona with its Face of the Future Award. Arjona attended the brand’s spring show in Milan and made her runway debut at Vogue World: Milan, wearing a tailored Max Mara look, of course.
Dior is also hosting an exclusive preview of “Avedon,” Ron Howard’s new documentary about legendary fashion photographer Richard Avedon. And on Nov. 7, Gucci will once again take center stage as the presenting sponsor of LACMA’s Art+Film Gala, featuring a performance by Blackpink’s Rosé.
Taken together, these events show just how firmly luxury fashion has embedded itself in L.A.’s cultural and social calendar. The timing is no accident. With the spring collections wrapped up in early October, fashion houses can shift their attention from the runway to the red carpet, cultivating relationships with actors and stylists while working with agents and managers to secure awards-season dressing opportunities.
The events also offer opportunities to entertain top clients ahead of the holiday shopping season. The contrast between L.A.’s social swirl and the turmoil in Europe’s luxury capitals has been particularly striking this week, as protests and looting have prompted boutiques in Paris and Milan to step up security and, in some cases, temporarily close.
What makes fashion’s fixation with L.A. feel new is how it has evolved beyond the traditional celebrity-dressing game. Luxury brands are now positioning themselves as patrons of the arts, champions of film and hosts of the city’s cultural conversation.
The Broad Heads to Paris
As French luxury houses descend on L.A. for a whirlwind of cultural events, Paris is preparing to return the favor.
Next spring, the Fondation Louis Vuitton will host a major exhibition of works from The Broad’s collection at its Frank Gehry-designed museum, with support from luxury conglomerate LVMH. Running from April 21 to Aug. 30, 2027, “The Broad Collection – Los Angeles in Paris” will feature 164 works in the largest presentation of the collection ever mounted outside Los Angeles, underscoring the dynamic cultural exchange between the two cities.
The exhibition will trace the collecting vision of Eli and Edythe Broad, whose holdings span some of the most influential artists of the past half-century, including Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Roy Lichtenstein, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Ed Ruscha, Yayoi Kusama and Takashi Murakami.
Of particular interest is the spotlight on L.A. artists, from established figures such as Mark Bradford, John Baldessari and Chris Burden to more recent additions to the collection, including Lauren Halsey, Patrick Martinez, Sayre Gomez and Laura Owens. Their inclusion will offer Paris audiences a window into the city’s contemporary art scene, which has increasingly become a source of inspiration for fashion designers such as Jonathan Anderson.
The timing is significant for The Broad, which is undergoing an expansion designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro that will increase its gallery space by 70%. When it opens in 2028, ahead of the L.A. Olympic and Paralympic Games, perhaps LVMH will underwrite — and dress — the inevitable celebrity opening gala?
Kim Kardashian’s New Fashion Chapter
Kim Kardashian seems to be entering a new, more playful fashion era with her budding partnership with celebrity stylist Law Roach. Best known for transforming Zendaya into one of fashion’s most compelling red-carpet stars, Roach has begun working his magic on Kardashian, steering her toward archival looks and unexpected designers with a more fashion-forward approach.
Their collaboration debuted in September at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art’s opening gala, where Kardashian wore an embroidered Yves Saint Laurent fall 2004 gown from Tom Ford’s final collection for the house. The look featured a high Mandarin collar, a keyhole neckline and a dramatic slit.
At the Academy Museum Gala earlier this month, she channeled Old Hollywood in a ruffled 1951 Balenciaga couture gown featuring a pink satin sash, an oversized bow at the back and more than 65 carats of diamonds.
For her 46th birthday celebration in Beverly Hills, Kardashian took a sexier turn, effectively soft-launching her buddy Olivier Rousteing’s new reign at Paco Rabanne.
The designer, who will show his first collection for the house next year, personally selected two archival looks from the fall 1995 haute couture collection: a slinky green metal-mesh and crystal minidress and a second version in fuchsia, both accessorized with chain-mail headpieces. For Rousteing, whose body-conscious Balmain designs Kardashian championed for years, the archival fashion moment nods to their friendship while teasing his next chapter, which will likely involve more Hollywood tie-ups.
Then Kardashian headed to the Rome Film Festival for the Season 2 premiere of Hulu’s “All’s Fair,” where she stepped out in a fab custom Erdem gown inspired by the British designer’s Spring 2027 collection. With its lingerie-inspired bodice and cascading crystal flowers, the romantic yet edgy look departed from the severe, sculptural, body-con silhouettes that have long defined Kardashian’s wardrobe. It was still sexy, but with a softer, more sophisticated vibe that suggested Roach is interested in expanding her fashion vocabulary.
Not every look has been a hit. A sculpted, leopard-spotted archival Yves Saint Laurent fall 1986 couture gown felt like a return to familiar Kardashian territory.
Still, her latest style evolution has me intrigued.
Amanda Seyfried’s Other Holiday Film
Just as Amanda Seyfried is back in the spotlight with the mega-hit film “You Can See Everything,” Tiffany & Co. has named her its newest House ambassador and the face of its 2026 holiday campaign, “Love Is a Gift,” which debuts with the short film “You & Me.”
The relationship had already been blossoming during the last awards season, when Tiffany hosted an intimate dinner at the Chateau Marmont to celebrate Seyfried’s Golden Globe nomination for “The Testament of Ann Lee.” The family affair included her husband, children and mother, along with stylist Elizabeth Stewart. Seyfried wore a strapless black Khaite dress with a chunky gold Tiffany HardWear necklace to the event, a look that carries over into the campaign.
The campaign celebrates love, family and traditions passed down through generations, themes that come to life in “You & Me.” The short film follows a woman who discovers a Tiffany Blue Box dated December 1992 while decorating her Christmas tree. Inside, a childhood memory comes rushing back: her mother, wearing HardWear by Tiffany jewelry, giving her a Bird on a Rock ornament.
Decades later, she passes the ornament on to her own daughter, completing the circle. “I’m thrilled to join the Tiffany & Co. family as their newest House ambassador and to be part of a campaign that celebrates love, family and the traditions we carry with us through generations,” Seyfried said.
Jonathan Simkhai and Frank Family Vineyards Raise a Glass to Dress for Success
Hollywood met Napa wine country on Saturday afternoon when Leslie Frank and her husband, former Walt Disney Studios president Rich Frank, welcomed a stylish crowd to their Frank Family Vineyards estate in Calistoga for an afternoon of fashion and philanthropy.
The couple hosted a gorgeous lunch for about 60 guests to celebrate the launch of a limited-edition Cabernet Sauvignon created in collaboration with Los Angeles fashion designer Jonathan Simkhai, with proceeds benefiting Dress for Success Worldwide.
Held in the winery’s historic stone building, which dates to 1884, the gathering drew guests including actor Michael Chiklis of “The Shield” and his wife, Michelle; fashion retailer Elyse Walker and her husband, David; and Simkhai, whose parents also attended.
“There is a lot of history at this winery. A lot of history in this building,” Leslie Frank told guests, explaining that she thought it fitting to celebrate the new partnership in one of Napa Valley’s oldest winery buildings. “There is a shared purpose behind this event, celebrating women, confidence, and of course, community.”
A former television newscaster who served on the board of Dress for Success in Seattle in the early 2000s, Leslie Frank saw firsthand the organization’s impact on women pursuing new careers. The collaboration is part of Frank Family Vineyards’ Frank for a Cause charitable initiative, launched in 2018.
Before lunch, Leslie Frank moderated a conversation with Simkhai and Dress for Success Worldwide CEO Joanie Bily. Simkhai shared how his love of fashion began with shopping trips with his mother and how his family’s history in the textile business continues to influence his designs. His grandfather owned a lace mill in Iran before the revolution, inspiring the delicate lace motif etched onto the special-edition 2024 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon bottles, which are selling for $90, with all proceeds benefiting Dress for Success.
“I kind of think the bottle resembles a body in a way, you know, kind of curvy and tall,” he said, explaining that the feminine lace pattern on the label was inspired by the Lina lace dress in his collection. Asked what wine best represented his personality, Simkhai didn’t hesitate: “Cabernet Sauvignon, dark and sexy.”
Bily spoke about how Dress for Success has evolved beyond providing professional clothing to helping women achieve economic mobility through career development, financial coaching and ongoing mentorship. The organization now operates in 17 countries, with 130 locations worldwide. “When you lift up a woman, you’re lifting up her family. It has a rippling effect,” she said.
The afternoon continued with lunch catered by Bottega Napa Valley, the acclaimed Yountville restaurant now owned by the Frank family, followed by a small Simkhai fashion show. The finale was a sweet one: the iconic “Tra Vigne” tiramisu.
Afterward, guests browsed a pop-up shop featuring pieces from the designer’s fall collection. Walker, a close friend of Leslie Frank’s, helped bring the collaboration together by making the initial introduction. “It’s the perfect match!” she said.
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