ANTIBES, France — “Dripping with diamonds,” beamed Kim Kardashian, summing up her red carpet attire at the party thrown by jeweler De Grisogono on the sidelines of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday.
She had just made her way down the step and repeat for the second time after suffering a wardrobe malfunction: Though her stylist Jenke Ahmed Tailly carefully rearranged the train of her rhinestone-mesh gown by Chinese designer Lan Yu every couple of feet, a fellow partygoer stepped on it, requiring an emergency fix with a needle and thread.
Kardashian wasn’t going to let that dampen her spirits.
“I’m excited just to be here in Cannes. It’s the most glamorous place in the world and I have the most glamorous jewelry on and a beautiful dress, so I’m living life — I’m happy,” she said, showing off her diamond-studded earrings and a ring featuring a whopping 33-carat emerald.
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Her mother, Kris Jenner, was sporting no less than four huge diamond solitaires — though none by the evening’s host. “I am wearing Cartier, Sue Gragg and Lorraine Schwartz jewelry — just threw on my own rings,” she demurred.
Kardashian’s presence marked a departure for De Grisogono, whose previous guests of honor at the annual party have included Sharon Stone, Eva Mendes and Natalie Portman.
“I wanted to have something different,” said Fawaz Gruosi, founder and creative director of the Geneva-based brand, underlining Kardashian’s social media following. “I always have this spirit to – I don’t want to say the word shock, it’s too much probably – to surprise people.”
Indeed, the party was light on movie folk, with the notable exception of Robert De Niro, who huddled in a roped-off section on the grounds of the Hôtel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes with his wife Grace Hightower and producer Harvey Weinstein.
Also in attendance were Édgar Ramírez and Ana de Armas — de Niro’s costars in “Hands of Stone,” which premiered at the festival the previous night — and Chris Tucker, Milla Jovovich, Paris Hilton, Mischa Barton, Ivana Trump and a bevy of models including Chanel Iman, Toni Garrn, Barbara Palvin, Alek Wek and Ana Beatriz Barros.
Jovovich said she was done with the “Resident Evil” franchise after wrapping the sixth installment, “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter,” due out next year. “It’s bittersweet, but at the same time, you know, all good things have to come to an end and hey, we had a great run,” she shrugged.
Bella Hadid, in a Givenchy haute couture trouser suit and black diamonds, was suffering from a severe case of jet lag. “I was here on Friday. I had to fly to Australia for a day and I came back about two hours ago — I am so exhausted,” she explained.
Kardashian’s arrival eclipsed a runway show featuring models wearing black Elie Saab gowns and piles of jewels — each flanked by her own security guard. But it was just the prelude to the evening’s star attraction: To a dramatic drumroll, Gruosi unveiled a 404-carat rough diamond in a glass case.
He has been entrusted with the cutting of the stone, the largest found to date in Angola, under a partnership with Dubai-based diamond trading company Nemesis International, which recently acquired the diamond for a reported $20 million.
Gruosi said he was hesitating between carving out one large stone of 150 to 160 carats, or two matching 85-carat diamonds. “My mind is ticking. I visualize things,” he mused.
Guests were asked to produce ID several times on the way in, as security was ramped up to prevent a repeat of the 2013 theft of a necklace worth $2.6 million at the party.
The Cannes Film Festival is under heavy protection following the Paris terror attacks last year, and Gruosi was said to be jittery after witnessing an ill-timed stunt by a French Internet firm at the hotel on Friday, in which a group of men in khaki vests and black helmets pretended to storm the dock, causing panic among lunch guests.
“The backdrop here is stunning,” said Amaury Nolasco, on a break from filming the comeback season of “Prison Break” in Vancouver. “It’s perfect for a heist — you don’t know who’s around. I hope they brought 007.”