Anna Piaggi’s feathered hat burst into flames as she walked by a lit candelabra. Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Bergé and Karl Lagerfeld, after a four-year spat, carried on like old friends. And the bride wore red — twice. The year was 1978 and the occasion Paloma Picasso and Rafael Lopez-Sanchez’s wedding celebration, held at Lagerfeld’s 18th-century Paris apartment.
“It was my house at its best,” the designer told WWD. “And this whole scene reminds me of a painting my mother gave me at five by [Adolph] Menzel. It was a scene at the Court of Frederick the Great at Sanssouci.”
“What is this love affair?” said Loulou de la Falaise of Bergé and Lagerfeld’s newfound chattiness. “We all used to see each other for great periods, then everyone would split due to strong personalities. This marriage is not only a union of Paloma and Raphael but it brings together good friends. I only hope it will last.”
Well, the party lasted — only by 8 a.m. did the guests begin to leave the after party.
As for the bride’s wardrobe that day, Picasso wore red leather gloves, a red satin blouse, a white YSL spencer and a black wrap skirt lined in red for the ceremony — and a flame-red puff-sleeved gown, by Lagerfeld, for the party. “Paloma wanted [red],” Lagerfeld said, “and what else is red in a wedding other than the idea of the heart? So I made a dress which looks like two hearts.”