A star-studded audience leapt to its feet to applaud Salma Hayek’s latest film Frida after its Venice Film Festival screening on Thursday, while the fashion parade outside the Palazzo del Cinema deserved its own standing ovation.
The Mexican actress was the star of the evening, super-sexy in a provocative ebony lace number. However, she said that for her Frida wasn’t about the glitzy premiere, but about making the film. “I’m very happy to be here, but it’s not the most exciting day of my life,” she admitted. “The day I showed up at the Frida set – that was the most exciting. That feeling will not be topped by anything else.”
It would be hard to top the red carpet stroll of Shakespeare In Love star Gwyneth Paltrow who wore a transparent beaded dress by Valentino and arrived at the premiere on the designer's arm. The scene was the second show-stopping moment of the day for the pair, who'd made a glamorous entrance into Venice hours earlier on the designer’s 150-foot yacht.
Meanwhile, Sophia Loren wowed crowds in a low-cut red silk tafetta gown designed by her fashion favourite, Giorgio Armani - also on hand at the screening. And when reporters asked the Italian beauty how she manages to stay gorgeous as she approaches her 68th birthday, she replied: “It’s not me. It’s the Armani that makes me feel so good.”
The fashionable festival takes place on Venice’s Lido, a 12 kilometre strip of land that separates the city from the Adriatic sea, but with all the glamour – superstars Tom Hanks and Harrison Ford are expected later this week – it seems more like Tinseltown. “It’s just like being in a little Hollywood,” said one fan. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
