Giambattista Valli organizes the first fashion party at Caviar Kaspia LA with Angela Bassett, Ciara – WWD

The potato has landed!

Beloved Parisian fashion haunt Caviar Kaspia won’t officially open its doors until Thursday at Los Angeles’s Melrose Place, but Giambattista Valli jumped into action, throwing the first party in the hotspot on Tuesday night.

“It was a way to bring Paris to Los Angeles … and it’s a great opportunity to say hello to all the new friends, oh my god!” Valli said as Ciara caught her attention as she walked in with her new blonde bob.

He was one of several stars – including Angela Bassett, Alexandra Daddario, Maria Bakalova, Micaela Jay Rodriguez and snowboarder Chloe Kim – and stylists, including Law Roach, Jason Bolden and Petra Flannery, to participate.

“Caviar is always a good idea,” said fashion designer Wayman Bannerman, who was there with partner Micah McDonald and their client Thuso Mbedu. The South African actress stars opposite Viola Davis in “The Woman King” about Agojie, the all-female warrior unit that protected the African kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s.

“I’m grateful it was received as it was,” Mbedu said of the film, which celebrity supporters like Octavia Spencer, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington, Lena Waithe, Jennifer Hudson, Gabrielle Union have bought the entire cinema. to show it to fans.

“People should know that their best versions of themselves are good enough,” Mbedu said of what the film has to teach viewers. “Society will constantly tell us that we miss it somehow, but here we have a cast of beautiful black women who simply exist.”

Bakalova, who arrived with her stylist Jessica Paster, was happy to be comfortable in a green and white Valli dress and to be at home, for a minute. The Bulgarian actress was landing in Los Angeles after shooting two films one after another and was preparing to fly to shoot a third.

“That’s what it’s supposed to do,” Paster said of seizing the moment. “Then you stop and have babies,” Bakalova laughed.

Wearing a pink off-the-shoulder Valli dress and glittery platform shoes, Kiernan Shipka left for Georgia to star in “Red One” with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Shipka hadn’t heard that Johnson would think about a presidential race in the future, but she was thrilled to tell him about it. “I’ll take it,” he said. “I’ll be vice president!”

The clubby-meets-Cali restaurant designed by Alexis Mabille is the latest in a line of international Caviar Kaspia venues now open in Dubai and Sao Paulo, and coming soon to the Mark Hotel in New York and the Mayfair in London.

“We started 19 years ago with Caviar Kaspia,” Valli said of his long relationship with the restaurant. “It was Giamba’s pearl necklace on the tin,” Caviar Kaspia Group CEO Ramon Mac-Crohon said of one of his first co-branded products. Valli recently created blue mini bags with the Caviar Kaspia logo, which he showed on his spring 2023 runway in Paris a few weeks ago.

Everyone sat at a long table in the garden for dinner and munched on the famous baked potatoes with caviar, along with silky smoked salmon and blinis.

Ramon and his wife Anushka Mac-Crohon met André Balazs, admitting that although they have long been inspired by his hospitality empire, they never visited his famous Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. “You must come,” Balazs said.

The Mac-Crohons are building their own empire.

Encouraged by their loyal clientele (Marc Jacobs and Lee Radziwell used to have post-show dinners at the Caviar Kaspia in Paris, which also counted Virgil Abloh as a regular, along with Valentino, Tom Ford and many more) and the popularity of the global tour of Pop-up restaurants to celebrate Kaspia’s 90th anniversary in 2017 embarked on an expansion plan, lining up partners for new permanent locations in five key cities.

The Los Angeles restaurant is run by Kith co-founder Sam Ben-Avraham and former executive of Iro Rahav Zuta, has an outdoor garden for around 70 people, as well as a cozy fireplace lounge for lighter snacks and a jewelry salon for designer Maor Cohen. The menu features all of your old favorites, plus some new ones, including Not Your Mom’s grilled cheese with caviar.

The restaurant is already booked for several private events, including a Peter Dundas party in November. But Mac-Crohon wants the public to come too. “We are creating a lifestyle brand,” he added of his strategy, including fashion collaborations. Next: a pair of Caviar Kaspia skis for the holidays.