On Saturday evening, CHANEL’s annual pre-BAFTA dinner with Charles Finch was in full swing at 5 Hertford Street—the kind of place where the lighting is low, the seating is plush, and the conversations are meant to stay within the room. A tradition 25 years strong, the evening drew an enviable mix of actors, directors, and industry insiders, all slipping into the club’s warren of jewel-toned rooms for what has become the unofficial start to BAFTA weekend.
Demi Moore, already a frontrunner this awards season, made a striking entrance, while Lupita Nyong’o floated in with a halo of white feathers. Rege-Jean Page, Jeff Goldblum, and Jared Leto injected some personality into black tie with silk scarves and undone collars, while Joe Alwyn opted for a deep-gray velvet suit. Lily James and Ellie Bamber stayed true to CHANEL’s signatures, each wearing tweed skirt suits—one in jet black, the other in powder blue.
Dinner stretched late into the night, but eventually, the inevitable migration downstairs to Lou Lou’s began. The music got louder, heels came off, and the last ones standing—perhaps with a coupe of Champagne still in hand—knew that while Sunday was about the BAFTAs, Saturday belonged to CHANEL.
