The dress code said ‘a touch of gold’ but for secret guest performer Rita Ora, wearing fashion’s millennial golden girl designer Iris Van Herpen to the Precious Garage 2018 Cartier party was a clever stretch.

The 28-year-old singer, in Australia for the luxury jewellery brand and to promote her new album Phoenix with a performance at the ARIAs, braved Cartier’s long red carpet in blustery conditions wearing a mid-length, voluminous blush gown featuring the Avante-Garde Dutch designer’s signature organic pleating.

In fact, it’s worth arguing that the strong winds, although conjuring several ‘Marilyn Monroe’ high-skirt moments, were the ideal conditions for showing the dress in all its billowing glory.

Rita Ora wearing Iris Van Herpen at the Precious Garage 2018 Cartier Party in Sydney

More than 500 guests gathered under the iconic Anzac Bridge in the Sydney Inner West suburb of Rozelle, first milling in the open air before giant roller doors to a nearby dry-dock boat hanger opened and a gilded nightclub-like venue was revealed inside.

Created to resemble the original Precious Garage exhibition held at Salone del Mobile in Milan, and in homage to two of the brand’s most famous jewellery designs, both displayed there – the Juste un Clou (curved nail design) and Ecrou de Cartier (resembling nuts and screws) – the high-glamour party’s rustic Shipyard setting just added to the underground appeal.

Along with Ora, big-name guests included Elizabeth Debicki, Georgia Fowler, Bella Heathcote and Jessica Gomes. The British star performed three of her biggest hits, DJs Eve Speciall and Graz played, and the party people made this a Thursday night to be talked about well into the New Year. See below for an insider view of the epic party socials.

THE RED CARPET

THE ATMOSPHERE


THE PARTY PEOPLE