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36 PAPERCITY EUROPEAN EDITOR AT LARGE, FILIPPO TATTONI-MARCOZZI, REPORTS FROM VENICE, WHERE HE DANCED UNDER THE FRESCOES AT THE MAGNIFICENT TIEPOLO BALL. By Filippo Tattoni-Marcozzi PaperCity European Editor at Large I n 1951, Don Carlos de Beistegui, then owner of Palazzo Labia in Venice, reopened the splendid 18th-century ballroom — designed by Giorgio Massari and frescoed by Tiepolo — to host Le Bal Oriental. Future generations of glamorous partygoers remember it as the most lavish gathering of fabulous people of the past century. Fast-forward to this spring, during the opening week of La Biennale di Venezia. The palace was once again the setting for an extravagant bash — the Tiepolo Ball, held by the Venetian Heritage Foundation and Maison Dior. Guests arrived by boat to enter the porta d'acqua of the Palazzo, which was lit in hues of red and purple, for a night of drinking and dancing under Tiepolo's frescoed ceilings depicting the tormented love affair of Antony and Cleopatra. It simply doesn't get more glamorous. Rooms were transformed into sumptuous dining halls, with tables draped in Fortuny and richly decorated by Dior's creative team. Santa Margherita wines offered by Count Luca Marzotto and champagne by Ruinart livened up the gala dinner prepared by Venetian chef Silvio Giavedoni. Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri made costumes for Parola Bianca, who danced on stilts. The performance was a glamorous, surreal nod to the ball of 1951, when Christian Dior and Salvador Dalì dressed the acrobats. Another note of nostalgia made modern: As Cecil Beaton did before, brilliant fashion photographer Ellen Von Unwerth documented this new iconic ball. NIGHT BALL at the (continued on page 38) Tilda Swinton, Toto Bergamo Rossi Karlie Kloss Ellen Von Unwerth Sienna Miller, Lucas Zwirner