Anna Hamilton tells Wanted in Rome of her experience as a guest at the Giorgio Armani “One Night Only” party on the night of 5 June.

The crisp monochrome of Palazzo della Civiltà at EUR, guarded by muscular marble statuary and a slick cohort of security in black trench coat uniforms, proved the perfect partner for the Armani brand. The building’s six superimposed loggias, an icon of rationalism, held the promise of the ultimate party location as it hosted Giorgio Armani’s ‘One Night Only’ Roma Party.

Celebrating the opening of a new boutique on Via Condotti, the night began with a much awaited catwalk show of highlights from his three lines, Emporio, Giorgio Armani and Privé. Tina Turner and Berenice Bejo graced the red carpet, not to mention a mass of home-grown Italian talent.

As the party moved upstairs, the splendour of Luhrmann’s Gatsby roller-coastered into a pulsating scene from La Grande Bellezza as the 700 invited guests poured in. The conversation sizzled with tales of last week’s revelry in Venice – “surviving" the rigours of the biennale – while a militarily efficient team of bar staff kept the great and good of Roman society swilling mojitos. 

Leggy blonde starlets air kissed former Roman mayors, film directors jostled alongside sports personalities and Milla Jovovic, stunning in a burnt ochre dress, posed saucily to promote a new range of sunglasses. The dance floor swayed, the party swelled and guests spilled onto the loggias, spotlights punctuating the scene within.

Then, at 02.00, as if on an unseen signal, the crowd dissolved in a stable of waiting motors – humming Germanic steeds dispersing the Armani magic into the Roman night. And, if one night only was really not enough, the most ravishingly bizarre of the Armani creations remain on show at the Palazzo della Civiltà for an exhibition, Eccentrico, until 9 June.

Photographs by Anna Hamilton