Feasting With Liv Tyler

On Wednesday night, the champagne bubbled over at Bulgari’s Fifth Avenue flagship for the opening of Bulgari & Rome: Eternal Inspiration, an in-store exhibition celebrating the jewelry house’s Roman heritage. The historical jewels housed in glass vitrines looked almost as regal as the evening’s guests, including New York society royals like Indre Rockefeller and Alessandra Neidich.

After things wound down at the boutique, guests made their way to the historic James B. Duke house, where Bulgari hosted an intimate Roman feast. Devoid of silverware, the candlelit banquet took on the spirit of a bacchanal. Guests like Alexa Chung and Hope Atherton embraced the theme. “I had a dream last night that I was a bumble bee,” said Chung, discussing her plans for Halloween. “I wonder if it was a sign.”

No one looked more at home among the Roman finery then Neo-Classical beauty, Liv Tyler, who was decked out in a diaphanous Alexander McQueen gown with Bulgari snakes coiled around her neck and wrist. “Look how decadent everything is tonight,” said Tyler, pointing to the banquets laden with figs, grapes and pomegranates. “This is how I like to feast. Small tastes of everything.”