Joan Collins Brings A Dash Of Hollywood Drama To The V&A’s Summer Party

Dame Joan Collins knows how to make an entrance. Remember at Erdem’s autumn/winter 2019 show when the Hollywood doyenne had trouble with the lift and waltzed in at the eleventh hour flanked by team members? The V&A summer party on June 19 was much the same. Collins, fashionably late, worked the galleries and gardens in a flurry of fabulousness. Photographs of her posing with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Felicity Jones and her husband Percy Gibson emerged online – each as glossy as the last.

For the annual soirée, which was sponsored by Dior in line with its landmark exhibition, Collins wore diamonds. Lots of diamonds. She offset sparkly black separates with a crystal choker, drop earrings, bangles, jewel-embellished pumps and a glittering clutch. With smoky eyes, glossy pink lips and her signature blow out, the Dynasty star supplied enough drama for the entire guest list.

Collins was joined at the Knightsbridge institution by a Dior-clad Jenna Coleman and Jones, who was outfitted by Markarian. Radio presenters Maya Jama, wearing The K Label, and Clara Amfo, in Outline, also turned out to see South London singer Joy Crookes perform. And actor-turned-perfumer Noomi Rapace and actor-cum-MC Riz Ahmed served up a lesson in blue suiting.

The surprise guest of the night was Stevie Nicks, whose tour schedule meant she was in town for the night. Her entourage? Record producer Jimmy Iovine and his wife Liberty Ross. As last month’s Royal Academy summer preview also proved, Britain’s seasonal parties are simply brilliant for bringing together a variety of tastemakers. If only the weather was as reliable.