At the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, Gucci Celebrates The Documentary Invisible Beauty 

Jeremy O. Harris and Bethann HardisonPresley Ann/Getty Images

Set to an almost uninterrupted dusting of snow, the 2023 Sundance Film Festival returned to Park City, Utah this weekend for the first time since January 2020. Numerous thought-provoking, clever and humorous independent films premiered, enveloped by exclusive cast parties throughout the picturesque town, along with après-ski hours at the St. Regis and The Montage in Deer Valley, before a nightly convergence of celebrities at Tao. Style throughout the weekend ranged from chalet chic to show-stopping, but no event captured the film festival’s fashion quotient quite like Gucci’s celebration of the powerful documentary Invisible Beauty.

Hosted at Nickel Bar, the lower level of chef John Murcko’s rustic hotspot, Firewood, the star-studded event brought together Dakota Johnson (who was also at the festival as the executive producer of The Disappearance of Shere Hite and to honor acclaimed director Luca Guadagnino at the opening night “A Taste of Sundance” dinner), actor and playwright Jeremy O. Harris (a Sundance judge this year), and an array of actors from 2023 Sundance films, including Magazine Dream’s Taylour Paige, as well as Invisible Beauty cast members Aurora James, Catherine Capellan, Kyle Hagler and more.

Frédéric Tcheng (of Halston and Dior and I fame) and Bethann Hardison (the pioneering Black model turned agent and advocate) co-directed Invisible Beauty and were on site to celebrate their film—Hardison took time to address her guests, as well. Invisible Beauty, which debuted in the “Premieres” section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, explores Hardison’s groundbreaking quest for representation and racial diversity in the fashion world. The fête for the film marks the 15th year of Gucci’s partnership with the Sundance Institute and the brand’s ongoing support of documentary filmmaking.

Beyond the Gucci bash, Park City percolated with star power as Eileen’s Anne Hathaway, The Pod Generation’s Emilia Clark, Cassandro’s Gael García Bernal, Sometimes I Think About Dying’s Daisy Ridley, Pretty Baby’s Brooke Shields and more traversed the mountain town’s Main Street. A-list guests like Questlove peppered the Chase Sapphire “After Hours” event with The Infatuation, in an elegant mountaintop chalet complete with Parcelle wine and a Lucali pizza pop-up, while Sofia Coppola passed through the Hendrick’s Gin cocktail reception at the Zooz Cinema Center for Fairyland. Chase Sapphire’s Soundcheck brought Anderson .Paak to Tao, which also hosted Diplo; guests Jason Mamoa, Phoebe Dynevor, and Alexander Skarsgard; and featured outdoor igloos stocked with Whispering Angel. After three years, the film community returned to Park City to watch, speak about and celebrate a milestone slate of movies.