Cannes 2012: Jessica Chastain’s Gucci Gown Has Been Waiting For Its Close Up

THR ran into Jessica Chastain‘s stylist Elizabeth Stewart this week at the 9th Annual PS Arts Bag Lunch fundraiser, an event that she and stylist George Kotsiopoulos have been helping put on for years.

Cohosts of the event, sponsored by Dior Beauty, included stylist Christina Ehrlich, Dianne Vavra, stylist Jen Rade, Beth Behr and actress Kristin Davis. And the event raised close to $200,000 in one afternoon for the charity that supports arts education in underserved public schools. For more information, click here.

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We had to ask Stewart if she’d fully recovered from dressing Jessica Chastain at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Oh, I don’t go,” she explained. “I get everything really organized with photos and PDFs of what goes with what and ship everything there in trunks.” Chastain’s hair and makeup peeps helped her get dressed and ready for the Cannes carpets.

But Stewart did admit that her favorite gown worn by Chastain was the ethereal gold and chiffon Gucci gown seen at the Lawless premiere. She and the actress had initially considered the dress for the Oscars but went with Alexander McQueen couture instead.

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“But the Gucci gown was so beautiful that we have been saving it ever since for a really big occasion,” she revealed.

Cannes is certainly big enough. In fact, many would say the Cannes carpet is even bigger than the Oscar in terms of international fashion impact.

This year’s P.S Arts Bag Lunch was even bigger than past years. The Beverly Hills estate where the private luncheon was held belongs to Shanna and Jon Brooks and is probably best known as the home designed by Brad Pitt and his first wife, Jennifer Aniston.

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The Tudor style home — so large it could be called a resort — also features several levels of backyard patio and lawn areas, along with an enormous swimming pool, all of which made a picture perfect spot for the casual chic shopping event and luncheon.

The money raised came from the sale of hot-off-the-runway day bags, luggage and evening clutches from Givenchy, Chloe, Christian Louboutin, Alexander McQueen, Dior, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Tom Ford and Fendi, Armani, Judith Leiber and LA tastemaker Kelly Wearstler, to name a few. And there was also a selection of Sama eyewear (Brad Pitt wore a pair of their aviator shades at Cannes) that went fast.

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The highest bid purse was a brown Ostrich bag by Tom Ford that sold for $6,000, making it one of the most fought-over items. New mom Kristin Davis snagged a blue Chanel bag that went nicely with the dress she had on.

Giorgio Armani’s right hand Wanda McDaniel brought her daughter and both were spotted looking at (shock) other designers bags. New mom Becki Newton also picked up a gorgeous bag. So did Lisa Rinna, Marisol Nicols, Susan Campos, Maria Bell, Julia Sorkin, Kimberly Brooks, Lianne Weintraub, Kelly Styne, designer Magda Berliner and Colleen Bell.

The way the auction works is this: The designer bags are spread around on tables in various rooms and the ladies look through them all and write their names and phone numbers on bidding tags on the bags they covet. Each bid ups the price by $15. All of the bags are start at 60% off retail price.

But there’s also a ‘buy it now’ price and many of the must-have-it-now bag lovers opted for that immediate satisfaction, rather than risk being outbid at the very last minute. As a result, many hotly coveted bags were disappearing from the tables faster than you could say “American Express.”

Good to know if you plan/want to attend the event next year. Think “buy it now.”