At The Age of Adaline Premiere, It Was All Eyes on Blake Lively

"Imagine what it must be like if everywhere you went, ever, it was like it was your wedding,” I commented to one of my colleagues last night, at the after-party for the premiere of The Age of Adaline, as we watched Blake Livelypose for a scrum of about 15 photographers at the entrance to the Metropolitan Club. Lively, the film’s star, had just arrived, minutes before 11 P.M. and about an hour and a half after the party had started. Of course, the party hadn’t really started at all, though, as everyone had been, more or less, waiting for Lively’s arrival, gathered in small groups by the front door, pretending to focus on what their friends were saying while regularly glancing up at the door. And when she did finally enter, there was no pretense of “playing it cool,” as men, women, and children—all dressed in wedding-formal attire—craned and reached their phones into the air, gathered to snare a snap of the 27-year-old, who presumably is used to causing this sort of traffic pile-up by her mere presence at this point.
The scene inside the Metropolitan Club—located right off of the southeast corner of Central Park—resembled that of a Disney theme park re-creation of a Gatsby party. A live jazz band performed as teenagers flitted about in tuxes. Champagne flutes were handed out as ushers chastised guests who dared place empty plates on reserved tables. There was a shrine of sorts comprised of framed pictures of Adaline, Lively’s character in the movie, surrounded by candles. Lively was the bride, the birthday girl, the guest of honor. She was at all times surrounded by a mass of at least 10 to 20 people, all clearly waiting for a selfie, a hug, or a conversation. (We watched as two young men gleefully bounced away from Lively post-selfie, as though they had just dismounted from a roller coaster.) When Lively was finally able to sit down at her table, about an hour after arriving, she had the countenance of a middle schooler who had just finished his math homework so he could now play video games.
Lively—who, to the premiere itself, wore a red “leather and lace” Monique Lhuillier dress (which she dubbed “emoji chic” on her Instagram account, in reference to the salsa-dancer emoji) (that salsa-dancer emoji has an excellent publicist, no?)—changed for the after-party, into a ensemble made up of a sheer star-patterned one-piece with a black coat draped over it. She looked like the most glamorous resident from the year 2078, joining us in 2015 for a night. Neither husband Ryan Reynolds nor daughter James were present at the premiere or after-party (though Reynolds chimed in via Twitter, commenting, in the semi-saucy Reynolds social-media tradition, on a picture of Lively and Adaline co-star Michiel Huisman). Lively was joined at the premiere by her mother, Elaine, and brother Eric, as well as by Gossip Girl co-stars Kelly Rutherford (Lily!) and Zuzanna Szadkowski(Dorota!), in addition to Anna Wintour, Lindsey Vonn, Lena Hall, and the Brant brothers. For one brief moment, when I noticed Rutherford clutching her chest, in apparent pride, on her way out of the premiere, it was possible to imagine the whole night was a Gossip Girl epilogue, that Serena van der Woodsen’s fame had only ascended since we had last checked in with her, that Lily was bowled over by the sheer hugeness of her daughter’s life (Anna Wintour at her movie premiere!?) and Blair Waldorf—estranged from Serena for years, at this point—had sent Dorota as a spy of sorts, to keep her abreast of every last hors d’oeuvre, well-wisher, and paparazzo Serena might encounter.