STARS COME OUT FOR GALA DINNER
ACTORS, POLITICIANS, BUSINESS PEOPLE AMONG GUESTS TOASTING TRUDEAU
• A star-studded gathering of dignitaries, business leaders and entertainers converged on the White House Thursday evening for a lavish state dinner held in honour of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The prime minister and his wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, were greeted at the front steps by the Obamas, with Michelle Obama and Grégoire-Trudeau exchanging two- cheek kisses and a hug before walking up the red carpet and entering to a serenade by a string ensemble.
Trudeau and Obama looked sleek in tuxedos.
Michelle Obama wore a strapless midnight blue floral jacquard gown with asymmetrical draping designed by Vancouverraised designer Jason Wu. The New York-based Wu also dressed Michelle Obama for both of her husband’s inaugural balls.
Grégoire-Trudeau opted for a boldly hued, cap- sleeved embroidered magenta dress by Canadian designer Lucian Matis.
“She could have played it a little safer, but she went for colour and she went for high glam,” said longtime fashion journalist and TV host Jeanne Beker of Grégoire-Trudeau’s state dinner gown. “I can’t remember being this excited for Canadian fashion.”
Earlier in the day, Grégoire-Trudeau wore another Matis design, a striking red and pink dress, at the morning’s welcoming ceremony.
The state dinner was the ultimate intersection of the capitals of North American legislative power — Ottawa and Washington, D. C. — and Hollywood celebrity, with high- profile figures from the political and business arenas joining notable homegrown names from the world of entertainment on the high-wattage guest list.
Michael J. Fox stopped briefly to speak with reporters before heading into the dinner and was asked to share his thoughts on Canada’s new leader.
“He’s cool,” said the awardwinning, Edmonton- born actor, standing alongside his wife, Tracy Pollan.
“I was a fan of his dad,” he added, referring to the late former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. “When I was a kid, I used to say we had the coolest world leader going. His son is pretty cool, too.”
Trudeau’s mother, Margaret, and his in- laws, Jean Grégoire and Estelle Blais, were also among the approximately 200 guests.
The dinner was held beneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln in the mansion’s East Room, where Pierre Trudeau was serenaded by Robert Goulet at an afterparty for his own first state dinner there in 1969.
Rows of blooming orchids, hydrangeas and amaranth in shades of green and white decorated the main floor of the White House, as well as the East Room. Green is a favourite colour of Grégoire-Trudeau.
Dinner was served on the Obama state china ser vice, which is trimmed in a shade of blue and which was unveiled last year.
The dinner menu featured i ngredients from the Pacific Northwest to the Atlantic coast, and a nod to Canada with duck poutine among the canapes.
The first course of the glitzy dinner saw attendees dine on Alaskan halibut “casseroles” with cepes, delicate asparagus, chanterelles, baby onions, and lardon and herbed butter; followed by roasted apricot galette with Appalachian cheese, heirloom lettuces and pine nut crisps.
In a humourous toast to Trudeau, Obama j oked that the prime minister “may be the most popular Canadian named Justin” — likely a reference to pop superstar and Stratford, Ont., native Justin Bieber.
The glitzy dinner marked the end of a day that began with a pomp- filled arrival ceremony for Trudeau and Grégoire-Trudeau.
While the Trudeaus were attending the ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, the couple’s three children — Xavier, 8, Ella- Grace, 7, and Hadrien, 2 — were playing with a caregiver on the North Lawn, with security in tow.
Trudeau’s visit marks the 11th state or official visit of Barack Obama’s presidency but the first for a Canadian in 19 years.
Not since April 1997, when then-president Bill Clinton hosted Jean Chrétien, have an American president and Canadian prime minister clinked champagne flutes at the White House.