Between Couture Shows, a Fashionable Party On Tuesday evening, in the break in the couture schedule between Bouchra Jarrar that afternoon and Armani Privé that night, many in the fashion crowd gathered at the American embassy on the Rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré (currently without an actual United States ambassador since Charles Rivkin ended his tenure this summer) for a party to honor Richard Baker, the chief executive of Hudson's Bay Company, which recently acquired Saks Fifth Avenue. That morning, Mr. Baker had been to the Chanel show, his first time at couture. "It was amazing," he said. Just incredible. The party was hosted by Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue and the recently appointed artistic director of Condé Nast, who was once tipped to be the next ambassador to France before quieting those rumors by taking on her new post. This night, however, Ms. Wintour was not talking of politics or even fashion, but tennis, most notably the thrilling five-set match at the Australian Open that day, which she had watched in her hotel room and which ended with the Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka knocking off the defending champion Novak Djokovic. "I'm hoping for an all-Swiss final," she said animatedly, referring to the possibility of Roger Federer, her favorite, getting through tough scheduled matches against Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal to make it back again to the last Sunday of the Open. Mr. Federer did his part to keep that dream alive on Wednesday, beating Mr. Murray in a tense four-setter. In the crowd, besides a crush of fashion editors and retailers, were the designers Alber Elbaz and Reed Krakoff. Was Mr. Krakoff, in Paris a few weeks before he would show his collection in New York, attending some of the couture presentations? "No one's invited me," he said with a chuckle. I don't think many designers invite other designers to their shows. At 7:57, three minutes before the event was scheduled to end, the Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld bounded up the steps of the embassy, followed by a small (but exceedingly good-looking) entourage. You got the feeling that the party was just about to begin.