Sarah Jessica Parker, Dakota Fanning, and Zoe Kravitz Celebrate the Opening of the New Whitney Museum

Art and actresses collided at the new downtown home of the Whitney Museum of American Art on Friday night. Sarah Jessica Parker, Dakota Fanning, and Zoe Kravitz all turned up to celebrate the institution's dazzling new downtown space designed by Renzo Piano. The long-awaited opening for the formerly uptown haunt doesn’t officially open until May 1, but a select crowd got an early tour (naturally) of the waterfront museum during the Max Mara-hosted private dinner.

“The last time I went to the Whitney, I went for the Jeff Koons exhibit which was awesome, but I live downtown so it’s nice to have something a little closer,” said Fanning, who wore a strapless, cream Max Mara dress. As she took in the panoramic views of the city skyline from the eighth floor, she said, “You could be running errands and just pop in for a little bit.”

After Fanning and her fellow partygoers spent time admiring work by American favorites like Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock, they were ushered back to the eighth floor for a yummy four-course dinner of ricotta-filled ravioli and radicchio salad by Union Square Catering. Parker, as she made her way inside, “oohed” and “aahed” over the impressive white floral arrangements by Van Wyck before gushing over her handbag: a limited-edition Max Mara Whitney purse. “It’s really soft—they are Italians after all,” Parker (pictured, above with Max Mara chairman Luigi Maramotti) said of the small, black structured bag modeled after the building’s architecture. “I really like it. It’s funny, they didn’t ask me to carry it and the yesterday I was like, ‘Do you think they would mind if I carry it?’”

Long after the sun had set, dinner wrapped up and Parker and the rest of the dinner guests joined the bigger after-party that was already in full swing. Kravitz and St. Vincent took turns manning the DJ booths, while the likes of Solange Knowles, Betsey Johnson, and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld took in great art (and even better people watching) over bubbly and Belvedere cocktails.