MILAN — It was a movie premiere, red carpet and screaming fans included, but inside the Milan Bourse where Gucci recreated a movie theater, models mingled with the type of crowd one could spot at any major fashion show.

Entering the space on Tuesday evening, the scene contained models wearing Demna‘s debut collection for spring, portraying the characters from La Famiglia and the look book unveiled by the artistic director a day earlier; the designer hugging Kering’s newly installed chief executive officer Luca de Meo and chairman François-Henri Pinault, and Gucci CEO Francesca Bellettini welcoming guests ranging from Gwyneth Paltrow in a GG monogram blouse and A-line skirt to Serena Williams in a figure-hugging black gown — both by Demna, natch. Demi Moore, the protagonist of the film directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn and titled “The Tiger,” arrived to applause wearing a golden sequined gown to a round of applause.

“Demi is a close friend of mine so I’m excited to see her and what they’ve done,” Paltrow said. “I’ve loved Gucci since the ‘70s since I was made aware of it by mom and for my dad’s loafers, so it’s been a brand that’s been woven through my life for many years.”

Jonze attended the premiere and Demna enthused about the director, “I’ve admired Spike’s work for a long time, since I saw [the 2002 film] ‘Adaptation,’ probably one of my favorite movies, conceptually. I really wanted to work with someone that would add an artistic dimension and point of view.”

Moore plays the fictitious Barbara Gucci, head of Gucci International and chairman of California — an undercurrent of humor runs throughout the film. To celebrate her birthday, she gathers her children, played by Elliot Page and Keke Palmer, accompanied by her girlfriend, portrayed by Alia Shawkat, and her stepson, played by Edward Norton, a strong believer in aliens coming to earth.

Barbara Gucci tries to impress a special guest, a fictitious Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Vanity Fair writer played by Ed Harris, as she tries to control and balance her life, the company’s reputation and being a mother. But the evening does not go as planned.

As Shawkat put it upon entering the venue, wearing one of the feather trimmed gowns designed by Demna: “It was surrealist partying.” Filming was “really fun, it felt like we were making a feature even though it was very quick, but with much better clothes,” she said.

Barbara Gucci early on in the 30-minute film sits in the garden of her mansion reviewing the collection, modeled by the likes of Kendall Jenner and Alex Consani. At one point she is asked why she turned to fashion. “I don’t know,” she responds, to a round of chuckles in the theater.

Gucci clearly went all out to support Demna’s debut with a cast of A-listers, directional film directors and a glitzy event in Milan during fashion week. The idea of showing the collection first through a look book, then up close in the theater worn by the models and finally by the actors in both the film and at the premiere was clever. The theatrical and grandiose gowns were ideal for the characters of the “wild tragic comedy,” as one observer said, but the minidresses with a whiff of the ’90s looked terrific on the young models in real life.

Gucci is clearly embracing jewelry as the characters were dripping with huge pieces, including big ’80s-style earrings. A disco mood infused the menswear looks, with models donning all-denim looks or loose pants under silk blouses.

The guests also included brand ambassadors Kim Seok-jin, best known as Jin, from the popular BTS group, and Chinese actor Song Weilong, South Korean actress Gyuyoung Park and Chinese actor Ni Ni.

“The Tiger” will be screened at the Cinema Village in New York on Wednesday and again in Milan on Thursday.

—With contributions from Miles Socha, Alex Badia and Martino Carrera