Category Archives for Uncategorized
Just Cause
“If Elton had only made music, that would have been a big enough gift to the world,” Bill Clinton said. “But what he and the Elton John AIDS Foundation have done is truly remarkable.” The former President was referring to the fundraising and stigma-fighting accomplishments of the musician’s charity initiative, which held its annual benefit, An Enduring Vision, last night. Among this year’s honorees: Clinton himself, along with Sharon Stone, Lily Safra, and Evelyn and Leonard Lauder.
With the majority of the fashion world at Skylight Studios for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards, the crowd was heavy on politicos and entertainers. Mayor Bloomberg opened the night’s festivities with Anderson Cooper, and after the speeches from the honorees—Stone accepted her award “on behalf of the 33 million people suffering from AIDS today”—there was a live auction. Daniel Craig bid up a William Blake print, but the biggest lots were an original Elton John song and a day with Clinton, which went for $160,000 and $300,000, respectively.
Of course, no gala is complete without a fashion crisis, and last night’s belonged to Courtney Love. Arriving late, she explained that she missed the cocktail hour because her stylist “must have been kidding” when he sent a white dress with an intentional stain down the back and bangles that looked like bandages to wear on her arms. “I totally would have worn it if I didn’t like the people here,” she explained of her last-minute dress swap. “But I like Elton and I love Bill Clinton.”
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
If They Can Make It There…
The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund—whose annual awards ceremony was held Monday night at Skylight Studios and underwritten by Cartier—is now six years old, and other countries finally seem to be catching on to the importance of nurturing young talent. There’s Italy’s Who’s on Next; the U.K. has just launched its own new-designer competition; and in her speech, Vogue‘s Anna Wintour said she’d recently had a meeting with the French minister of culture about starting a similar contest in France. “And Brazil, India, Russia, and China aren’t far behind,” Wintour noted. But still, she argued, “New York is the place to come for young designers to show what they’re capable of.” For proof, look to the 2009 finalists, a far-flung group with different backgrounds and areas of interest: Of the ten nominees, at least three hail from countries other than the U.S.; two are jewelry makers; two are menswear designers; one’s a cobbler (of handmade shoes, no less); and another’s a veteran of sorts, having been nominated for the first time four years ago.
The diversity theme continued with Aussie Nicole Kidman, a redhead again, introducing the keynote speaker: “the visionary, incomparable Alber Elbaz.” The Lanvin designer delivered one of his trademark wide-ranging speeches, touching on the perils of celebrity fashion, the dangers of becoming a producer of fashion shows rather than of fashion, and finally, the sweet smell of success. “It’s like a bottle of perfume,” he waxed philosophical. “You smell it, you don’t sniff it or drink it.”
Afterward, Kidman joined Elbaz onstage again for the announcements. The philanthropic jewelry maker Monique Péan and the menswear designer Patrik Ervell were named runners-up, each taking home a $50,000 check. The former promised, “I won’t disappoint you,” while the latter told the judges, “Thank you for thinking of this award. We all appreciate it.” But the $200,000 grand prize went to the French-born, Brooklyn-based womenswear designer Sophie Théallet. “I’m French, so I’m going to try to do my best,” she began, before concluding, “Thank you for making my American dreams come true.”
—Nicole Phelps Continue reading
The Shortest Musical You Will Never See Again
The Museum of Contemporary Art’s 30th anniversary celebration in L.A. on Saturday night mixed Hollywood big shots—even Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got a sitter for the private tour—with the international art and fashion sets. To mark the occasion, the event’s honorary co-chairs, Dasha Zhukova and Larry Gagosian, commissioned a performance piece by Francesco Vezzoli. Collaborating with Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet and a Miuccia Prada-styled Lady Gaga, the Italian artist cooked up a one-time-only work that consisted of a single song played live on a Damien Hirst-customized Steinway piano. It was, as Vezzoli explained, “the shortest musical you will never see again.” Almost as attention-grabbing was the gaggle of swimsuit-clad models called the MOCA-ettes, who helped auction off the Hirst piano for $450,000. (In all, the evening raised $4 million.)
After the piano was rolled away and the vodka shots ran dry, the crowd moved to an abandoned store in the heart of West Hollywood for a Pop magazine party. Sure, Tom Ford pointed out the less-than-stellar lighting on the Sunset Strip, but with the star wattage on display, no one seemed to mind. And heck, at least there was more than one bathroom. (Back at the museum, there had been a single Porta-Potty for the 1,000-plus guests—it became the chicest mobile facility in the history of the world when Jessica Alba and Kate Bosworth went in there together.) In the middle of the after-party was Pop‘s cover girl Tavi. “Oh, I’m just meeting my personal icons tonight,” she sighed, which was decidedly more glam than what she’d been doing earlier in the week. “I got a black eye playing volleyball in gym class. It’s a good thing I have bangs.”
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
Are You Prepared To Go Bare?
—Laird Borrelli-Persson Continue reading
Blake Lively Gets a Spanking and Kind of Enjoys It
There’s a lot more to the new film The Private Lives of Pippa Lee than a group of pretty women experimenting with S&M. But is it really that surprising that a scene in which Julianne Moore commands Blake Lively to receive a spanking has generated some prurient buzz?
Lively plays Robin Wright Penn‘s troubled main character in her wild youth; Moore, the lesbian vamp who (with the help of a camera and some props) coaxes out her naughty side. “Julianne is very professional,” Lively assured us at last night’s Cinema Society screening, which was co-hosted by A Diamond Is Forever. “I thought it was going to be really awkward, but as soon as they called action she snapped into the strongest character—it made it easy for me not to laugh or feel weird.” So how did the Gossip Girl beauty feel attached to a leash? “Scared, but kind of enjoying it.”
As Penélope Cruz and Marion Cotillard strolled past yelping photographers, director Rebecca Miller riffed on the bondage scene’s thematic importance: “In a way, the whole film’s about the way people are bound to each other. It’s the central metaphor,” she explained. Appropriately, Wright Penn walked the carpet in skin-tight Hervé Léger by Max Azria. No such constraints for co-star Keanu Reeves, who attended in a T-shirt, blazer, and vintage hiking boots—perfect footwear for the after-party at the thick-timbered Ace Hotel.
“They’re comfortable,” he shrugged, making his way through the hotel’s yet-to-open Breslin restaurant (which, a server confided, will seat its first customers on the 23rd). “And it’s Sunday night!”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading