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Clothes Hangar
This year’s Fashion Cares fundraiser represented a changing of the guard, so to speak, with retailer Jeffrey Kalinsky‘s annual benefit for New York AIDS charities going down not in some run-of-the-mill event space but aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid, the aircraft carrier commissioned in 1943 and now moored on Manhattan’s west side, serving as a museum.
Despite pouring rain, more than 1,200 guests turned out to bid on auction items (Equinox gym memberships, Broadway tickets, a plastic surgery “transformation package”) and take in a multi-designer runway show. As usual, the swimwear went over quite well.
Given the location, more than a few of the evening’s attendees were feeling a military vibe—in particular Kalinsky, who’s been sporting a jarhead cut since December. “I was hanging out in Charleston a lot, and there’s a military college there. I kept seeing cadets, and I was like, ‘Oh, I think I want to do that,’ ” the South Carolina native explained. Peter Som, meanwhile, expressed concern about the hangar deck’s apparent lack of air-conditioning. “What if a sailor’s curls start coming out?”
The evening’s roll call wasn’t all gents, though. Sessilee Lopez, Hana Soukupova, and Candice Swanepoel somehow managed to fold their endless legs into three adjacent front-row seats. “It was amazing,” Swanepoel said on her way out, adding that she hadn’t cast so much as a glance at the historic fighter planes on display. “As a girl, I’m not too interested in that.”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
Fashion’s Nights Out
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
A Night at the Opera
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
A Night at the Opera
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
American Originals
The CFDA moved its annual Fashion Awards nominating party from the rooftop gardens at Rockefeller Center to the second floor of Diane von Furstenberg‘s more intimate Meatpacking District digs. This meant that the evening’s nominees quite literally rubbed shoulders with the big crowd that came out to congratulate them—not that anyone seemed to mind. Perhaps it was the mild, pre-spring weather, but this year’s event didn’t clear out quite as quickly as it has in the past.
For Jason Wu, his Swarovski Award for Womenswear nomination (which he shares with Joseph Altuzarra and Prabal Gurung) was the cherry on top of an already outstanding couple of weeks. There was his meeting with First Lady Michelle Obama at the Smithsonian, of course, but what really had him smiling was the taping he did with The View a few hours earlier; he had the iPhone pic with Whoopi Goldberg to prove it. (Warm up your DVRs; it airs Friday.) “They had Carolina Herrera on last week,” Wu said, “and to be in that kind of company is really amazing.”
Michael Kors, on the other hand, was in a company of his own last night. How does the 50-year-old, whose business, believe it or not, will turn 30 next year, feel about receiving the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award? “I have to say, I still feel like a kid,” he said. “You go around being called a young designer forever, and the next thing you know, you’re at this point. But every day, there’s still something new.”
How’s this for something new? After winning the Swarovski Award for Womenswear last June, Alexander Wang has joined the big leagues. The 25-year-old is nominated alongside Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan for Womenswear Designer of the Year.
Burberry’s Christopher Bailey will receive the International Award, and the Board of Directors’ Special Tribute Award will go to the late Alexander McQueen.
Click for a complete list of the evening’s nominees >
—Nicole Phelps Continue reading