This year’s Cannes Film Festival has been hailed as the year of la femme, as it has showcased the work of more female directors, producers, and leading actresses than ever before. And it’s only fitting that tonight’s 22nd annual amfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc be a night about the women. After all, Dame Elizabeth Taylor was amfAR’s founding chairman and the creator of the first-ever Cinema Against AIDS event in 1993.
From the runway to the red carpet, there were plenty of beautiful women at every turn in Antibes, including event chair Diane Kruger; cochairs Karlie Kloss, Irina Shayk, and Adriana Lima; and the likes of Sienna Miller, Rita Ora, Kendall Jenner, and Lara Stone. Carine Roitfeld, also an event chair, stepped out in a glittering, custom Saint Laurent gown by Hedi Slimane. “This is my version of rock ’n’ roll,” she told Style.com before her runway show, which featured 47 black and white looks from Tom Ford, Balmain, Céline, and more, not to mention jewels by Harry Winston, all inspired by style icons Audrey Hepburn, Jean Shrimpton, Veruschka, and Jackie Kennedy. “We did glamour and gold as a tribute for Liz Taylor; we did red and sexy for Marilyn Monroe; and now we do black and white, as it is the base of chicness,” Roitfeld said of this year’s theme.
Auctioneer Simon de Pury rallied partygoers to bid on the designer pieces they saw on the catwalk, modeled by the likes of Toni Garrn, Gigi and Bella Hadid, and Isabeli Fontana (who closed the Mark Ronson-deejayed show in a Roberto Cavalli number). Other big-ticket items in the auction, the proceeds of which will go to HIV/AIDS research, included the Harry Winston Epic Cluster diamond necklace, inspired by one that Richard Burton gave Elizabeth Taylor; Pablo Picasso’s L’Etreinte; and tickets to attend next year’s Golden Globe Awards. As if all that weren’t excitement enough, world-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli made a surprise appearance (and offered to host a dinner for one lucky bidder and 11 of their friends). Nine-time Grammy Award winner Mary J. Blige, Brit pop sensation Charli XCX, and the rock band Imagine Dragons also performed.
—Kristin Tice Studeman, Style.com
