Ladies First
Mary J. Blige and Gucci Join Forces for Charity
"All the women I know come in and out of Gucci almost every single day," Mary J. Blige said last night at the soirée she was hosting at the luxury brand's Fifth Avenue shop. But the pop singer is also aware that most aren't as well-off as she and her friends are, which is why she launched her charity, Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now: "These women come from the places that I come from, hard times, hardship, and they want to be educated and inspired and encouraged," Blige said.
The party highlighted the limited-edition black Twirl watch that Gucci's Frida Giannini designed for the charity and gave some of those aforementioned Blige pals a chance to come by their favorite store for a good cause. (The store was donating shopping proceeds to FFAWN.) Russell Simmons, who pulled up to the Marc Jacobs show hopelessly late on Monday, made sure to arrive early, and Donald Trump sliced through the crowd to have a word with Serena Williams (still recovering, presumably, from her controversial ejection from the U.S. Open) about "those two points." Meanwhile, up on the second floor, the towering figure of LeBron James could be seen shaking hands with fans and examining display sneakers that were surely a half-dozen sizes too small.
In this comparatively buttoned-up environment, Devon Aoki attempted, between photo ops, to process the previous night's shenanigans. "At Indochine, people were, like, taking off their clothes," she recalled. "That's what I saw."
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