Dinner's on Donatella
Versace Supports Central Saint Martins With Big Check, Even Bigger Party
During her speech at the dinner for Central Saint Martins hosted by Donatella Versace last night, Professor Louise Wilson's voice cracked when she got to the bit about education being ignored for too long. The funding battle is one that she has waged long and hard on behalf of her students at the design school, many of whom have gone on to populate—even dominate—the global fashion industry. Why, in the last week alone, Mary Katrantzou won the prestigious Swiss Textiles Award and Gareth Pugh was selected as the guest womenswear designer at Pitti W in Florence in January. They were both on hand at the dinner, along with fellow Saint Martins grads Christopher Kane, Antonio Berardi, Louise Goldin, and Richard Nicoll.
As Donatella herself noted, the house of Versace, for one, has benefited from the expertise that Saint Martins graduates bring to the cutting table. She was more than happy to be giving something back, not just by contributing to the CSM 20:20 Fashion Fund but also by helping to raise its profile with the launch event at the Connaught. Wilson approached 20 potential donors to give £20,000 each. (First to open his checkbook was John Rocha, whose daughter Simone, a Saint Martins alumnus, has just set up her own label.) Among the other donors on hand were Converse's Cheryl Calegari and Net-a-Porter's Natalie Massenet, dressed for the evening by Versace in a sequined backless outfit that reflected the crowd's sparkly party spirit. It was hard not to zing a little when your eye-line roamed from Daisy Lowe, Poppy Delevingne, and Camilla Al Fayed to Tammy Kane and Alexa Chung.
Donatella was flanked at dinner by her own dream dates, Rupert Everett and January Jones, the latter of whom was channeling Holly Golightly in her updo and L.B.D. She also exhibited Audrey's consummate grace as she decorously deflected the burbling of one Mad Men fanboy.
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