Group Hug
The Fashion Group International Celebrates Its Night of Stars
Cipriani Wall Street was packed with some of the industry's biggest talents for the Fashion Group International's 26th annual Night of Stars yesterday. Host Simon Doonan embraced the evening's "Storytellers" theme, opening the program with a rundown of the evening's honorees by means of a comic tale that involved all of them helping Oscar de la Renta open a fictional Parisian strip club called Le Sexy J'Adore.
A bit less fancifully, de la Renta later accepted the Super Star Award from Grace Coddington and Hamish Bowles. As it turns out, the Vogue editors have had a bit of practice on stage together. "Years ago we did a magic act for Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris," Bowles recalled. "I made Grace disappear and turn into Lily Cole." There was to be no repeat performance here, though. "Oscar's already done the magic," the spotlight-averse Coddington joked. "Because he got me here."
Stage fright was a theme. Referring to her nerves—not the food, thank goodness—Gwen Stefani whipped through her introduction of Beauty Award winner Catherine Walsh, "because I'm going to throw up right now," she informed the audience. And before presenting the Humanitarian Award to Kenneth Cole, Jon Bon Jovi admitted he wasn't in the habit of wearing black tie: "Unless it's a wedding or a funeral. But I don't play a lot of weddings."
Neither, presumably, does Dita Von Teese, who came in crowned with a spidery Stephen Jones creation that looked as though it could poke out six sets of eyes at once. Honoree Victoire de Castellane, another headwear enthusiast, opted for a set of Louis Vuitton bunny ears and told us she'll be incorporating more animals into her brief New York visit. "I'm going to the Bronx Zoo," she said. "I love monkeys."
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