The Kering Foundation’s annual Caring for Women Dinner, a star-studded, high fashion extravaganza that has been dubbed the MET Gala for social causes, returned to New York Fashion Week for a third year. On Monday evening, founders Salma Hayek Pinault and her husband, François-Henri Pinault, the chairman and CEO of Kering, the luxury fashion empire that is home to Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, and Alexander McQueen, among other well-known brands, joined forces with leaders from Hollywood, fashion, art, activism, and philanthropy, with a goal to address and ultimately end gender-based violence.
“I’m really happy to be here tonight because this is something that is really important to me in terms of eradicating gender-based violence,” said Jessica Chastain, a first-time guest at the dinner, which was held at the Pool in New York. “When I was getting ready for the red carpet, I was thinking about that and how blessed and lucky I felt that I could be part of an event that is hopefully going to be a lot of fun, which I think will be, but also positive change in the world.”
Other guests in attendance included Kim Kardashian, Leonardo DiCaprio, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Donatella Versace, Matthew McConaughey, Julianne Moore, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Jeff Bezos, all of whom helped raise funds for nonprofit organizations working to end violence and improve the lives of survivors. Viola Davis delivered an emotional and inspiring nine-minute speech about her and her mother’s traumatic experiences: At 8 years old, Davis was chased home from school every day by a group of boys who threw bricks at her and made racist comments.
“Little Viola, daughter of Mae Alice, was always running even when my feet weren’t moving. Freedom, for her, she wanted that load taken off her back. The load of the trauma of watching my mom constantly being beaten, watching her being catapulted into poverty because of a lack of education and domestic violence,” Davis told the crowd. “Freedom for little Viola looks like protection from sexual predators who preyed on the fact that this poor little dark skinned, chocolate girl had no value.“ The Oscar winner said that “active love“ and “radical love“ can break the intergenerational cycles of abuse. “We need it like water. The love that protects you, the love that makes you feel safe. That would be the most beautiful world.“
During the dinner, emceed by Gayle King, Kardashian made the rounds. Vanity Fair spotted her sharing a deep conversation with Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sánchez. She met up with Dakota Johnson for a chat, posing for photos together, and spoke with Davis and her husband Julius Tennon. Nearby sat Naomi Watts, who will star with Kardashian in the upcoming legal drama All’s Fair on Hulu. The two have not rehearsed any scenes or run lines together, but have met. Watts says she greatly admires Kardashian’s strong work ethic.
“I love that she’s trying different and new things all the time and seems to do very well at many of them—or all of them,“ Watts told Vanity Fair during cocktail hour. “I am impressed by her—wildly impressed. Anyone who works hard deserves major accolades. She’s clearly a hard working woman.“
Watts knows hard work. She’s nominated for an Emmy for her role as Babe Paley in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans; her new film The Friend with Bill Murray just debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival; and she has written a book about menopause, titled Dare I Say It, to be released in January.
“It’s an exciting time. I feel blessed and fortunate and at the same time I’ve worked really hard,“ she told Vanity Fair. “So I’m not going to discount that. It’s a lot of things converging all at once. It’s never one thing that changes everything.“
Close by Watts’s table sat Ricky Martin, who attended the dinner with his friend, Spanish fashion model and actress Esther Cañadas. The Grammy-winning singer is focused on his acting career and about to start filming the second season of Palm Royale. He’s already signed onto another project that starts next summer. “It’s time to explore the era of acting again. I started acting when I was 15 years old and then obviously music did its thing and I had to allow myself to be seduced by the power of music, but acting was always there for me,“ Martin said. “My life has been about entertaining and about telling stories with music or as an actor. But I think I’m a great storyteller, so let’s do it with acting.“
DiCaprio, dressed down and wearing a baseball cap, attended the Caring for Women Dinner for the second year with his friend Aviv Nevo, a venture capitalist. The Oscar winner spent the first half of the dinner in a long, animated conversation with Lenny Kravitz. Later, he spoke with Johnson, and then Hayek Pinault.
Perry, in a festive mood, sat at a long table with her husband, Bloom, plus Kerry Washington, Lindsay Lohan, and Linda Evangelista. Throughout the evening, she cheered loudly for the speakers, and made a toast with her seatmates. Perry also provided some comedy during the live auction when she got into in a bidding war against another guest for a one-of-a-kind Alexander McQueen clutch plus fashion experience, but Perry lost to the guest, whose winning bid was $100,000.
That lot contributed to an overall fundraising amount of $3 million. The proceeds will benefit three organizations: Girl Effect, It’s On Us, and the National Network to End Domestic Violence.
British singer-songwriter Raye closed the night with a rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon,“ at which point Perry and Bloom got on their feet to record with their phones. “I loved your performance,“ Johnson told Raye, as she left for the night.
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