“You empower women and families not to survive, but to thrive. And you pick the organizations that incite them to dream and give them the tools to make their dreams come true,” Salma Hayek Pinault told Vanity Fair at the fourth annual Kering Foundation Caring for Women Dinner on Thursday.
Hayek Pinault served as cohost for the annual event alongside Colman Domingo, Demi Moore, Jessica Chastain, Julianne Moore, Dolores Huerta, Jeff Koons, and her husband, François-Henri Pinault. Held at The Pool on Park Avenue, the event raised a record $4.5 million for organizations committed to ending gender-based violence and empowering women and girls globally. Some 200 guests from across creative disciplines gathered in the candlelit space where stars like Lenny Kravitz and keynote speaker Diane Von Furstenberg were spotted taking selfies. Baz Luhrmann could be seen adjusting the train of Lauren Sánchez’s dress as she entered the room with her husband, Jeff Bezos. Dakota Johnson, who turned heads in a sheer Gucci gown, took a seat next to Kirsten Dunst to chat, while other guests like Seth Meyers, Linda Evangelista, Adrien Brody, and Georgina Chapman made their way to their seats as the lights began to dim.
“It’s about creating a sense of community,” said Hayek Pinault. “Everybody is here to participate in trying to figure out better ways to grow together.” As she spoke on the importance of collaboration and empowerment, she spotted her fellow cohost and personal hero Dolores Huerta, the trailblazing labor activist and pioneer of the Chicano civil rights movement. As they embraced, Hayek Pinault became visibly emotional, wiping tears away as she expressed her admiration, taking out her phone to get a photo together.
Dinner guest and longtime women’s rights advocate Mariska Hargitay also became emotional when speaking on the matter, holding back tears as she cited the resilience of the human spirit in the fight for equality. “Progress looks like not giving up in a world where people are so beat down and so afraid right now, like a huge tank is coming to steamroll everyone,” she told Vanity Fair. “It’s so important not to be anesthetized and to be beaten down by fear and by everything that’s coming at us, and to keep the fight going.”
Shortly after guests took their seats, Ariana DeBose, who served as an enthusiastic master of ceremonies for the evening, introduced François-Henri Pinault, chairman of Kering, to the stage. He gave an impassioned speech about the need to “commit to providing survivors with the resources and support necessary to rebuild their lives with autonomy and safety,” as his teenage daughter Valentina Pinault looked on proudly from across the room. Pinault also offered a prompt for the evening’s guests, enlisting his attendees to “do what this city does best and show up for each other,” before reminding the room that “joy is an act of resistance.”
After dinner—chicken verde from The Grill served on Ginori 1735 porcelain—auctioneer Lydia Fenet kicked off the bidding with a bespoke trip to Paris curated by Saint Laurent, which sold for $175,000 in just minutes. It was off to the races after that, with lots ranging from original artwork by Damien Hirst to a custom Gucci design, which put newlyweds Bezos and Sánchez in a friendly bidding war against each other before the item was ultimately doubled, going to Sánchez and another bidder in the room. It wasn’t long before, Hayek Pinault, the evening’s unofficial cheerleader, sprang out of her seat next to Anna Wintour, and zig-zagged across the room to encourage guests to raise their paddles and bids higher, and higher, even chiming in from the back of the room to request that artworks be lifted higher, as to further entice the room. Before the final bid, Hayek Pinault, gathered representatives from nonprofits Sanctuary for Families, Freefrom, Violence Intervention Program, and Equality Now and rallied them onstage to speak to the impact of the funds raised at the event. “This is for the survivors. For their children. For grandchildren. For their parents.” Hayek Pinault’s tactics appeared to be successful, as a one-of-a-kind Jeff Koons piece sold for an astounding $275,000.
At the end of the evening, FKA Twigs, who has spoken publicly about being a survivor of sexual battery and assault herself, descended upon the stage, on behalf of Sistah Space, a London-based nonprofit, to perform a collection of hypnotizing, stripped-back songs. The artist concluded with a raw, emotionally charged rendition of her song “Cellophane” that served as a testament to the power of women’s vulnerability and resilience, that brought the room to a standing ovation
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The post Salma Hayek Pinault and More Raise a Record-Breaking $4.5 Million as Cohosts of the Kering Foundation Caring for Women Dinner appeared first on Vanity Fair.
