Last week's amfAR Cinema Against Aids gala was a huge success raking in a record-breaking £7 million on the night and Carine Roitfeld definitely lent a helping hand in bringing the money in.
This year the former Vogue editor and long-time contributor to the event held a special fashion show at the gala where everyone from Cara Delevigne to Kate Upton walked the runway. The theme was 'the perfect black wardrobe' and everyone from Tom Ford to Christopher Kane donated their designs, which were all auctioned off as a single lot for £240,500.
Roitfeld wasn't the only industry figure lending a hand. Karl Lagerfeld put his services forward along with Harvey Weinsten to offer the opportunity for someone to star in a short film directed by the designer and produced by the Hollywood giant. Even Peter Lindbergh offered a private shoot up for auction, which raised £71,000.
Yesterday was the day of Louis Vuitton. In the morning Marc Jacobs failed to disappoint with his fall 2012 collection at the brand but last night was all about their much anticipated exhibition, which helped close Paris Fashion Week.
Two floors of the Louvre were taken over as guests including Sarah Jessica Parker (who flew in especially for both events) and fashion folk like Miuccia Prada and Anna Dello Russo explored the event dedicated both to the history of Vuitton and Jacobs' work at the house. While the first floor was dedicated to the classic trunks and heritage, the second floor featured Jacobs' partnerships with artists like Takashi Murakami alongside several of his big campaigns and memorable collections.
Anna Wintour is beyond doubt one of Barack Obama's biggest supporters. Last year she was confirmed as one of the President's top tier fundraisers and last month she launched Runway To Win, a new initiative that will see 22 designers showcase exclusive products to be sold online to support the Obama campaign.
In the run up to his last campaign race she hosted a $30,000+ per person fundraiser at the home of Harvey Weinstein and yesterday she joined Scarlett Johansson in a similar event held at the Theory store in New York. Guests on the night ranged from model Karolina Kurkova to Solange Knowles and while the official figure raised has not been disclosed, many expect it to have exceeded the amount raised at the last event.
Anna Wintour has been unwavering in her support of Barack Obama. In order to raise money for his last presidential campaign, the Vogue editor played host to several $30,000+ per person fundraiser events at both her home and that of Harvey Weinstein's. Now that his re-election campaign is beginning to go into full force, she's created yet another initiative to support him.
According to WWD the editor has launched Runway To Win, a new initiative that will see 22 designers showcase exclusive products to be sold exclusively online at runwaytowin.com. All of the proceeds of the sales from pieces created by designers such as Marc Jacobs, Jason Wu and Alexander Wang, will go directly to the Obama Victory Fund. Jacobs was allegedly told not to participate by LVMH but decided to go ahead a design a t-shirt "following pressure from Vogue."
Will you buy something from the collection and support Obama's re-election campaign?
In a matter of a week everything changed at Halston. After having quite the winning team behind them, Sarah Jessica Parker opted to terminate her contract early, Mario Schwab (who replaced Marc Zanini) was fired due to his reluctance to move to New York, Rachel Zoe - who came on board with Harvey Weinstein - left as quickly as she joined and Bonnie Takhar was unceremoniously dropped. For so many board and creative members to leave, there must be a cause. What went wrong?
Some sources were favourable to Parker, The Observer reports:
Although none of the former Halston principals would speak about their departure, citing nondisclosure agreements, a friend of Ms. Parker’s insisted that the actress had nothing to be ashamed of. “Halston was not a healthy company when Sarah Jessica came in,” the source told The Observer. “It was a revolving door for staff. But she worked very hard and sales were up 40 percent by the time she left. I don’t know how [the company] managed their books or what they leveraged, but now they say they need to raise cash and so are turning to licensing to do so.”
A lot has been going on at Halston this week. The brand confirmed that Sarah Jessica Parker has left the brand and Harvey Weinstein released a statement confirming that he's pulling out and recent reports allege that their creative director Marios Schwab might be out too.
WWD reports that there are doubts as to whether Schwab's contract will be renewed this year because of his decision to remain in London rather than relocating to New York where the company is based.
Anna Wintour fans, make sure to grab a copy of the latest Wall Street Journal. The Vogue editor fronts the magazine's cover, shot by Mario Testino and reveals what we all know: that she throws one hell of a dinner party.
Yesterday, it was announced that Halston CEO Bonnie Takhar was let go by the brand - a move made allegedly because board members wanted to take the brand in a different direction. Sarah Jessica Parker, who joined the brand in January as president and chief creative officer, isn't happy to see Takhar leave.
"Sarah and Bonnie had a meeting on Friday in Halston's offices to discuss problems with the latest collection," a source told Page Six. "Sarah has been a strong supporter of Bonnie for a very long time, and has been the sole voice supporting her against the board and shareholders. She has been fighting this for a very long time. She believed in Bonnie. She was emotional and upset because this finally came to a head."
Harvey Weinstein, a board member at the brand, has since released a statement confirming the decision. He said: "Sarah Jessica is a huge supporter of Bonnie's, but it was time to change direction. It was the rest of the board that made the decision. No one was more steadfast to Bonnie than Sarah Jessica."
Unsurprisingly, Anna Wintour drew a star studded crowd to her £30,400 per head dinner on Wednesday night, with Harvey Weinstein, Georgina Chapman, Donna Karan, Tory Burch and Calvin Klein all in attendance. The dinner - which the Vogue editor-in-chief hosted at her Greenwich Village home - drew another, rather famous guest... Barack Obama.
The dinner, which was held to raise money for the Democratic National Committee, saw President Obama stay for roughly an hour, although as no speech was to be made, reporters were left waiting in the sidelines for the party to disassemble at the end of the night. Described as "great" by Tory Burch, "fantastic" by Andrew Rosen and "amazing" by Gap's Patrick Robinson, the only thing we were left wondering is what would have been said between Wintour and Obama themselves.
