New York – Prince didn't say a word - nor did he sing - at Fashion Group International's annual Night of Stars on Thursday, Oct. 23, but he did function as arm candy for Jennifer Lopez on stage as she introduced the evening's big honoree, Donatella Versace, who took home the "Superstar" award.
Lopez may have done all the talking, but when Versace came out to accept her award (a few seconds too early - the Prince song that was supposed to play as she made her entrance started late), she made sure to thank Prince for "being a superstar."
But Versace's timing gaffe wasn't an isolated incident - after a lengthy back and forth between friends Philippe Starck and Christian Louboutin, who both picked up awards (Starck for architecture and Louboutin as a "Star Honoree") - the announcer accidentally introduced presenter Ashley Olsen (there to salute Francisco Costa) in the midst of Louboutin's acceptance speech. Call it "Night of False Starts."
Hosted by Barneys New York's Simon Doonan, he opened the night by humorously urging honorees and presenters to keep the speeches short, "Donatella has to get to Katz's deli in the Lower East Side by 11, she's judging a pickle-eating competition," he quipped.
Karl Lagerfeld eschewed the unofficial time limit rule with his introduction of Harold Koda, the curator of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and recipient of the "Fashion Oracle" award, with a speech that elaborated on fashion's relevance to the history books. "He is the future of fashion," said Lagerfeld about Koda. "He will decide what will be remembered from today," to which Koda responded, "I feel I should be handing Karl the award."
Night of Stars also honored fashion designers Francisco Costa of Calvin Klein and Christopher Bailey of Burberry, Italian Vogue's Franca Sozzani and her sister Carla Sozzani, Net-a-Porter's Natalie Massenet and Harvey Weinstein. John Paul Dejoria of Paul Mitchell was given the "Sustainability" award and Bill McComb of the Liz Clairborne Foundation received the "Humanitarian" honors.
FGI's theme this year was "The Alchemists." Alchemists, of course, were historically concerned with turning ordinary substances into precious metals like gold and silver.
"I think there is a really a profound alchemist aspect to fashion designers," said Tim Gunn. "They take materials that could be unexpected and elements that could be unexpected and make them into magic."
The evening's proceedings took place at Cipriani on Wall Street, just doors down from the New York Stock Exchange where retail stocks have steadily plummeted for the past few days.
"These are such desperate times that I think it's time to really celebrate beauty and quality and style," said Gunn. "Yes, it seems somewhat ironic that we have all these high-end designers and that we're celebrating the high-end of the industry, but we need to do that. It's not a time to bring things down to a lower level or to lower the bar. If anything, the bar needs to be raised."
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