The amfAR gala inevitably brings together those fabulously shiny faces of the great and good every year, although raising in excess of 35 million dollars isn’t always inevitable. But at this year’s Cinema Against AIDS 21 in Cannes on Friday, hopes were high, and those hopes paid off when amfAR ambassador Sharon Stone reached the jackpot target officially announced by this year’s host Harvey Weinstein.
Topping last year’s 25m, high rollers from across Europe lent their support to amfAR’s aim to make AIDS history while mingling with the celebrity guests that had been busy serving as the world press’ meal ticket during Cannes Film Festival.
Sharon Stone in Roberto Cavalli
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in Maxime Simoëns, with Bulgari jewels
Among the likes of Adrien Brody, Bulgari ambassador Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Marion Cotillard and amfAR gala art director Carine Roitfeld, the chief celebrity auctioneer, Sharon Stone, shone in ruby red Cavalli. Clearly, Stone wasn’t going to settle for modest bids when it came to the precious valuables up for bids, seeing that items such as sculptures and paintings by Damien Hirst, high jewellery courtesy of Bulgari, and even a round trip ticket into space on Virgin Galactic next year, accompanied by Leonardo DiCaprio himself, which fetched a tidy $700,000.
Marion Cotillard in Alexander McQueen, with Chopard jewels
Karolina Kurkova in Dior and Carine Roitfeld in Saint Laurent.
Karl Lagerdeld’s prized gloves happened to only just shift for $10,000 though, but the RED collection, a lot of 42 fearless red designer gowns, made up for the Lagerfeld lead-balloon, hitching $3.5m for the non-profit organisation dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment and education. Glass would like to take this moment to extend our appreciation to everyone involved in raising such a marvellous amount of funds in order to fight such an unrelenting disease.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Style.com