MILAN — The Italian red-carpet photographers were going wild. Woman after woman was preening and posing her way down the step-and-repeat, in dresses composed of crystals, sequins and vast acres of see-through paneling.
It was the seventh annual amfAR Milano gala, and the city's sparkliest (as well as a thick crush of spangled visitors) were on hand to celebrate, bid enormous sums of money at a live auction to benefit AIDS research, and give their most extravagant evening clothes an airing.
"There's something wonderful about the way Italians dress up," said Kenneth Cole, amfAR's chairman of the board as well as one of the chairmen of the evening.
"That is true. I love that," replied Heidi Klum, another of the event's organizers. "People have so much more fun here with their fashion than in America. You have to give it to the women of Europe." Ms. Klum, in a bejeweled Atelier Versace gown that managed to be both covered up and revealing, deserved some of that credit, too.
Ms. Klum's modeling career rarely took her onto high fashion's runways — "I've only done very few shows," she said, "and mainly in my lingerie" — so her regular visits to Milan have been largely for amfAR's behalf. ("We've been doing this for seven years," Mr. Cole said. "And Heidi's been here for eight.")
She was joined by a sizable crew of socialites, designers, models and do-gooding stars like Dakota Johnson and Michelle Rodriguez, many of whom opened their own wallets once the bidding began. (In a Milan season largely absent major front-row star power, it was the most celebrity-fueled gathering so far.)
Isabeli Fontana, the Brazilian supermodel who was called onstage to hawk a six-liter bottle of Moët & Chandon (as well as a trip to Épernay, in France's Champagne country), was herself the winner of a 14-day vacation in the Maldives. Ms. Klum, auctioning an 11-foot-tall polyurethane snail sculpture by a collective called the Cracking Art Group, decided it must be hers. "Vito, I want the snail!" she called to Vito Schnabel, her art-dealer and -curator boyfriend. Twenty thousand euros (about $22,383) later, it was hers. Altogether, the evening raised $1.6 million.
This being Italy, the pace was leisurely and the mood festive. Between furious rounds of auctioneering and a live set from Debbie Harry, the dinner's main course was still coming out at midnight — and even the presence of Naomi Campbell at the podium to introduce the evening's Award of Courage honoree, Renzo Rosso, the founder of Diesel and the chairman of Only the Brave, the parent company of Maison Margiela and Marni, didn't cow conversationalists until she demanded testily, "Can you please be quiet? I'll start again."
"I try to do my best to make a better world," said Mr. Rosso, whose Only the Brave Foundation batt les inequality and promotes sustainable development worldwide, in encouraging the crowd to follow his example. "The world needs more people like us. Spend more time to be positive."
The dinner portion wrapped up (or was it that the after-party began?) with a bouncy performance by Icona Pop, the Swedish electronic music duo. "We were first of all very honored to be part of such a great event," said Caroline Hjelt, one of the pair. "We didn't even think. We said yes, yes, yes."
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