Jeffrey Fashion Cares Throws YAS-tastic Fundraising Bash On the Intrepid

“Oh, yes, it’s Ladies’ Night…Oh, what a night…”

The Kool and the Gang female-anthem blared non-ironically on Wednesday night, reverberating against the metallic walls deep in the bowels of the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. The WWII-era behemoth was teeming with hundreds of men — Brandon Maxwell, Steven Kolb, etc. — and about a handful of ladies for the evening’s Jeffrey Fashion Cares benefit fundraiser.

The annual charity event raises funds for a triumvirate of worthy causes, all LGBTQ oriented: the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Hetrick-Martin Institute, and Lambda Legal. After a cocktail hour, silent auction and subsequent live auction, a speedo-heavy fashion show with hunky male models closes out the evening. It’s the highlight for most of the guests.

Sean O’Pry (BFA)

“It’s like Christmas morning for the gays,” Carson Kressley explained. “It’s hot models in very, very small bathing suits. It’s a really fun night but it’s also a really important night. Judith Light is the host who is just divine and has always supported our community. And what I find interesting about this event is its heritage. Basically in response to the AIDS epidemic, the fashion community decided to get together and do what we can to fight HIV and AIDS. And while that’s of course still a problem and still a beneficiary of Jeffrey Fashion Cares, we’ve widened our reach to all these other fabulous causes that affect our community and ours peers.”

Carson Kressley and Antoni Porowski (BFA)

Master of ceremonies Judith Light spoke to DFR just moments before guests took their seats for the show. “Jeffrey’s really is a New York institution,” she said, dressed by Jeffrey Kalinsky himself for the occasion in Prada. “And for such a strong institution to give back to it’s city, for Jeffrey to give back to his community and his town like this every single year, it’s just absolutely incredible.”

Judith Light and Jeffrey Kalinsky (BFA)

YAS, it is.

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