Kerry Washington, Dries van Noten & More Honored at FGI’s 34th Annual Night of Stars

Fashion Group International’s annual Night of Stars event was back and better than ever last night for its 34^th year, held at Cipriani Wall Street. Some of fashion’s most legendary designers came out for this year’s gala, like Superstar award winner Dries van Noten, who was presented his award by Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough & Lazaro Hernandez, as well as star honorees Thom Browne (presented by Dwayne Wade), Isabel Marant (awarded by Inez van Lamsweerde), Simone Rocha (presented by Stefano Tonchi). Simon Doonan, FGI’s returning master of ceremonies, kicked off the evening.

“I’m thrilled to be here tonight to honor my dear friend Isabel Marant, with whom my husband and I have been working with since 2008. I honestly can’t imagine my life without her clothes,” van Lamsweerde said in her speech to Marant. “Of course she’s the definition of French-cool, etc., but her unique sense of a woman’s reality is what fills my closet and the closets of so many women around the globe.”

As far as the major Hollywood star of the night? Kerry Washington, who donned a mini Mugler frock, embellished with black sequin detailing—she was on deck to receive the Lord & Taylor Fashion Oracle Award and gave a speech that was a major highlight of the evening. “I don’t know a lot about what an oracle is but based on popular culture I do know they don’t say much, so I’m going to try to keep this brief,” Washington said in her acceptance speech. “When I first started working in this business I had an intuitive sense of how fashion could help shape identity because of the important role a costume designer plays in defining a character,” said Washington. “I’ve always said I don’t know who a character is until I know what shoes she wears because that tells me how does she stand, how does she walk, how does she move in the world. Samira Wiley [who presented the award to Kerry] was my first stylist, so she was the first person who helped me to start asking those same questions of myself, not just of my character—who I am, how do I want to stand and move, what is my expression of self?” Washington also made a slight bridge into politics in what felt like an episode of Scandal, saying, “I think it can be challenging at these times to be spend an entire evening talking about and celebrating all things pretty. But I want you to remember this, you in this room are the arbiters of beauty and that is no small responsibility. You give people the tools to express themselves and to live their identities, and that’s no small thing.”

Other award winners include Bridget Foley, who scored the Board of Director’s Media Award presented by Marc Jacobs, the Technology in Brand Development which went to Rebecca and Uri Minkoff presented by Olivia Palermo, and the Humanitarian Award, which was given to Terry Lundgren for Macy’s Inc. presented by Tommy Hilfiger, and more. Paris Hilton also came into town for the gala to DJ at the event’s first-ever after party. She attended the gala hand-in-hand with her boyfriend Chris Zylka.

The evening was sponsored by Hearst Magazines, Lord & Taylor, Arcade Beauty, IFF, and LIM College.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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