Everybody who’s anybody shows up for Dame Anna
NEW YORK — On a gorgeous Monday night in Manhattan, with a number of guests venturing out to the rooftop terrace to watch the beginnings of a sunset, some of the most notable members of the American fashion, publishing and theater worlds gathered at the British Residence on East 51st Street to pay tribute to Anna Wintour.
Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue and the artistic director of Conde Nast, had been named a dame by Queen Elizabeth II earlier in the year, and this cocktail party, hosted by Antonia Romeo, Her Majesty’s consul general in New York, was a chance for those in her adopted land to celebrate the occasion.
The designers Calvin Klein, Donna Karan and Michael Kors mingled with younger counterparts like Tory Burch, Billy Reid, Thakoon Panichgul and Prabal Gurung, as well as The New Yorker editor David Remnick, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and model Gigi Hadid.
Ed Filipowski, the president of KCD, a public relations and production firm, and his husband, Mark Lee, the former chief executive of Barneys New York, talked of flying to London to see the new National Theater production of Angels in America before heading to Los Angeles later in the summer to spend some time at the Beverly Hills home they had just spent two years renovating.
The Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez chatted about their summer plans with Broadway producer Jordan Roth. And longtime Vogue contributor Andre Leon Talley reclined on the lone couch in the room, greeting guests as they passed by, including Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple).
Standing beside a large portrait of the queen, Dame Anna thanked the 91-yearold monarch, who has been on the throne 65 years, for “being an example to me that women can lead as well as men — and often for a good deal longer.”
Wintour also spoke movingly of the very specific gift that she said her adopted country had given to her: the chance to make her name her own. “In Britain, bloodlines run heavy, and in any job I took I was known as the daughter of my brilliant father, the great newspaper editor Charles Wintour,” she said. “In New York, nobody cared about my family. Frankly nobody gave a damn, and that freed me.”
Given her well-known fundraising efforts and strong support for Barack Obama and, more recently, Hillary Clinton, it was no surprise that Wintour’s speech included an allusion to the current political climate.
“I would be humbled to be recognized for my work in journalism any year,” she said. “But I am deeply proud to receive such recognition this year. It’s an honor that I share with so many of you, whose writing and editing often leaves me in awe — yes, I’m talking about you, David Remnick. This is a golden age of journalism, a time when those who have curiosity and a commitment to truth can do work for which their children will be grateful.”
Though the crowd was an undeniably starry one, the portrait of the queen was the closest the party came to having a royal presence.
Or was it?
In the moments before Wintour’s speech, designer Carolina Herrera was talking to a small group that included Tony winner Alex Sharp (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), and the subject of Prince Harry’s increasingly public romance with the American actress Meghan Markle came up.
“I had hoped Harry would have been here,” one of them said.
“Oh, but he is,” Herrera said. “He’s there, standing in the back. Didn’t you see him?”
Immediately, heads turned and desperately craned for a better look, while Herrera burst into a soft laugh and merrily glided away, clearly pleased with her joke.