![fashionorwhatever:
he cocktail hour at amfAR’s annual benefit on Wednesday night went on longer than planned. Blame the obligatory late arrivals of the many boldfaced names—oh, and that little blizzard. Not that people were lacking for topics of conversation to pass the time: Rumor had it Lady Gaga was across the street at a hotel methodically preparing her most exciting outfit yet and trying to choreograph an entrance that didn’t involve paparazzi spoilers or snow damage. When she finally arrived with her recently announced MAC Viva Glam cohort, Cyndi Lauper, she didn’t disappoint: Her ensemble, for which Terence Koh claimed partial credit, looked like something out of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation, but powdered white and complete with what Koh called “facial pearls,” which resembled a good case of the mumps. Gaga’s F-word-laden piano number, which Lauper called “a performance art piece,” brought the crowd to its feet twice. Afterward, the platinum-blonde pop star accepted the Award of Courage on behalf of Elton John and his partner, David Furnish. (The singer was at a concert with Billy Joel on the West Coast, and, as Ingrid Sischy colorfully pointed out, Furnish was “in the commode” with a bad case of the stomach flu.) “I can’t describe how much [Elton and David] mean to me,” Gaga said. “It’s easy to feel like I’ve known them my whole life, ‘cause I’ve watched them my whole life.” The most poignant part of the evening was the tribute to Natasha Richardson, the amfAR spokeswoman who died last year after a tragic skiing accident. Vanessa Redgrave, Richardson’s mother, took the stage and read from a 1992 newspaper story describing her daughter’s first efforts for the AIDS charity after the passing of her father, Tony Richardson. Then Redgrave introduced Meryl Streep. “It takes guts to sing after Lady Gaga and Rufus Wainwright—the sacred and the profane,” the Oscar-nominated actress said, drink in hand, before launching into an a cappella version of a traditional Irish folk song that literally brought the crowd to tears. “This is for Tash, and for everyone that knew and loved her.”
— Derek Blasberg
mmm](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxrxyepr0K1qaao0to1_250.jpg)
he cocktail hour at amfAR’s annual benefit on Wednesday night went on longer than planned. Blame the obligatory late arrivals of the many boldfaced names—oh, and that little blizzard. Not that people were lacking for topics of conversation to pass the time: Rumor had it Lady Gaga was across the street at a hotel methodically preparing her most exciting outfit yet and trying to choreograph an entrance that didn’t involve paparazzi spoilers or snow damage. When she finally arrived with her recently announced MAC Viva Glam cohort, Cyndi Lauper, she didn’t disappoint: Her ensemble, for which Terence Koh claimed partial credit, looked like something out of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation, but powdered white and complete with what Koh called “facial pearls,” which resembled a good case of the mumps.
Gaga’s F-word-laden piano number, which Lauper called “a performance art piece,” brought the crowd to its feet twice. Afterward, the platinum-blonde pop star accepted the Award of Courage on behalf of Elton John and his partner, David Furnish. (The singer was at a concert with Billy Joel on the West Coast, and, as Ingrid Sischy colorfully pointed out, Furnish was “in the commode” with a bad case of the stomach flu.) “I can’t describe how much [Elton and David] mean to me,” Gaga said. “It’s easy to feel like I’ve known them my whole life, ‘cause I’ve watched them my whole life.”
The most poignant part of the evening was the tribute to Natasha Richardson, the amfAR spokeswoman who died last year after a tragic skiing accident. Vanessa Redgrave, Richardson’s mother, took the stage and read from a 1992 newspaper story describing her daughter’s first efforts for the AIDS charity after the passing of her father, Tony Richardson. Then Redgrave introduced Meryl Streep. “It takes guts to sing after Lady Gaga and Rufus Wainwright—the sacred and the profane,” the Oscar-nominated actress said, drink in hand, before launching into an a cappella version of a traditional Irish folk song that literally brought the crowd to tears. “This is for Tash, and for everyone that knew and loved her.”— Derek Blasberg
mmm
