Iris Van Herpen, Jordan Roth Saluted at FGI’s Night of Stars

Like the towering, glittery skyscrapers that could be seen Monday night from the 65th floor of the Rainbow Room in Midtown Manhattan, the fashion life can look impressive from the outside.

Many of this year’s attendees at the Fashion Group International’s Night of Stars upped the glam factor by dressing the part, especially this year’s “Rising Stars” honorees including Fashion Visionary honoree Iris van Herpen, the Fashion x Art winner Jordan Roth, Retail Trailblazer Jen Rubio, Media winner Stellene Volandes, Changemaker honoree Aïda Moudachirou-Rébois and the FGI Founders’ recipient Kerry O’Brien.

As conversations touched upon business highs and lows, the attendees and honorees were grounded about the churn of working in fashion. Dennis Basso, for example, made an early exit to change out of his tuxedo before taking the two-and-a-half-hour drive to QVC’s Pennsylvania headquarters in time for an hourlong appearance at 1 a.m. That would be followed by two more live shows for Basso within a 17-hour window — not so glamorous.

Views of fashion — and a career in it — are subjective, as Volandes pointed out. The editor in chief of Town & Country and editorial director of Elle Décor noted how her childhood friends respond to her occasional complaints about work: “They like to send me the violin emoji. I get it. There are the trips and nights like this, but most of all, what they want to remind me about is that I am so supremely lucky that I love my job. I love what I do every single day.”

Presenter David Lauren noted Volandes “leads two publications that are based on elegance, sophistication and taste.” He also mentioned she started out as an intern in Ralph Lauren’s home division, “proving that great taste starts early.”

Volandes told the crowd how on the first day on the job, her boss very generously invited her to attend that night’s opening party for the Ralph Lauren offices at 650 Madison Avenue. “I stood at the top of the stairs at 650 Madison in that reading room, watching this party happen and thinking, ‘I want in.’ All of this really does begin at Ralph Lauren,” she said.

Fast forward to today, Volandes said, “More than anything, I love that I get to do this job that I love with people that I love [who] believe in it as deeply as I do.”

Before handing over the Fashion Visionary award to van Herpen, image architect Law Roach praised her as “someone who doesn’t just design clothes — she designs possibility.”

In turn, the Dutch designer thanked Ant/dote founder Lauren Amos, who has helped to make her museum exhibitions possible, and Roth, who helped to champion her exhibitions. Van Herpen said she owes the award to her atelier team and “so many collaborators worldwide, the many artists and scientists who dare to defy limits.”

The designer, who dressed dancers for New York City Ballet’s fall gala earlier this month, closed with a final thanks for the Fashion Group for believing in the “universal language of fashion and creativity that moves all of us.”

A few months into his global creative director job at MAC Cosmetics, Nicola Formichetti turned up to present the award to his “new boss” Moudachirou-Rébois with whom he has “already done some crazy stuff with,” he said. (“From Day One, she was so sweet and big-hearted” that he knew he had made the right choice to join the company.)

Formichetti told her, “You make the world of beauty braver, brighter and more beautiful.”

Moudachirou-Rébois said, “This is truly a pinch-me moment. I was born and raised in western Africa. I think FGI stands for action, innovation and creativity. That rings really deep. Being noted with these names is a true honor.”

Reflecting on how she has been following the other winners, Moudachirou-Rébois said she found van Herpen’s “life-changing” and had visited the designer’s exhibition in Paris twice, including once with her children. “I really wanted them to see what beauty and technology can be. And what creativity can be, when we don’t put a limit on it,” she added.

Wes Gordon described Away cofounder Rubio as “wildly deserving of the Retail Trailblazer award, having seen an opportunity in something “as utilitarian as a suitcase, and transformed an entire industry, and set new standards for design-driven brands.” She also is a strategic business partner and investor in fine jewelry company Trove, and her next endeavor, Elsa, will “reinvent the luxury concept store,” Gordon said.

Praising Rubio’s philanthropic efforts, Gordon added, “She realizes that success only matters if it creates opportunities for others.”

“In an industry that is undergoing so many transitions, it’s really inspiring to see this community here tonight, seizing the opportunities that are in front of us and celebrating the art and the science of building worlds,” Rubio said, emphasizing the collective nature of fashion versus her personal achievements. “The future of retail is not dead. It’s very much alive. It is human and it is all of this in this room.”

Saluting Roth as the first recipient of the Fashion x Art award, journalist Alina Cho cited his seven Tony awards for “Into the Woods,” “The Book of Mormon” and “Kinky Boots,” as well as his own “Radical Acts of Beauty” performance at the Louvre in Paris. Roth “morphed into a living, breathing work of art himself,” she said.

Known by many Instagram followers for his car-change videos, Roth said, “Fashion is a way to express myself to you and to myself — the way out and the way in. Along the way, I began to realize that I was feeling a way to an art form, the one that I came to call narrative fashion, a creative practice that was more than just getting dressed.”

Honoring the Colony Palm Beach’s Sarah Wetenhall with the Leadership in Luxury Lifestyle, Martha Stewart saluted her prowess in two of the most competitive markets in the U.S.: Palm Beach, Fla., and East Hampton, N.Y. Stewart referenced her collaborations with Cabana’s Martina Mondadori, Aerin’s Aerin Lauder and Goop’s Gwyneth Paltrow, and her soon-to-be redesign of The Hedges Inn. (That Hamptons property was acquired earlier this year by Wetenhall and her husband.)

Stewart also spoke of how having Swifty’s restaurants at both hotels and Wetenhall’s knack for pop-ups with Chanel and Oscar de la Renta have added to the allure. She also speculated that something might be in the works with Carolina Herrera, “since Sarah just went to Madrid to see the beautiful designs from Wes Gordon. And she’s sitting next to him, so something must be brewing.”

Wetenhall, a former fashion executive, said, “We create a feeling, a sense of belonging and a lifestyle that is wrapped in beauty. I was taught decades ago that luxury isn’t something that you purchase rather it’s an immersive experience.”

Presenting Commando’s O’Brien with the FGI Founders’ award, stylist Sarah Slutsky said every stylist knows that “having Commando in your kit is a secret weapon.” O’Brien, whose company is turning 20, noted how it has expanded into other categories including a men’s line so “all men can go Commando.”

Afterward, two newcomers to the event — van Herpen and Formichetti — gave the event high marks. Van Herpen said, “I really loved it. Everybody is celebrating each other. There is such good energy.”

Huddled with her and Moudachirou-Rebois, Formichetti, said, “I’m so inspired. I never go to these kinds of things, but I came because Aïda is such a special person.”

The 41st annual event drew industry stalwarts like Robert Chavez, Gary Wassner, Printemps America’s Thierry Prevost, Bergdorf Goodman’s Linda Fargo and Ken Downing were in the mix. The designer crowd included Kobi Halperin, Dennis Basso, Cyril Verdavainne, Zaldy Goco, Carlos Campos, Evan Hirsch and Sybil and David Yurman, among others.