amfAR Gala With Lizzo, Rami Malek Raises $20M

Seventy-five degree warm weather and Lizzo were saving graces at the 32nd amfAR gala by the Hotel Du Cap Eden Roc ocean in a luxe-auction that racked up a massive $20M, +18% from last year for the AIDS research org.

Seriously though, had amfAR been held earlier in the week, form figure wearing fashion models would have braved fierce frigid weather on par with a November Kennebunkport, Maine oceanside. One party attendee fearing the worst told me he tried to find a knitted winter’s cap in Cannes, but no dice. Luckily, similar to recent amfAR galas here, the weather fitted like long sleeve satin gloves.

However, this year’s amfAR was light on celebs, a derivative of two perfect storms: Cannes’ lack of Hollywood tentpoles and starry independents, as well as the Grand Prix in Monaco moving dates, this year’s being June 4-7. Quite often amfAR would reap the benefit of coinciding with the Grand Prix.

Showing up this year was amfAR vets Eva Longoria, Robin Thicke, Heidi Klum, in addition to Entourage‘s Adrien Grenier as well as The Man I Love filmmaker Ira Sachs and the pic’s Bohemian Rhapsody Oscar winning star Rami Malek (Sachs teased us that the movie already has a U.S. buyer, but remained mum; that was the first Malek heard of it, and let’s just say he was giddy). Last year’s amfAR Cannes gala drew Oscar winner Spike Lee, 2x Oscar winner Adrien Brody, Michelle Rodriguez, but also stars who were looking to shrug off any previous controversies in their mere and sheer appearance, i.e. 2x Oscar winner Kevin Spacey and James Franco.

Thicke, who was one of the few celebs to attend the hillside cocktails, which spill from the Hotel Du Cap backyard steps to the ocean balcony, told Deadline, “I’ve been coming for many years, we love the people, we love the cause, we love the celebration. It’s a very glamorous night, I get to take my wife out (April Love Geary). I’ve performed here a couple of times and done a lot of work with amfAR and it’s wonderful group of people doing the right things.” Thicke told us he’s busy finishing his latest album, which last reported was entitled Home. Early on in the auction, The Masked Singer stepped on stage and hysterically crooned to the audience in his R&B style to “shut up”. He was auctioning off with Coco Rocha a luxe vacation package from Berkeley Travel and One & Only Aesthesis which was won by a gentleman by the name of James Taylor. “I thought it was the other James Taylor, but this guy is still wonderful,” said Thicke.

A signature portion of the four-hour dinner auction is the runway model show with looks from Prada, Miu Miu, LV, Tom Ford, Vivian Westwood and more. This year’s theme was entitled Idols with models donning the signature styles of Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Bon Jovi, Brittney Spears and more. Longoria auctioned off the 19 looks which were picked up for 210K Euros.

This year’s Cannes Film Festival co-poster girl, Geena Davis, was the host of amFAR’s 32nd edition. Davis gave a nice shoutout to the Thelma & Louise poster, which has drawn criticism from French gender-parity group Le Collectif 50/50 for “feminism washing” given the fest’s lack of films from female directors (there’s only five out of 22 in competition this year).

Davis, taking the podium at the beginning of the night, spoke about her first time in Cannes in 1991 when Thelma & Louise world premiered, as well as how far amfAR has come.

“At that time there was very little we can do to help our friends and family besides giving them support and giving them love, but now more than 30 years later, it’s a very different story. Extraordinary treatments and options have let people live long and healthy lives, much of that is in part to the groundbreaking research sponsored and pioneered by amfAR,” said the Oscar winner.

The top auctioned off item was the Andy Warhol painting of Marilyn Monroe for 2.8M Euros followed by the Audemars Piguet x George Condo, Denza and Chopard lot, and the Emily in Paris walk-on-role which at the last minute, was turned into a double auction win for two separate bidders at 375K Euros apiece.

When it came to the music acts, the previous two editions of amfAR galas set a high bar with performances by Cher and the Jonas Brothers in 2024 and Duran Duran last year. Heading into last night, the marquee name was UK hunk Robbie Williams, who rather than end the ceremony, provided a cushion to the middle with the ditties “Angels”, “Feel”, “Rock DJ” and “Let Me Entertain You”. The evening was capped off by Swedish singer Zara Larrson. However, it was the eleventh-hour addition of 4x Grammy winner Lizzo in place of Tik Tok performance artist PinkPantheress. Lizzo went onstage quite early, cocktail in hand, and shining in blue, singing “Don’t Let Me Love You” and “About Damn Time”.

However, it’s the models and their wares who continually steal the amfAR gala more if not equal to the Robin Leach-like personality of vivacious auctioneer Simon de Pury. For the most part, most of them wore gowns which could fit through the revolving door at the Hotel Du Cap onto the grand descending stairway, read few came close to rivaling Skye Hankey’s boa yellow dress last year which provided an elegant challenge for exits and entrances. Below is a glimpse of those who stole the show last night: