Tuesday evening at WWD’s Apparel & Retail CEO Summit was marked with the WWD Honors cocktail party and dinner. Held at Cipriani South Street, the event drew honorees Brunello Cucinelli, Tory Burch and Todd Snyder; other designers like Tommy Hilfiger (a past honoree himself), Christian Siriano, Rachel Scott of Diotima, Tanner Richie and Fletcher Kasell of Tanner Fletcher, and celebrities such as Ryan Seacrest, Martha Stewart, Chloe Fineman, Thomas Doherty, Danai Gurira, Ella Hunt, Alyah Chanelle Scott and Larsen Thompson.
“Brunello just knows how to make clothes that are extremely wearable and extremely beautiful and very luxurious. And I love him as a person,” Stewart said. “He’s a philosopher, he’s a student, he’s a designer, he’s a creator of a mountaintop town — he’s a renaissance man.”
The pair have been friends for many years, with Stewart even going to visit him in Solomeo, Italy.
“Have you been? It’s very fabulous,” she said.
“This is my first time wearing Tory,” said Hunt, who stars as Gilda Radner in the new “Saturday Night” movie. “I’m obsessed with Tory, I feel like she’s such a cool New York brand. The shoes, the color.”
Fineman, on hand to present Burch with the award for Womenswear Designer of the Year, attended her first Met Gala dressed by the designer in 2021.
“I love that she’s ever evolving. I love that now you’re in Dimes Square and all the Gen Z kids are like ‘yeah, it’s Tory, can you believe?’” the “SNL” star said.
Fineman is still getting call outs daily from the viral skit she was part of a few weeks ago, featuring Ariana Grande and Marcello Hernandez as “Domingo.” The sketch instantly went viral.
“I was shocked. Even doing it live we had no idea. I mean, it was stuck in my head the whole week, and I was just Kelsey — I’m not even one of the bridesmaids,” she said.
Seacrest was presenting Cucinelli with the evening’s highest honor, the John B. Fairchild Honor.
“I’m in head-to-toe Brunello Cucinelli. There could be no other way,” Seacrest said of his evening’s attire. “I put this on not 20 minutes ago and it changed my day. It just feels so good.”
Seacrest said he’d worn the brand for years prior to meeting the designer, and their personal relationship has only made him more of a fan.
“We’ve gotten to know each other over the last couple years. We share a lot of commonalities, a love for Umbria, Italy, a love for food and wine and giving back to the community,” Seacrest said. “He does so many great things for people and he just loves putting a smile on people’s faces.”
