Elton John and friends graced the Sony Center stage in Toronto on Sunday night, for A Night of Glitter and Light. The evening began with a 25 year retrospective of some of the best moments from MAC Viva Glam Fashion Cares‘ past, followed by fashion show by top international designers and performances from music’s hottest acts, including Janelle Moné¡e, Scissors Sisters and Sky Ferreira.
The tickets for last night’s extravaganza ranged from 500 to 1,500 dollars. The proceeds from the event benefit Canadian HIV/AIDs foundations nationwide as distributed through the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) as well as the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF).
With over 150 looks and over 50 artists, backstage at the event was exactly how you would imagine it. Glitter floating through the air, tables covered in MAC makeup, half-naked models and us¦ the press. We asked MAC Makeup Artist Jane McKay how she handles the chaos. We have five of us on my team and we have to get 20 people through makeup, so we are doing four makeups each, and we have to get that done in four hours, says McKay. But you really never get that time, because people tend to go missing! McKay arrived at the Sony Center after spending the previous night doing makeup for five celebrities walking the Toronto International Film Festival red carpet.
The show just happens to fall on the same day as New York Fashion Week and the Toronto International Film Festival, making it harder to book models and makeup artists. But, that didn’t stop the team at MAC and Fashion Cares from pulling it off. Some of the notable fashion names at last night’s festivities included hosts Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared2 and Linda Evangelista.
MAC Senior Makeup Artist, Melissa Gibson, who’s worked on the event for 21 years, finds it hard to believe this is the final Fashion Cares. It will be later when I am watching and everybody is having a good time, that it will hit me that this is the last one, says Gibson. It is a little bittersweet. But, there is always something new around the corner.
Important Links:
The M·A·C AIDS Fund www.macaidsfund.org
Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) www.ejaf.org
See our backstage photos:
Butterfly headpiece from Fashion Cares 25 retrospective and nod to the theme Garden.
Models, Edris Arian Zai and Stiver Hudson, in their “Bollywood Cowboys” body paint for the retrospective.
A model having her hair done by the Donato hair stylists.
