The industry descended upon the Shangri-La Hotel in Paris on Saturday night to raise a toast to new and longstanding members of The BoF 500, the definitive index of the people shaping the global fashion industry, in partnership with Snapchat. Old friends and new connections gathered in the hotel’s opulent ballroom, a mix of designers and C-suite executives, editors and entrepreneurs, models, movie stars and activists.
This year’s gala was the most global yet, with members hailing from more than 35 different countries. Among attendees were BoF’s 2022 cover stars Indian actress Deepika Padukone, Malaysian entrepreneur Vivy Yusof, French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus, Senegalese-Italian TikTok star Khaby Lame, RTFKT-founder Benoit Pagotto, and American model Paloma Elsesser.
“It feels so crazy, it’s such an honour,” said Elsesser. “To be cemented and valued in a list of 500 people in this global community feels like something I can add to my legacy.”
“BoF is celebrating inclusivity and representation, I’m just so grateful,” said Yusof, who traveled to Paris from Kuala Lumpur expressly for the gala. After seeing her cover, she was “speechless,” she said. “I had to be here.”
The rooms buzzed with conversation as the BoF community mingled over champagne and cocktails. Some posed in front of the Snapchat mirrors, taking photos with AR filters that transformed their faces into cartoon avatars. Actors Jared Leto and musician FKA Twigs joined with new BoF 500 members like Ukrainian designer Anna October, footwear designer Amina Muaddi, and editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar US Samira Nasr.
“It’s so nice to be here with everybody,” Nasr said. “I’m here to celebrate — we’re all back, and it’s so nice to be back in a room with my peers and my work community.”
Later in the evening, BoF founder and CEO Imran Amed took to the stage to welcome the hundreds of guests. He then introduced Oliver Sim — the former singer of The xx whose debut solo album Hideous Bastard dropped last month — who gave an intimate performance. In a surprise move, BoF’s own editor-at-large Tim Blanks joined him on stage to perform to the delight of a cheering audience.
DJ duo Chambord and new BoF 500 member Benji B (known as a frequent musical collaborator of late design star Virgil Abloh) also performed.
“It feels like a school reunion, with all the people in the upper grades that you’ve respected and never met, or your fellow classmates,” said designer Harris Reed. “It just feels really special.”
On October 1st, 2022, BoF hosted the #BoF500 Gala in Paris in partnership with Snapchat, Arezzo & Co, Shangri-La Hotel and OBO.
