Business of Fashion’s annual gathering consisting of big thinkers and a three-day set of talks named VOICES, took place at the Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire. A select panel of industry insiders such as Tim Blanks, John Galliano, Mario Testino, Amber Valletta and Freida Pinto just to name a few, shared their experience and opinions on the future of fashion.
Freida Pinto
Irman, Mira Duma, Amber Valledetta, Mario Testino, Joan Smalls, Tim Blanks
In order to celebrate the occasion, BoF organized a Gala dinner in Oxfordshire, in honor of the Peruvian photographer Mario Testino. The venue had a Peruvian feel as it was was decorated with flowers, baskets and the country’s textile. In attendance were Freida Pinto, an advocate for Education Without Discrimination, Marco Bizzari, Gucci’s President and Chief Executive, Angelica Cheung, Vogue China editor-in-chief and many more. Both Freida and Angelica gave a talk during BoF Voices; Freida underlined the importance of girl’s education and female empowerment while Angelica talked about China and the millennials.
Peruvian setting at the BoF gala
Dinner Gala decorated with Peruvian ornaments
Gucci’s President, Marco Bizzari
Freida during talk
Familiar faces from the industry were seen throughout the night as Mira Duma, Alexandre Debetak and BoF’s CEO Imran Amed took a few pictures together. During the ceremony, the legendary photographer Mario Testino also received the BoF’s Global VOICES Award, for outstanding achievement. The day before he gave a talk where he revealed the iconic images that built his career.
From left to right: Imran Amed, Mira Duma and Alexandre Debetak
Mario with Imran
Models like Joan Smalls and Amber Valletta were also present at the gala. They both gave talks about their journey and struggles as models in the fashion industry. During her talk with Tim Blanks, Valletta discussed her new motto in life “ feeling good is the new looking good”. Valletta made a point to talk about her personal journey with wellness; her best advice to the public was to “put your frustration into action”. Joan Smalls had a different message for the audience especially for those in charge of fashion today. She talked about racism and diversity and how ultimately if more people are aware of what goes on behind closed doors, the more things could improve. For the Victoria’s Secret supermodel, “Beauty is diverse and you don’t have to be a certain stereotype to be beautiful”.
From left to right: Amber and John Galliano
Joan Smalls
Bong Guerrero and Maitha Alsuwaidi
