Prince Charles did not attend the gala for his own charity, the Prince’s Trust, held last Thursday at Cipriani South Street in downtown Manhattan. But there were plenty of other royals, both real and imagined.
Prince Pavlos and Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece were there, chatting with Jazmin Grimaldi, daughter of Prince Albert II of Monaco and Tamara Rotolo. There were also plenty of notables from the worlds of music and fashion, too, including the pop legend Lionel Richie, and Edward Enninful, the editor of British Vogue, who was made an officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2016 for his work elevating Black voices in fashion.
Mr. Richie wore a minimalist black suit with a plunging white undershirt that revealed his bare chest. Mr. Enninful wore thick sunglasses with his penguin suit. The two hosts greeted a blitz of models including Kate Moss (in vintage Bob Recine), Naomi Campbell (purple Valentino), and the Hadid sisters Bella (black Dior gown) and Gigi (pink Valentino).
The resulting pandemonium — Bella! Gigi! Kate! Naomi! — gave cover for the designer Riccardo Tisci and the makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury to head to the bar, where she talked about the mission of the trust to help young people find careers. “What makes the Prince’s Trust just so brilliant is that over the decades so many of us know creative and talented people who got off to a rocky start but were given a second chance by the Trust,” said Ms. Tilbury, wine glass in hand.
By 7:30 p.m, the crowd sat down for dinner. Leonardo DiCaprio appeared out of nowhere, using a separate entrance to avoid fans and cocktails. The model Paloma Elsesser wore a body-hugging lamb-skin leather dress by Gabriela Hearst and table-hopped, stopping to blow air kisses in the direction of Mr. Enninful. Dame Pat McGrath, the makeup artist, chatted with the creative director Grace Coddington, who wore a monogrammed Louis Vuitton pajama set.
As guests dined on prime roast rib eye, beneficiaries spoke about the charity’s work. David Thomas, a stylist who has worked with Britney Spears and Mr. Richie, recounted how financial aid from the Prince’s Trust in 1988 allowed him to quit his job as a plumber to pursue fashion.
Around 10 p.m., as Lionel Richie started setting up, Ms. Campbell quickly made her way toward the stage, accidentally sideswiping bystanders with her enormous gown. “I think I just got run over by Naomi Campbell and I’m definitely OK with that,” said Alexis Camille Crews, a strategic advisor for governance partnerships at Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, who had tattoo-like body art covering one arm that had been hand-painted by the Nigerian artist Laolu Senbanjo on the car ride over.
Soon after, Mr. Richie appeared onstage wearing a sparkly cardigan to perform the 1977 ballad “Easy.” Everyone jumped to their feet. “I am telling you, British people are completely obsessed with Lionel Richie,” said Deborah Ababio, the global entertainment director for Vogue, who lives in London. “It really is a thing.”
Between songs, Mr. Richie spotted Kate Moss in the front row, who was singing along to every lyric. “Last time I did a show, I couldn’t get you off the stage,” Mr. Richie said to Ms. Moss, blotting his forehead with a handkerchief. “If I don’t stop playing, she’ll stay right here the whole night.”
Without missing a beat, Mr. Richie segued to “All Night Long.”
