Julia Fox! Jodie Turner-Smith! Grace Jones Hula Hooping! Inside the Inaugural AmfAR London Gala
It’s a busy week in London—fresh from fashion week, we’re ran straight into Freize and the BFI London Film Festival. Wherever you turn, there’s a red carpet to trip over and a celebrity to spot. On a cool Friday evening at the city’s latest grand hotel, The Chancery Rosewood—once a brutalist U.S. embassy, now a gilded ticket and soon-to-be famous face haunt—amfAR opened its inaugural London gala.
The global organization, which benefits HIV/AIDS research and prevention, has so far this year raised $17 million at the Cannes gala, $3.4 million in Venice, and $3.1 million in Dallas. Known for its starry red carpet, glitzy dressing, major musical line-ups, and generous donations, amfAR’s London edition didn’t disappoint. The night was opened and hosted by actor Joely Richardson, with Jodie Turner-Smith taking the mic to M.C., and performances from Jess Glynne and, finally, Grace Jones. amfAR has already confirmed to Vogue that $2.1 million was raised last night.
The step and repeat was a colorful sight. Turner-Smith wore a bazooka bra-ed, bright orange jumpsuit fresh from the Jean Paul Gaultier spring 2026 runway, with a swirling cobalt blue cloak from Roksanda’s spring 2026 collection, and event-befitting jewels from 886 by The Royal Mint. “If I’m introducing the queen, then I must dress in homage to the queen,” Turner-Smith said, referencing Grace Jones. “I am so excited!” Then Sabrina Elba appeared in a slinky black gown, so Turner-Smith broke off mid-sentence to squeal and exchange air kisses. Michael Fassbender made a quick moment for the photographers, sunglasses kept firmly on, while Julia Fox appeared like a vision, and posed in a bulbous, bridal white dress by Marc Jacobs, her makeup like a marionette doll.
From there, 300 guests filtered into the next grand, low-lit room and enjoyed a cocktail reception with champagne and dirty martinis on rotation, and dinky canapés of squid arancini, artichoke bites, and tartlets.
“The truth is we’ve had amfAR supporters based in London asking us to bring an amfAR gala here for many years, but why now?” Kyle Clifford, the incoming amfAR CEO, told Vogue. “As amfAR begins to expand the focus of the research we’re funding, looking into solutions for other diseases, viruses, and conditions, in addition to HIV, now is the perfect time to expand our outreach as well. amfAR is seeking global solutions to global problems, and we want to make sure we’re speaking with people from all over the world. Collaboration is the key to success.”
In the UK, nearly one-in-three people diagnosed with HIV are between the ages of 25 and 34. Until we find a cure for HIV, Clifford relates, that means as many as 60 years of daily pills, more than 600 individual prescriptions filled, more than 20-thousand pills: “A cure for HIV is as urgent a need here as it is anywhere else.”
“We need the energy here that you get in Cannes and Venice again,” said Dame Tracey Emin. “We can match up!”
British pop star Jess Glynne opened the program singing her song “No Place I’d Rather Be” and her viral hit “Hold My Hand.” Richardson then took to the stage. “Statistics are filled with individuals,” Richardson said emphatically, who shared the emotional story of her own father’s battle with AIDS. “amfAR will bring us closer to a world without AIDS, and I smile as I say that, because with your help, it’s possible.”
Both Emin and Natasha Poonawalla, honored on the evening, have been long-term supporters of amfAR’s. British artist Emin was given the amfAR Award of Inspiration, while Poonawalla—a dedicated philanthropist and executive director at the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India—received amfAR’s Philanthropic Leadership Award.
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