Leading Ladies Who Lunch! Stars Gathered with Chanel and the Academy to Celebrate Women in Film
On Tuesday afternoon, underneath the glittering glass dome of the Dolby Family Terrace, Chanel and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosted their annual Academy Women’s Luncheon celebrating this year’s Gold Fellowship for Women recipients. The gathering for the program, which offers mentorship and funding to emerging female filmmakers, drew support from a powerful mix of women from both sides of the camera—all dressed in Chanel too, of course.
Among the guests were Kate Hudson, Zoey Deutch, Tessa Thompson, Claire Foy, Felicity Jones, Riley Keough, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sarah Paulson, Leslie Mann and Maude Apatow, Janicza Bravo, and Ruth E. Carter. This year’s recipients Alina Simone and Marlén Viñayo were introduced by Oscar-winning costume designer Carter, whose creations for Black Panther recently made an outing at Vogue World: Hollywood. “To have an event like this, a red carpet luncheon where you re wearing Chanel and it s all about uplifting women—what better scenario than that?” she said as she made her way through the crowd. “Marlén and Alina are just outstanding—as journalists, as filmmakers. To embrace them and bring them into the Academy says, ‘You belong here. We see you.’ I m honored to present them with the fellowship awards today.”
In line with the Academy’s commitment to global talent development, the Gold Fellowship for Women continues Gabrielle Chanel’s own legacy of championing women in the arts. From her early collaborations with filmmakers to the house’s ongoing partnerships across the creative industries, Chanel’s connection to cinema remains deeply intertwined with the evolution of women’s voices in film.
Over a lunch of lobster salad and apple galette, conversation drifted easily between projects, passions, and reinvention. Kate Hudson, who recently performed songs from her upcoming film Song Sung Blue with co-star Hugh Jackman at a special concert at Radio City Music Hall, spoke about her shift into music and independent filmmaking. “I’m excited to be part of a conversation about a movie that is a complete original with a smaller budget,” she told Vogue. “Hopefully it will be a big Christmas movie that will get people back into theaters.” Of the excuse to get together with her industry peers, she added: “It’s nice for us to be able to celebrate each other and talk about what we’re doing.”
Across the table, Zoey Deutch reflected on her own evolution. Now starring as Jean Seberg, a cult icon of 1960s French New Wave cinema, in Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, Deutch shared how stepping into producing has been a long time coming. “It wasn’t a move I made out of desire—it was out of necessity,” she said. “It s not in my nature to sit back and wait for things to come to me or to complain that I wasn’t getting the roles I wanted.” For the actress, the inspiration has always come from her mom. “With her, it’s show, not tell,” she said of her mother, the actress and director Lea Thompson. “I’ve watched my mom enter this new chapter of her life where she is so empowered as a director. There’s a false sense of control when you’re an actor. You don’t really have it. Filmmaking is a director’s medium, and it’s been really powerful to witness her step into that.”
Nearby, Tessa Thompson—chic in shorts, socks, and Mary Janes—spoke about the power of female collaboration while discussing her turn as the titular character in Nia DaCosta’s provocative reimagining of Hedda Gabler. “There’s an incredible power when women get to collaborate and tell their stories together, which is why I just love this,” she said. “I met Nia when she was 25-year-old at a film lab at the Sundance Institute, so I think any institution that continues to cultivate these voices, to make sure that they have pathways to getting their stories made, is so important. That’s why I love being here every year.”
It s been 20 years to the month that the release of Twilight catapulted Kristen Stewart to international fame. Over the ensuing two decades, she cemented herself as a multi-hyphenate, recently making her directorial debut with The Chronology of Water, which she also co-wrote. “I write because I have to. I wouldn’t self-identify as a writer—I write in order to carve a path towards the filmmaking that I’m interested in,” she said. “Writing is painful, and it’s a long-haul slog for me, and it’s not what I find myself good at, but it is something that feels necessary.”
Stewart also took to the stage to deliver the day’s keynote address, closing the afternoon with words that were equal parts irreverent and inspiring—a fitting note for a celebration of women leading on their own terms. “The first responsibility of the liberated woman is to lead the fullest, freest, and most imaginative life that she can,” she told those in attendance. “The second responsibility is solidarity with other women. So we should all be ladies who f*cking lunch.”
Photo by: Myles Hendrik1/16Kate Hudson
Photo by: Myles Hendrik2/16Riley Keough
