Kim Kardashian—in Margiela Couture—Steals the Show at the DVF Awards in Venice
Diane von Furstenberg is nothing short of a force of nature—if the phrase ever needed a poster woman, she’d happily claim the role. Since 2010, through the DVF Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation, she has championed women who, in her words, show “the courage to fight, the strength to survive, and the leadership to inspire”—and she puts her money where her mantra is, with grants to their nonprofits. On the evening of yesterday’s ceremony, beneath the red-velvety glow of Venice’s Teatro Goldoni, she let her words take another stylish bow. After all, what’s a diva without an encore?
“In a world so often shadowed by chaos and darkness, it’s more important than ever to seek the light,” said von Furstenberg, who now calls Venice home. “Over the centuries, la Serenissima has shown remarkable resilience, mastering both the art of solution and the allure of seduction. She’s indeed my ultimate role model.”
This year’s five honorees stood out not for polite advocacy, but for fierce commitment to civil causes and human rights, confronting injustice head-on, amplifying silenced voices, and driving change with relentless focus. Hanin Ahmed, from Omdurman, Sudan, is a women’s and youth rights activist. During Sudan’s 2023 crisis, she founded the Old Omdurman Emergency Response Room, providing food, medicine, trauma support, and education; establishing evacuation centers; and creating a youth network to aid civilians. She has represented Sudanese women and youth internationally, including presenting research at Oxford University, and holds a master’s in Gender and Development from Ahfad University for Women. Legendary editor Tina Brown presented her award, noting: “Amid one of the world’s worst displacement crises, that’s barely mentioned in the headlines, or given much or any effort by outside world powers to end the shattering violence and suffering, Hanin has turned courage into action, leading programs now spanning all of Sudan.”
Christy Turlington Burns has turned a celebrated modeling career into a platform for change, founding Every Mother Counts after a childbirth complication in 2003. Through EMC, she has raised awareness, funding, and advocacy for safer pregnancies worldwide, invested nearly $50 million in community-led solutions, and leveraged her visibility to prove that beauty can amplify a powerful message. “I began this work to raise awareness and help ensure that every mother’s journey through pregnancy and childbirth is safe, respectful, and equitable. It is unconscionable to me that, without access to quality care, birth options, and essential resources, hundreds of thousands of women and girls die each year. Even more unacceptable is that geography, race, or socioeconomic status can determine whether a human survives childbirth.” It was rather touching that the DVF Award was presented to her by her 22-year-old daughter, Grace Burns: “I’m in awe of my mom’s courage, strength, and leadership,” she said. “Instead of turning inward and grieving after her traumatic experience, she looked outward, focusing on helping other women.”
A fierce leader of the Uitoto people in Colombia, Fany Kuiru Castro is a tireless advocate for Indigenous and environmental rights. She directed the Moniyamena Project, empowering displaced Indigenous women, became the first female General Coordinator of COICA, and played a pivotal role in securing the six-million-hectare Great Indigenous Territory of the Resguardo Predio Putumayo. She also leads initiatives to protect the Amazonas and support Indigenous women defenders. Accepting her DVF Award from Venetian activist Giulia Foscari, she remarked: “I come from a lineage of Indigenous authority. My grandfather, the cacique of the Jitomagaro clan—the People of the Sun—taught me that governments exist to serve, and authority exists to defend territory and life.”
“In Italy, a woman is killed every three days—most often by men they know: husbands, ex-husbands, lovers. These numbers reveal how deeply toxic masculinity is rooted in our culture. I’m here tonight because I share Giulia’s belief that men must play an active role in finding solutions,” proclaimed Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, as he introduced honoree Giulia Minoli. A writer, producer, and cultural activist, Minoli is the founder and president of the Una Nessuna Centomila Foundation, which supports education, cultural initiatives, and women’s centers across Italy. For two decades, she has led projects that harness theatre and culture as tools for social change.
All the honorees were formidable champions, worthy of praise for their remarkable achievements, but of course, it was Kim Kardashian who stole the spotlight. Sweeping in gloriously late, looking regal draped in a cape-swishing gray number from Glenn Martens’s first Maison Margiela Couture collection, she looked less like an honoree and more like a fabulous headline waiting to happen. The hyphenated entrepreneur-actor-producer-influencer supremo accepted her award for philanthropic work and advocacy for policy changes to the legal system with trademark poise, proving that her power extends far beyond pop culture. Few can blur the lines between fashion, fame, and impact quite as insouciantly as she does. Past the hype of paparazzi and Page Six buzz, Kim Kardashian isn’t just a reality star. Since 2018, she’s used her global spotlight to champion criminal justice reform, winning clemency cases, driving policy change, and partnering with prison reform organizations while producing The Justice Project, a documentary spotlighting mass incarceration. By 2025, she’d added “law degree” to her already overstuffed résumé.
“I didn’t realize I was learning about justice growing up—I just thought it was my dad’s job,” she calmly reasoned before taking to the stage. “About seven years ago, when I tried to help someone out of prison, I began to see how our system really worked. I was naïve at first, but once I immersed myself, justice reform became a path I knew I had to follow. Until then, the concept of justice hadn’t truly meant anything to me.” The man she successfully helped free from prison, Chris Young, presented her with the DVF Award. Young was the second individual Kardashian advocated for at the White House, following Alice Johnson’s pardon in 2020. Arrested at 22 for a low-level drug offense, he was sentenced to life without parole and served 11 years before his sentence was commuted in 2021. “Kim’s courage is what distinguishes compassion from empathy,” he said. “Her courage empowered her to use her celebrity status to push for change.” Kardashian chimed in: “It’s about shining a little light on the stories of the people I help, in the hope of opening eyes, hearts, and minds to a justice system many don’t fully understand. If you connect with just one person’s story, you may feel more sympathy for their case. Any chance I get to share these stories, I embrace—it’s all about shedding light. And I would go to any administration and any White House to fight for the rights of people that I believe in.”
Kardashian admitted she didn’t always recognize the power of her own voice. “I don’t think I fully understood that I could use my voice to help people. Until you really go for it and allow yourself to be vocal, you might not even realize your own power. But once you do, and see that you can make changes, it makes you want to be vocal even more.” When asked whether she ever worried her activism wouldn’t be taken seriously, she replied: “I never worried about that. You just have to focus. When I first went to the White House, I wondered if I needed to dress differently or change how I post online—but absolutely not. I want people to see the work I do and maybe relate to the parts of my life that aren’t advocacy, and then be intrigued by that. You just have to be yourself and fight for what you believe in. When something is authentic, people notice—it’s as simple as that.” That prompted Diane von Furstenberg to drop one of her quintessentially oracular lines: “Generosity and kindness are the best currencies.”
ALFONSO CATALANO1/16Diane Von Furstenberg
ALFONSO CATALANO2/16Christy Turlington Burns