Pink Party raises $1.6 million to battle breast cancer
They came wearing pink tutus, pink Converse sneakers, pink pashminas and pink hats. A fashionable crowd put on the pink Saturday night for Elyse Walker’s 8th Annual Pink Party to raise money for the Cedars-Sinai women’s cancer program.
Hosted by actress Michelle Pfeiffer and Pacific Palisades boutique owner Elyse Walker, the night of fashion, fuchsia and fundraising resulted in channeling more than $1.6 million into the cancer program at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, bringing the cumulative fundraising revenue from eight years of the event to $7.8 million.
David E. Kelley, Leslie Mann, Judd Apatow, Marcia Cross, Lisa Edelstein and Rainn Wilson were among the 850 guests who headed to Santa Monica Airport’s Hangar 8 to sip pink grapefruit mojitos and watch a catwalk show featuring 80 looks from the likes of Stella McCartney, Kelly Wearstler and Bruno Cucinelli.
Justine Bateman got into the spirit by wearing a pink Tarina Tarantino feathered headdress. She told us she’s gone back to school as a UCLA freshman in computer science. “I saw my future in entertainment as going on endless auditions, and I love to work,” she said. “I wanted to be in a field where there are a lot of jobs.” Bateman said it was her first time at the Pink Party and that she was impressed.
“Tonight, we celebrate women, fashion and friendship,” said Walker in her opening remarks. Her mother, who died from ovarian cancer at age 42, is the inspiration for the event. Walker was still in college when she lost her mother and had to take the reins of her family’s retail shoe business. Walker opened her own boutique in 1999, and it is there that she met Pfeiffer 13 years ago. “I discovered she likes to wear boots 12 months out of the year, just like I do,” Walker said.
Pfeiffer, attending the event for the first time, said, “I’m blown away, this is pretty amazing.”
“NCIS” star Michael Weatherly hosted a live auction featuring such goodies as a foodie package, composed of gift certificates to 20 of L.A.’s top restaurants. A silent auction included a lineup of stunning designer handbags (many of them pink) from Alexander McQueen, Roger Vivier, Reed Krakoff and others.
Walker also used the event to launch several exclusive Pink Party items, which are available for sale on her website forwardbyelysewalker.com and at her store, with a percentage of sales donated to the cause. Items include the amazing studded Chloe “Susanna” boots in pink and a Pamela Love double cage ring in rose gold.
Not forgetting any detail, Walker treated departing guests to late-night chili dogs on the way to the valet line -- from the world famous Pink’s, of course.
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