Cause and Effect.

Byline: Anna Wintour

As I write, the sums raised by the 2007 7th on Sale event for HIV and AIDS charities are still being tallied. We expect to collect well over $4 million. One thing that's entirely clear, however, is that we've had a wonderful response to what has been a wonderful undertaking. This is the second year of 7th on Sale's revival (the original, spearheaded by Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, and others, ran from 1990 to 1992), and over one weekend in New York thousands of shoppers, from Kate Moss at the opening-night dinner to New Jersey teenagers on a Sunday afternoon, bought deeply discounted clothing, home furnishings, photographs, and books donated by the world's top designers. Given that we're talking about a sample sale, it was quite something to see the likes of Valentino, Alberta Ferretti, Ralph Lauren, and Marc Jacobs shopping with great enthusiasm for their peers' work. (Ralph's team deserves special thanks for transforming a soulless armory into a magical medieval castle.)

The gala evening was further heightened by the announcement of the three winners of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund awards. It was an appropriate setting because the Fashion Fund is itself another instance of our industry's inspired generosity. It really is a pleasure, as a well as a responsibility, to be part of a community that encourages individuality and yet promptly and happily bands together in order to do good-for others and for ourselves. Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler, the Fashion Fund's first winners in 2004, introduced this year's ten finalists (as strong a lineup, more than one judge remarked, as we've ever had) and spoke about the extraordinary impact that the award has had on their business. Talking candidly about the perils and humiliations of running an emerging independent company (so broke, after buying out their initial investor, that they had to produce an all-black collection to save money on fabric), they provided the finalists with an example of the perseverance and self-belief that it takes to make it today. One thing that the fund ...