Despite a sneaky cameo by Janet Jackson, the star of Friday night’s Art of Elysium Bright Lights benefit was undoubtedly Donatella Versace. Proving she might just clock in as much time at the gym as she does creating curve-hugging dresses, the sinewy platinum blonde arrived at Milk Studios swathed in a body-con, strapless black leather number from her signature collection. As co-underwriter of the evening’s fundraiser with Versus designer Christopher Kane, Versace held court with a cadre of admirers, in between posing for photos with Anna Wintour and exchanging bons mots with W’s new editor-in-chief, Stefano Tonchi.

Like Vogue, Versace is auctioning off a summer internship at the company’s NYC offices, in partnership with Art of Elysium and CharityBuzz. Kane, for his part, assured us any face time would be worth the investment. “Donatella’s incredibly, incredibly down-to-earth,” he told us, before name-checking Joan Crawford, Faye Dunaway and Cher as his power muses. “Sissy Spacek I love. Meryl Streep in Silkwood! And Oprah Winfrey,” he added. “The Color Purple is actually one of my favorite movies. That’s really cheesy, but you know what I mean.”