At the Fashion Awards in London, Mourning and Celebration

It was bitingly chilly in London on the evening of the Vogue Awards, Britain’s glitziest yearly design event, and on the purple carpet the model Jordan Dunn snuggled into the makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury for warmth. “Have you witnessed Maria Sharapova,” a producer barked, clipboard in hand. “Where is Sharapova?”

She arrived a handful of moments later in a dress created from recycled water bottles, a collaboration concerning Iris van Herpen and Evian.

Within, Rick Owens, svelte in black, posed with the product Adriana Lima, in plunging white. Tommy Hilfiger, who was there to receive the Superb Achievement Award, sat shut to Kris Jenner, wrapped in a satin shawl in the crimson, navy and white shades of Mr. Hilfiger’s brand’s logo.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, in a Manager accommodate, sat in between Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful, the editor in chief of British Vogue and European editorial director of Condé Nast. “Oh my God, which is John!” explained the designer Henry Holland, pointing to John Galliano, on Ms. Wintour’s correct. Subsequent to Mr. Enninful was the musician Dua Lipa, in somber black.

“I enjoy Dua Lipa. She’s the ideal Londoner — don’t convey to Adele,” Mr. Khan explained, “‘Future Nostalgia’ received me via the pandemic.” He was feeling buoyant. “This exhibits that London’s back again,” he said, gesturing to the throng of sequins, frills and tuxedos.

The jubilation has a frenetic air the temper of a very last celebration, a closing blowout, with a fearful mania beneath the exciting. A reflection both equally on the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant and the possibility of yet another lockdown, and on the information, obtained the working day right before the event, that the designer Virgil Abloh had died at 41. He was a lingering existence in the home, with nearly just about every winner paying out homage to him.

“Virgil explained to me that he didn’t go a working day in superior faculty without having putting on my clothing,” Tommy Hilfiger reported in his speech, just right after a mini catwalk exhibit of types, who lip-synced and strutted to hits including “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones and Naughty by Nature’s “O.P.P.”

The actor Idris Elba browse Maya Angelou’s poem “When Wonderful Trees Fall” in Mr. Abloh’s honor. Afterwards, Mr. Enninful examine a quotation by the designer from a manifesto provided out at Mr. Abloh’s spring 2021 display for Louis Vuitton: “‘As a Black person in a French luxurious house, I am well informed of my responsibilities. Rather than preaching about it, I hope to direct by instance, and unlock the door for potential generations. I consider in creating my mark with poise, type and grace.’”

The text provided a exceptional second of self-effacement in an night wealthy with posturing that twisted and turned, uniting not just — as just one would assume — the terrific and great of the manner business, but also usually disparate people that even the strangest evening meal get together dream couldn’t summon: the actress Demi Moore, striding arm and arm with the Olympic diver Tom Daley to present the award for Designer of the Yr to Kim Jones the soccer player Patrice Evra presenting an award to the previous GQ editor Dylan Jones for Society Commentary and Kylie Minogue, accomplishing a distinctive rendition of her strike song “Slow” in bespoke Richard Quinn, even though surrounded by dancers in entire facial area-masking floral bodysuits (the only attendees, other than servers, who were masked).

The evening’s host, Billy Porter, made use of wit to puncture the pomposity, welcoming “the old, the youthful and the aged who have designed their faces young.” Concerning several outfit improvements, he quipped, “I seriously didn’t assume I was likely to make it, but fortunately I bought a career as a truck driver and they permit me in” — a nod to Britain’s provide chain concerns and the fallout of Brexit, one more of fashion’s quite a few head aches.

The award types, in the previous very simple and to the stage (ideal women’s don designer, ideal men’s put on designer, greatest design), experienced been expanded to consist of looser, and more grandiose, themes, like “Leaders of Transform,” an accolade provided to 15 marketplace figures, underneath three distinct categories: “Creativity,” “Environment” and “People.”

An absent Alessandro Michele, the inventive director of Gucci, was the winner of the Trailblazer Award, offered and recognized on his behalf by the activist Sinead Burke, in pink feathers.

“I am bodily disabled, I have dwarfism,” she claimed when she introduced herself, noting that the award was committed to people who “move hearts and minds.” She praised Gucci for its function in supporting L.G.B.T.Q. rights and the rights of the disabled. Mr. Michele, she claimed, has designed a corner of the world “where men and women feel safe to be on their own.”

Other winners provided the up-and-comer Nensi Dojaka, who was supplied the BFC Basis Award, the stylist Ib Kamara (also absent), who gained the Isabella Blow Award for Trend Creator, and Simone Rocha, who took property the Greatest Unbiased British Brand and whose label not long ago celebrated its 10-yr anniversary. The pandemic has been rough, she reported, primarily for people without the need of a large team driving them and with a tiny, youthful crew.

“It’s humbled a large amount of people today on a whole lot of different ranges. It is humanized the market, and taken absent a bit of the gloss and the sheen,” she said. “Anybody who displays, I respect them. Anyone who managed to hold going.”

Later, the dancer and online phenomenon moonwalked and glided his way all around the grand hall. His functionality was apparently component of honoring Chanel for its contribution to artwork and culture. “Chanel: Creating the disorders for artists to dare,” announced the giant screens guiding Lil Buck, in advance of staying replaced, inexplicably, by a quotation usually attributed to Mother Teresa.

“I by itself can’t change the earth, but I can solid a stone across the waters to produce several ripples,” it read, although most guests appeared mainly focused on the extravagant footwork (also footwear). Even Ms. Wintour craned her neck to enjoy the slides and twists. When Lil Buck finished, she broke into just one of her handful of claps of the evening.