CALVIN SKIPS CANNES: Calvin Klein, which has thrown some of the splashiest events at the Cannes Film Festival in collaboration with the Independent Filmmaker Project for the past five years, is taking a pass this year. The company has decided to cancel its annual party, which over the years has honored such stars as Lupita Nyong’o, Naomi Watts, Julianne Moore, Rooney Mara, Emily Blunt, Isabelle Huppert, Mélanie Laurent, Sienna Miller and Rachel Weisz. The parties have taken place at a private villa on the French Riviera.
Last year’s event attracted such celebrities as Jake Gyllenhaal, Harvey Weinstein, Rossy de Palma, Joan Smalls and Doutzen Kroes. The party included a huge seafood buffet, a DJ set by Harley Viera-Newton and a live performance by California band Haim.
With the changing of the guard of the design team at Calvin Klein — Francisco Costa and Italo Zucchelli are both exiting as creative directors of women’s and men’s Collection — sources said the company decided to skip the celebration this year.
Klein confirmed that it won’t be doing an event in Cannes but still supports the IFP, which includes its sponsorship of the Gotham Awards with the presentation of the Calvin Klein Euphoria Grant to an emerging female film director.
As for the IFP, a spokeswoman said the organization will be teaming up this year with the Hamptons International Film Festival, and will be throwing a party in Cannes to celebrate Women in Film. They will be honoring the late writer Melissa Mathison, whose final film, “The BFG” directed by Steven Spielberg, is premiering at the festival.