amFAR’s glamorous annual event tied to the Cannes Film Festival always has been a highpoint in turning out the fashion looks we associate with the Riviera event.

It adds to the mystique of the festival and helps set it apart from others. This year was no different in that regard – but completely different in another. The event, now known as amFAR Gala Cannes, previously was called Cinema Against AIDS as a way of directly tying into the festival itself and when Harvey Weinstein was a key poster boy for the event he made sure the stars and jury members always found their way to the Hotel du Cap in Antibes for this huge event and before that at Moulin des Mougins nearby before it grew even bigger.

Those coming in search of some hot outfits and elaborate get-ups would not be disappointed, but the big movie star turnout we saw so often in the past was a little more muted, just like general attendance at the festival this year. Even though they are in town, the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Sylvester Stallone were nowhere to be found. “Oh my God, you’re here!

A person from the movie world,” said one well-known film executive when I strolled up to him at the reception. Still, there were plenty of opportunities for splashy photos that amFAR could put out there – all for a great cause, as the crowd was reminded when Elizabeth Taylor and Mathilde Krim were making sure it got the publicity it needed.

Over the past quarter-century more than $200 million has been raised from this event, so the fact that some lesser, but nicely dressed, luminaries were hogging the spotlight this time can be forgiven. Pamela Anderson, Kris and Kendall Jenner, Adrien Brody, Antonio Banderas, Milla Jovovich, Henry Golding, Andie MacDowell, Rebel Wilson and Eva Longoria were some of the bigger names in attendance.

They were mingling with Europe’s high rollers who come to party and bid on big-ticket auction items including a 1975 painting by Andy Warhol of Mick Jagger that was signed by both; a Myanmar adventure with explorer Johan Ernst Nilson; and an Alpine chalet adventure with champion free ride skier Manu Gaidet.