PARTIES

Life of the Ball

May 20, 2015

Tens of thousands of feet over the Atlantic, famed performance artist Amanda Lepore, wearing nothing but a garter belt and sheer thigh highs, is dancing atop a middle seat on a chartered Austria Airlines flight as Kelly Osbourne and Paula Abdul take pictures on their iPhones. This is not a dream sequence in a David Lynch film, but a scene onboard the Life Ball plane, which transports noteworthy guests to Vienna’s Life Ball, Europe’s biggest HIV/AIDS fundraiser. Also onboard, though less rowdy, were Linda Fargo, Dita Von Teese and Carmen Electra. But they were only a few of the celebs, models and drag queens that strutted down the magenta carpet at the 23rd annual Life Ball. Charlize Theron, supported by her beau Sean Penn, was on deck to present her Africa Outreach Project; Mary J. Blige and Conchita Wurst both gave stunning performances; and model Anna Cleveland closed a star-studded Jean Paul Gaultier catwalk retrospective. Photographer Ellen Von Unwerth, who also marched in Gaultier’s show, was onstage and backstage to capture all the gold-flecked action. Here, a selection of her photographs.