Forget late-night feasts or martini cocktail parties. The new fashion meal-of-the-moment is the Sunday lunch – as proved when a star-studded guest list met to celebrate Michaela Coel yesterday afternoon at an intimate gathering hosted by the British Fashion Council, Pandora and ELLE UK at London restaurant Toklas.
Coel will be the recipient of the inaugural Pandora Leader of Change Award at the 2023 Fashion Awards and, to mark the momentous occasion, guests assembled to raise a glass to the formidable force of the screen.
The award honours Coel for her zeitgeist-defining screenwriting, acting and filmmaking, which consistently challenges the status quo. Throughout her work on comedy Chewing Gum and her Emmy and BAFTA-winning opus I May Destroy You, the former ELLE UK cover star ‘challenges and centres themes of race, class, and gender while telling the authentic and complex stories of Black women and queer identities’, said the British Fashion Council.
The drizzly weather did nothing to stop guests from dressing in their Sunday best. Supermodels from Precious Lee and Sherry Shi to Sasha Pivovarova were out in force, joined by Ashley Park, Evan Mock, Clara Amfo and Pandora Global ambassador Pamela Anderson, who will present the Award to Coel at The Fashion Awards. Coel wore a tailored leather dress, statement earrings and clog flatforms, while Anderson opted for a quiet-luxury classic: a silk-shirt-and-trouser ensemble.
After a menu of spiced ceviche, radicchio salad and cinnamon beignets, guests heard a heartfelt tribute by Coel’s friend and I May Destroy You co-star Paapa Essiedu, who recalled first meeting Coel when the pair were drama students. Essiedu heralded the actor and showrunner for wanting everyone – whether it’s someone she’s just met or has known a long time – to win. He dubbed it the ‘magic of Michaela’.
Anderson then led the charge on a standing ovation after Coel delivered an 11-minute acceptance speech that moved many at the table to tears, speaking of the importance of leadership and advocacy in creative spaces and her own, very personal, experiences in the industry.
Host and ELLE UK Editor-in-Chief Kenya Hunt closed the meal with a touching tribute to the event’s guest of honour. ‘As we prepare to head into tomorrow’s Fashion Awards and celebrate the accomplishments of so many, my biggest wish for our industry right now is that we lead with humanity and empathy,’ she said. ‘What I love about you, Michaela, is how you have inspired us to do precisely that.’
Coel will be the first recipient of the Pandora Leader of Change Award, a fact she told guests she was ‘humbled and delighted’ by. She will be presented the history-making award by Anderson at tomorrow night’s prestigious Fashion Awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall. Guests from the lunch left with a memento of this moment in history, with each receiving a delicate chain necklace by Pandora as a keepsake of the event.
Discover the latest collections from Pandora, including their new lab-diamond collection fronted by the inimitable Pamela Anderson, at uk.Pandora.net.
