Chase Sui Wonders’ Newly Short Hair Was The Talk Of Chanel’s Tribeca Luncheon

It was a toasty 85 degrees on June 7, but that didn’t stop the ladies of cinema and fashion from attending Chanel and Tribeca Film Festival’s celebratory Through Her Lens brunch in head-to-toe Chanel tweeds, leathers, and denim. For nine years running, Chanel and Tribeca have partnered on Through Her Lens, a one-of-a-kind mentoring program that seeks out exciting female-identifying and nonbinary filmmaking talent. The program’s advisory board this year includes Jane Fonda, Greta Lee, director Patty Jenkins, and Kerry Washington, and they invited the likes of Katie Holmes, Coco Baudelle, and It Girl alums Francesca Scorsese and Chase Sui Wonders to the Greenwich Hotel for a casual lunch of passed bites. (The french fries were a hit.)

After posing in front of a (real) vine-covered step and repeat, guests like Ashley Benson and Dianna Agron took in the sun peeking through the hotel’s courtyard opening while sipping on Aperol spritzes and champagne (or a delicious Arnold Palmer). The event was abuzz with excitement, as friends reunited after perhaps last seeing each other on the Met Gala red carpet or the staircase at Cannes Film Festival. Camila Mendes and AnnaSophia Robb caught up over drinks, while Selma Blair’s sweet service dog, Scout, accepted loving scratches and hellos.

Tribeca president Jane Rosenthal gave remarks after everyone filed inside, and she commended Chanel’s commitment to the arts across disciplines and honored the late producer Paula Weinstein, who gave much of her time to the program. Kerry Washington closed out the talk and spoke about one of her favorite directors on shows she’s produced and how she realized only after hiring this director several times that she was mentored via Through Her Lens. She left the crowd with this: “We’re creating a pipeline for excellence. We’re creating a situation where there are no excuses. Nobody gets to turn around and say ‘Oh, we couldn’t find a great woman director.’ No, because we found them here in Tribeca.” After the lunch, Washington joined Jenkins, composer Laura Karpman, and Perri Peltz in conversation at the Crosby Street Hotel.

Tribeca, the annual downtown parade of films, parties, and celebrities, kicked off June 5 with an exciting roster of premieres including Diane Von Furstenberg’s documentary and Andrew McCarthy’s Brats (it really is a Brat Summer). After the dual strikes took up most of last year, Through Her Lens is not offering a mentorship program this year but is still deeply invested in making women’s voices heard in film — and making sure they look chic as hell.