Fashion and football come together to raise 2.7 million euros for Natalia Vodianova's Naked Heart

No one will ever be able to accuse Kylian Mbappé of being stingy. The star footballer bid €520,000 for a Hopare oil painting of football legend Pelé at a charity auction for Naked Heart France on Thursday night.

Mbappé, who appeared with the entire Paris Saint Germain (PSG) squad, also audibly encouraged his teammates such as Keylor Navas and Ousmane Dembélé to bet heavily on several purchases during the evening. The entire team was impeccably dressed in black silk Dior double-breasted men's suits by Kim Jones.

Held at the luxurious Place Vendôme, the gala evening attracted a host of designers: Olivier Rousteing, Christian Louboutin and Giambattista Valli, who showed up with his son. One of a dozen young people, including Vodianova's third son, Max Arnault, for whom Mbappé sportingly signed autographs.

Titled Paris For Good, the evening was to benefit two charities, Naked Heart France and PSG For Communities; and organized jointly by PSG executive director Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, sister of the ruling emir of Qatar and president of that nation's museums.

“Tonight, on the way here, I was listening to Madonna sing “Music brings people together.” Music turns the bourgeois into rebels! Or am I the only person in the room old enough to remember it? I think the same about football, this beautiful sport that really unites the bourgeoisie and the rebels… And I would like to thank my husband, who taught me how crazy people can be about football! Vodianova said of her spouse Antoine Arnault, eldest son of LVMH luxury emperor Bernard Arnault, a man of 100 billion euros.

Founded 20 years ago, Naked Heart was designed by Vodianova to create social centers and safe parks for children with special needs. She first opened in her native Russia and went on to build 215 Naked Heart spaces in more than 160 countries. PSG For Communities uses sporting values ​​such as justice, solidarity and respect to deliver educational programs and support the empowerment of children facing difficulties in disadvantaged communities. It has reached more than 300,000 children and adolescents in the last 25 years.

Part of the Naked Heart funds raised at this event will go towards a new center for autistic children in Ermenonville, north of Paris. While those of PSG For Communities will support a new Rouge & Bleu school (the colors of PSG) within Necker, the main children's hospital in Paris.

“We need to use the power of football to help children. God gave us this gift and we must use it to inspire people, bring peace to the world and unite people,” Al-Khelaïfi told an audience that included Wallis Day, Miss Fama and Bianca Brandolini.

People bid on the right to inaugurate a PSG match; cognac tours; a ball and a shirt signed by Mbappé; fashion photographs of Luigi and Iango and front row seats to a Christian Dior show. For entertainment, comedian Tina Friml performed a witty routine about living and performing with cerebral palsy, with lines like: “I usually judge a New York bar by what drugs the bouncers think I'm on!” Before, Tom Odell played a series of torch songs on his piano.

LVMH brands actively supported the evening: guests were able to bid on cases of Rimowa wine; or go on a safari staying at Mount Nelson, the legendary hotel owned by the Belmond group. They drank Moët Chandon champagne; Loewe gave them scented candles; and dined on lobster salad, fillet de volaille and tartufo macaroni washed down with LVMH, Cloudy Bay Sauvignon and Terrazas de los Andes Malbec wines.