PARIS — The Place Vendome echoed with the sound of revving engines on Saturday night, as the annual Cash & Rocket tour — a charity drive through Europe — pulled into town. Thirty-five luxury cars, each of them painted lipstick red, came across the Chunnel from London and parked outside Valentino’s Paris premises, a glamorous pit stop before Lyon, Milan, and, finally, Cannes.
The tour’s group of all-female drivers and their co-pilots — among them Elena Perminova, Arizona Muse, model Ashley Graham, and Fast and Furious actress Michelle Rodriguez — are fund-raising for African charities, including OAfrica, Shine on Sierra Leone, and Sumbandalia, and have so far raised more than 1.4 million pounds.
Last night’s all-female guest list, dressed in either Valentino or Valentino red, boisterously toasted the end of their first leg before calling it a night at a surprisingly respectable hour. (There was, after all, an early start the next day and a pre-departure breath test to look forward to.)
Estee Lauder model Muse — with Stylebop’s Leila Yavari as co-pilot — was leaving the tour in Paris and seemed sorry to go: “This is my first year doing this and I got lucky because I’m in a Phantom Rolls Royce,” she said with a grin. Perminova, who clocked in to take her place, was very happy to use her Insta-stardom for a good cause. “I have a platform with over 900,000 followers and I just want to be able to help, to be able to ask them for help,” she said.
Twenty percent of the proceeds from Valentino’s Cash & Rocket capsule collection will go to charity. Click through our slideshow below for a look at last night’s party in Paris.