Trust Arie Kopelman to bring a raucous room to order together with his very funny (and equally poignant) remarks on the Look Good Feel Higher BeautyCares DreamBall on Sept. 21. It was the primary live DreamBall since 2019, and the room was able to party. (“It feels good to be back — minus the shoes,” laughed Keech Combe Shetty, the manager chair of Combe and board chair of PCPC and the Look Good Feel Higher Foundation.) Kopelman, the previous president of Chanel who was honored with the Legacy Award, was in a festive mood, too, surrounded by his family. He regaled the gang with tales of his tattoo (“one and done,” he said.), his golf game (“I’m a lousy golfer”) and the importance of joy — and more. “The harder you’re employed the luckier you get,” said Kopelman, “because you place yourself in a situation where you’re on the market opportunity.”

The evening raised over $1 million and counting (the silent auction is open until Oct. 3) for the organization. Other honorees included Bianca Muniz, a singer-songwriter and three-time cancer survivor, Maria “Duda” Kertész, president of U.S. skin health at Johnson & Johnson, and Olaplex CEO JuE Wong and brand ambassador Tracey Cunningham, who got the Disruptor Award. “It is a huge honor,” said Cunningham. “As a hairstylist, I see day-after-day how women are restored by doing something that reconnects them with their sense of self and strength.”

That was a sentiment with which Lily Garfield, the CosBar founder who was honored with the Survivor Advocate Award, agreed. “The true great thing about Look Good Feel Higher is that it brings the sweetness counter to women,” said Garfield, who noted that she was on a Zoom call recently with 10 women who were undergoing cancer treatment. “In the beginning, we were all so serious,” she said. “But as we opened our goodie bags, everyone was smiling.”

And at the top, that’s what it’s all about. “I’m going to depart you with a thought,” said Kopelman as he wrapped up his remarks. “Love whatever you’re doing and rejoice doing it. This award is a big honor and it’s been loads of fun.”