A roundup of International Women’s Day with Harper’s Bazaar in partnership with UBS

Ahead of this month’s International Women’s Day, Harper’s Bazaar hosted a celebratory dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park. Held in association with UBS and De Beers, the sold-out event saw 230 friends of the magazine come together for an inspiring evening of talks and networking. 

Guests enjoyed a Laurent-Perrier Champagne reception amid a spectacular showcase of De Beers jewellery, before making their way into the hotel’s elegant ballroom for a sumptuous three-course dinner.

Between courses, a thought-provoking panel discussion brought together the award-winning journalist and author Helen Lewis, the editor of the Today programme Sarah Sands and the CEO and founder of the R Collective Christina Dean for a conversation about why women should have the courage to make their voices heard. 
 

Lewis challenged the audience to combat ‘the tyranny of niceness’ among women, while Sands revealed that the most important lesson she has learnt from working at the BBC was to relax, remain rational and never ‘feel too emotional about a job’.

Later in the evening, Bazaar’s acting editor-in-chief Lydia Slater took to the stage to interview the Bafta-nominated actress (and the magazine’s April cover star) Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who called on the audience to join forces in the fight for change. ‘If we all take away one message from International Women’s Day, it’s that we should all be uplifted,’ she said. ‘There are dark moments for women all over the world that need to be healed, but we should feel galvanised by our sense of community and appreciate how far we’ve come.’
 

With spirits raised (and chocolate fondants consumed with gusto), guests enjoyed coffee and petits-fours before departing with gift bags containing an exclusive Assouline silk-bound tome courtesy of De Beers. 

A huge thank you to UBS, De Beers and Laurent Perrier for making this event possible.