Glam for Good: 10th anniversary of MINI @ Life Ball 2010 July 09, 2010

Life Ball is Europe's biggest AIDS charity event, and each year it draws celebrities from around the world to don sequins, feathers, silk and stilettos and get their glam on in cosmopolitan Vienna. This year's Life Ball marks the 18th anniversary of this illustrious event. Under the motto "Sow the Seeds of Solidarity" and the theme of "Earth", it promises to be bursting with all manner of lush greenery, fragrant flowers, and mythical woodland creatures. It is also the tenth year that MINI has been actively involved in this big, fabulously flamboyant gala, and it's shaping up to be another great collaboration in the name of a very good cause. Beginning in 2001, the brand has commissioned a MINI to be pimped by a top designer, then auctioned off for charity in honor of the event. Past Life Ball MINIs have been gussied up by some of the biggest players in the fashion industry: Missoni (2003), Ferré (2004), Versace (2005), Diesel (2006), Mario Testino (2007), Agent Provocateur (2008) and, last year, The Blonds for Katy Perry. This year they'll be stepping it up by donating not one, not two, but three MINIs, which will be auctioned off to benefit the charity supported by Life Ball, with all proceeds going to amfAR (the Foundation for AIDS Research). Belgian-born US fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg applied her signature mix of playfulness and sophistication to a red MINI Hatch, while New York fashion designer Kenneth Cole created an elegantly industrial MINI Convertible of studded brushed metal. Calvin Klein Collection's award-winning Women's Creative Director Francisco Costa transformed a MINI Countryman into the essence of tasteful minimalism: a matte black body bearing the hallmark signature of the Calvin Klein Collection. We'll be covering the event live as it unfolds here on MINI Space, so check back soon for exclusive pictures, live reporting and more videos!