A resilient tone marks the American Image Awards 2020

The horrors of Covid hung over this year’s American Image Awards and that’s what made the first virtual gala of the annual glitzy event all the more compelling to watch. This year has marked us, not only in terms of a country that has just surpassed 200,000 deaths, but in fashion, as one of the hardest hit industries. The event was hosted by CNN’s Brooke Baldwin, whose own battle with the virus she shared publicly in April. New York’s heroic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who helped our ravaged state flatten the curve, taking New York “from worst to first” in Covid cases, popped up unexpectedly on the livestream. He thanked Michael Evans, President of China’s Alibaba group who was receiving the Retail Innovator of the Year award, for China’s assistance in providing New York with PPE equipment during the scary early days of scarcity and stalemate in Cuomo’s negotiations with Washington.