During golden hour on the High Line Friday evening, Veronica Beard hosted a cocktail party dedicated to “trailblazers,” of all variations.

VIP guests including Serena Williams, Pamela Anderson, Lisa Leslie, Zoey Deutch, Apple Martin and Jenna Bush Hager were in attendance, greeting the designers Veronica Swanson Beard and Veronica Miele Beard and enjoying the late summer heat. The lounge chairs on the High Line had been dotted with pink velvet pillows, cocktails flowed and Paris-based textile artist Desire Moheb-Zandi was at work on an interactive loom that, when finished, will hang in a Veronica Beard boutique.

Swanson Beard was originally planning to wear the set Apple Martin had on for the night, but happily pivoted to a “ziger” skirt (zebra meets tiger print, of course) and heels.

“I think our greatest success has been building this community of women,” the designer said. “And really it’s just celebrating women. Trailblazers are everybody that saved the world or invented something or cured something to an incredible woman in their community doing amazing things for the people around them. ‘Trailblazer’ feels very weighty, but everybody’s a trailblazer. We’re really celebrating the spirit of lighting the way for other people. And we, in our small way, have done that for others.”

Deutch was fresh in from the Venice Film Festival, where she found inspiration from many trailblazers in the film world. 

“Amanda Seyfried, who I think has been an absolute badass and a hero of mine. I got to spend some time with her and Mona Fastvold, who I am a really big fan of,” Deutch said. 

The actress was wearing a suede blazer by the brand for the night, which she said was just the right amount of warmth. 

“They do such a beautiful job of making clothes that feel effortless and elevated, that make you feel confident and comfortable throughout a long day,” Deutch said. 

“We’ve always celebrated women, designed for women, elevated women in everything we do,” Miele Beard said. “These women all in their own right have blazed a trail that is theirs. And AI can’t touch that because there’s an emotion that’s evoked. There’s a feeling and, even in sports, we don’t want to see robots. We want the storytelling and we want to know how they’re wearing it, how they’re living it. And we want to celebrate how we do.”