Every year, as the Cannes Film Festival winds down, hundreds of celebrities and philanthropists gather at the palatial Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc for the amfAR gala, an event that raises millions for biomedical research and also prides itself on being a lavish, fashion-forward party.

That was certainly the case at the 31st installment Thursday, which featured performances from Ciara, Adam Lambert and Duran Duran.

At blustery cocktails in the seaside town of Antibes overlooking the vast blue water of the French Riviera, the Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo, wearing a custom Valentino suit and Boucheron jewelry that he said made him feel like a “peacock,” admitted that it’s a surreal night.

“It’s so maximalistic in all of this expression,” he said. “And it is all to draw eyes toward H.I.V. and AIDS research.”