Mark Consuelos Honors Stuart Weitzman at the Accessories Council’s 2025 ACE Awards

Exactly one month after breaking the internet with his nearly bare Stuart Weitzman campaign, Mark Consuelos stepped back into the spotlight at the 2025 ACE Awards, held last night at the Pierre Hotel in New York City. The actor fittingly took the stage to present the Brand Collaboration Award to the luxury footwear label he now famously endorses.

“After years of heavy, heavy investment in this brand, I figured it was time to make it official,” Consuelos quipped, after noting his wife Kelly Ripa’s penchant for online shoe shopping. “She encouraged me to say yes—and I thought, If it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for me.”

Inside the ballroom, designers and celebrities mingled over champagne and conversation. The honorees spanned generations and industries, including the inimitable Betsey Johnson, who was presented with the inaugural Iconoclast Award. “Chappell Roan has kept my mind up this past year,” she said in her remarks, prompting a roaring applause from the crowd. Waiters then offered her baguette-shaped bag charms to tables, as if they were freshly baked loaves of bread.

Later on, legendary model and activist Bethann Hardison was inducted into the Hall of Fame. “I gotta use the bathroom,” she said with a laugh onstage, before leaving the audience with a heartfelt thought: “There’s a great alignment for me being brave and having fear. Sometimes the things I do are very fearful, but I’m brave enough to do it—and that’s very important. I’m really proud of me.”

As the evening came to a close, guests were served chocolate soufflés topped with a piece of white chocolate stamped with “ACE.” On their way out, they were each handed Sam Edelman gift bags with Betsey Johnson perfume, a weighted eye blanket, and lab-grown diamond studs—a perfect parting gift for the accessory-obsessed.