Calvin Klein (AP)
Lou Reed (AP)
SAD: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Calvin Klein and Lou Reed yesterday. (
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Several celebrities were among some 1,000 New Yorkers who filed into Saint Thomas Church in Midtown yesterday to wish Madonna Badger’s three little angels a safe trip to heaven.
Famed fashion innovators Calvin Klein and Vera Wang, actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and New York rock legend Lou Reed were seated among the pews of mourners in the cavernous Episcopal church.
Folk singer Rufus Wainwright brought tears from mourners with an a cappella version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Singers Teddy Thompson and Jenni Muldaur also gave stirring performances, of “This Little Light of Mine” and “Amazing Grace,” respectively.
The three singers — themselves the scions of musicians Maria Muldaur, Loudon Wainright and Richard and Linda Thompson — previously worked with Badger to benefit the Shelter Island Deer and Tick Management Foundation.
The group seeks to control Lyme disease-carrying ticks that thrive on local wildlife, like deer.
Yesterday’s moving service on Fifth Avenue also included hymns performed by St. Thomas’ all-male choir.
Wang and Klein, meanwhile, have been two of Badger’s most famous clients.
Badger created the iconic underwear ad for Calvin Klein that featured an otherwise undressed Mark Wahlberg, who eventually morphed from boy-band figure to big-screen star due, in part, to the notoriety he gained from that famous ad.
A private service was held later at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx for the girls and their grandparents.
Lori Goldstein, the style editor at-large for W magazine, said she admired Badger’s eulogies at the emotional ceremony.
“Madonna Badger has more courage than any one human I’ve ever met,” Goldstein tweeted.
“A true inspiration.”
Additional reporting by Jeane MacIntosh and David K. Li