The New Season

Met Gala, NY Botanical Garden, Race of Hope, Gallery House, SOFO, Holiday House, 9/11 & Carlton Fine Arts, Billie Eilish & Timothée Chalamet @ Met Gala

The original article appeared in the September Issue of Park Magazine. Click here to view.

Timothee Chalamet
Georgina Bloomberg, Nicky Hilton
Brooke Shields, Karlie Kloss, Alek Wek
In America: A Lexicon of Fashion

Amanda Gorman, Billie Eilish, Timothée Chalamet, and Naomi Osaka co-chaired this year’s Met Gala. Tom Ford, Adam Mosseri and Anna Wintour were the event’s Honorary Chairs. Eleanor Lambert, the legendary fashion publicist, started the Met Gala in 1948 to raise funds for the department. The Gala, New York’s answer to the Oscars, has raised over $186 million since Wintour took over from Diana Vreeland in 1995. The Costume Institute will present a two-part exhibition titled In America: A Lexicon of Fashion and In America: An Anthology of Fashion. These shows celebrate the 75th Anniversary of The Costume Institute, a collection of over 33,000 items sampling fashion from the 15th century to the present.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Anna Wintour Costume Center

The Met Gala marked the opening of part one of the exhibition, which features 80 ensembles that define American fashion, on display in the Anna Wintour Costume Center. Part two is a collaboration of The Costume Institute and the American Wing, which explores the development of fashion throughout history in the United States, opening May 5th, 2022. metmuseum.org

Nicky Hilton & Gillian Hearst @ NY Botanical Garden 

Georgina Bloomberg, Gillian Hearst, Ashley McDermott, Kate Davis, Lili Buffett, Sharon Jacob, Holly Lowen, Deborah Royce, and Janet Montag served as the co-chairs of this year’s New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) Gala. The Garden, founded in 1891, is one of America’s glittering crown jewels. The evening was a celebration of KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature, the exhibition featuring installations by  artist Yayoi Kusama that is open through October 31st. Veuve Clicquot hosted the  champagne hour for guests including Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Brooke Shields, Karlie Kloss, Alek Wek, Prabal Gurung, Cristina Cuomo, Nacho Figueras and Delfina Blaquier and others of that ilk and stripe. Kusama recently collaborated with the brand to design the new vintage bottles with her signature dots, bright colors, and artistic style—spreading a message of joy, hope, and optimism. N’est Pas? On the dance floor were Cynthia Rowley, Nigel Barker, Benjamin Bronfman, Brian Atwood, Jake Deutsch, Olivia Palermo and Johannes Huebl. De Beers Jewelers supported the benefit, which raised $1.3 million. nybg.org

Katie Couric @ Race of Hope

Katie Couric told a crowd of runners in the village of Southampton, “I stink at running so I’m going walk at the back of the race.” The TV legend, who will launch her autobiography “Going There” this fall, was decked out in a bright yellow and black outfit. “My husband said I looked like a bumblebee,” she quipped. The perky star was serving as the Grand Marshall of Audrey Gruss’s Hope for Depression Research Foundation’s 5K Race, which raised $325,000. Participants included Karen and Richard LeFrak, Jenny and John Paulson, Jamee and Peter Gregory, and a man who ran while pushing a double baby carriage. Who else would tell you these things? Also, there was a slew of runners and their dogs including Janna Bullock with her best friend Sebastian, a Bernedoodle. Although Katie finished at the back of the pack, she got a gold medal modeled after the Olympics when she crossed the finish line, as did all the other racers. raceofhopeseries.com

Anne Heche & Peter Thomas Roth @ Galerie House

Anne Heche and her boyfriend skincare mogul Peter Thomas Roth toured the Galerie House of Art & Design in Sag Harbour. Lisa Fayne Cohen the founder of the event hosted the opening party which benefited the construction of the Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s East Hampton Emergency Department. southampton.stonybrookmedicine.edu

 
 
Peter Alonso & Bernie Williams @ 9/11

Yankee legend Bernie Williams and Mets star Peter Alonso helped unveil Charles Fazzino’s new artwork “9/11: A Time of Remembrance” at The National September 11 Memorial & Museum. After the event, a reception was held for the artist by Charles Saffati at his gallery Carlton Fine Arts on Madison Avenue, memorializing the 20th Anniversary of 9/11. fazzino.com. Williams said, “This takes me back to the time that I was in New York during 9/11 and I was questioning a lot of things about my work and the fact that we would just throw a ball, hit a ball and run the bases. That kind of line of work seemed a little insignificant in light of what was happening. Everything started turning around when we started visiting people at the Javits Center, the hospital and the armory; when they started saying ‘the Yankees are here, the Yankees are here,’ and it gave people a smile in that moment. It changed the whole thing for me and in the World Series we were playing, we were playing for something bigger than myself, bigger than the team, bigger than major league baseball. We were playing for the City of New York and the country.” Leading the applause were Junior League’s Sofie Mählkvist, artist Linjie Deng, attorney Paul Koenigsberg, dermatologist Dr. Marie Hayag and her husband Will Jarosak. The gallery also opened a show of Fazzino’s signature 3D pop pieces. A portion for the proceeds from the sale of the 9/11 piece and the limited-edition prints will benefit the museum. carltonfa.com

Susan & David Rockefeller @ SOFO

Susan and David Rockefeller, John Paulson and Jean Shafiroff were among the supporters of the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center’s (SOFO) 32nd Anniversary Benefit, The Journey Forward: Reconnecting Through Nature, in Bridgehampton. The event was hosted by Andrew Sabin aka “Salamander Commander,” who founded the organization in 1988 to protect the ecosystem. The event honored Kim and Greg Lippmann, Dr. Indy Burke, Michael B. Gerrard and Chef Kerry Heffernan. Hosts and guests included Bitcoin billionaire Brock Pierce, Carole Crist, Dottie Herman, Diana Aceti, Chef Alex Guarnaschelli and CEO of Lambay Irish Whiskey Kevin Richards, who was one of the evening sponsors. Also in the mix were Dick Grasso, Trammell Crow, Anke and Jürgen Friedrich and Jason Belkin. The fun party was catered by Andrea Correlia’s Elegant Affairs. sofo.org

Chef Jean Georges @ Holiday House

Ashley and Andrea Stark and interior designers Campion Platt, and Kenneth Alpert cochaired Iris Dankner’s Holiday House Tabletop event to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). The party, titled “Coming Together,” featured 13 designers including Beth Donner, Brett Helsham, Brittany Marom, Christina Nielsenand Cambria x Jiun Howho all created fanciful tabletops at the Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton. Chef Jean Georges whipped up the delicious hors d’oeuvres. Holiday House has raised two million dollars for breast cancer research since 2008. holidayhamptons.com

Maye Musk @ Angel Ball

A rocking Flo Rida raised the roof at Denise Rich’s Angel Ball for cancer research. Brock Pierce was the benefit’s Honorary Chair along with Mary J. Blige and Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch. The gala’s honorees were Elon Musk’s mother model Maye Musk and designer Simone Smith. Supporters included Star Jones, Daniella Rich Kilstock, Henry Buhl, Ilona Rich Schachter, Michele and Frank Rella and Mark Leder. The event was a tribute to the memory of Denise’s daughter Gabrielle Rich Aouad who passed away from leukemia at the age of 27. The organization has raised $37 million over the last 20 years. gabriellesangels.org