The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit is really two very different events. There's the one everyone talks about—the "Party of the Year," the one with Nicole Kidman and Adrien Brody—and then there's what is called the after-party. This year the Nicole party had 750 society, fashion and movie star types in $3,500 dinner seats and a gorgeous dining room inspired by the institute's new "Goddess" exhibit. A few hours later, the other party drew a mixed plebeian crowd who forked over $250 a head to boogie in the Temple of Dendur and gawk as Kidman and crew scuttled out from dinner in their Grecian-inspired finery to their waiting town cars.
Kidman's co-chairs for this year's benefit were Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Gucci Group creative director Tom Ford, who brought a few of his own touches to the proceedings. Well before the commoners showed up, 60 male models lined the walk from a cocktail party in the Great Hall into the museum's restaurant space for dinner. (Ford even put the boys through a rehearsal the night before the benefit.)
With its Grecian columns the restaurant was an apt room, and Robert Isabell gave it an all-white look inspired by the exhibit. "It was a goddess temple," said Chris Giftos, the Met's manager of special events. "It all worked together—the room, the decor, what people were wearing." Isabell draped the room with white fabric and covered the floors with white carpet to create a crisp, clean background, and then dotted the room with hedges of hydrangea. He illuminated the tables from underneath their white linen tablecloths and decorated them with crab apple blossoms and peonies. (It was a swan song of sorts for the restaurant, which will soon become a gallery.)
Glorious Food's dinner menu started with lobster and caviar with a lemon mousseline sauce served with a chilled shot of Turi vodka (a sponsor). The entree was a rack of mint-encrusted lamb with spring vegetables and roasted rosemary potatoes. For dessert, the assembled gods and goddesses got a vacherin with strawberry ice cream with pink spun sugar and rhubarb compote.
The folks at the after-party just got a few platters of mini dessert treats, although a large group satisfied themselves by watching the exits of Nicole, Adrien and other high-profile guests like Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, David Bowie, Iman and Diana Ross, who performed at dinner. The crowd left just a narrow passage for the well-dressed dinner guests to slide through as some of the more vocal onlookers let out a few .phps ("I just saw Kirsten Dunst!").
Outside, Starr Tents' enormous tent covered the museum's grand steps, where guests could pose for photographers. The tent also featured a small holding pen for smokers.
—Chad Kaydo
Some photos courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Read our coverage of the most recent Costume Institute gala...
Read our Impresario Q&A with Robert Isabell...
Read our Impresario profile of Chris Giftos...
