Event Inspo

The central arrangement in the Great Hall, inspired by a Fall 2007 Comme des Garçons appliqué violet collection, took event producer Raúl Ávila and his team a month to build off-site. It was disassembled and brought into the Met the Sunday before the gala, where a large crew applied the flowers over an 18-hour period. The base of the desk was trimmed in boxwood with camellias.

Towering above the Information Desk at the center of the Met’s Great Hall was a 30-foot-tall violet design made of hot-pink roses with white roses at the center. Solid color balls made from white, pink, and hot-pink or burgundy roses, measuring five feet in diameter, hung from the ceiling or sat on the floor.

Ushers donned geometric-shaped black dresses in a further nod to Kawakubo, softened with oversize flower crowns that are all the rage currently. The hand-painted sisal carpet with royal-blue trim featured a blue based on the color of a dress from Comme des Garçons’ Fall 2012 collection.

Ávila flanked the Great Hall stairs with towering mirrored walls (perfect for selfies) that, when combined with the ceiling lit in hot pink, created a setting that enticed many a guest—including Celine Dion (pictured)—to strike their best pose.

The stenciled sisal from the red carpet extended into the building from the steps outside, through the Great Hall, and up the Great Hall stairs, which were covered in hundreds of hand-strung balls made of pink and hot-pink or burgundy roses.

Guests entered the Temple of Dendur for dinner, walking between two walls of off-white flowers covered in 3-D dots made from hot-pink and burgundy roses. A trompe l'oeil royal-blue muslin curtain, highlighted in gold, draped the stage where a performance by Katy Perry would later take place.

Once in the dinner space, a much more subdued wall of white roses and white rose hedges surrounded guests. Gold ballroom chairs boasted cushions that matched the tablecloths.

Dinner tables covered in pink, light pink, red, and burgundy cloths featured gold vase centerpieces filled with ranunculus, roses, anemones, and peonies in a nod to honoree Rei Kawakubo's floral-print garments. "I experimented with the composition of the arrangements, making them looser and more playful," Ávila said.

Tables were set with plates printed in a blue peony pattern. Chopsticks were provided in a nod to Kawakubo's Japanese descent, as was the Kikusui Junmai Ginjo sake and matcha, coconut mango, and yuzu citrus mochi served for dessert.

With the exhibit located back in the Carroll and Milton Petrie European Sculpture Court, the museum's Great Hall stairs were once again used for guests. A wall of hot-pink roses backed the receiving line at the top of the stairs, where attendees were met by event co-chairs Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.