LACMA’s Art+Film Gala a Gucci eclectic-dressed fest
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art hosted its star-studded Art + Film Gala on Saturday night. But with so many designers and creatively dressed in attendance, it may be time to start calling it the Art+Film+Fashion Gala.
The event honored artist James Turrell and Academy Award–winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Cochaired by LACMA trustee Eva Chow and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, it raised more than $4 million for LACMA’s film initiatives and future exhibitions, acquisitions and programming.
Gucci sponsored the evening, and it was the biggest celebrity-dressing initiative yet for the fashion house under the direction of new creative director Alessandro Michele, who served as gala host committee chair.
“Lovvvve,” Michele said when asked how he was enjoying Los Angeles. “It’s full of energy. And LACMA, I had passed by many times but never been. It’s like an amazing park. It’s more outside than inside.”
In one year, Michele has made Gucci the hottest thing in fashion by focusing less on a single look on the runway and more on mirroring the kind of eccentricity and individualism born from social media and street style — mixing young and old, done and undone, sexy and sweet.
The 26 celebrities he dressed at the LACMA event reflected the label’s range.
There was Asia Chow in a sweet-looking silk chiffon, spaghetti strap Gucci gown with a tiger embroidered on the bodice. She carried a purple plexiglass clutch with bee and cherry details and accessorized with a floral hair pin and ring. “It’s eclectic but everything still goes together,” she said.
Katherine Ross, a fashion consultant and the wife of LACMA Director Michael Govan, chose a romantic red floral silk georgette gown that buttoned up to the neck and finished with a silk flower bloom. “I like his bohemian sensibility,” she said of Michele.
Guitarist Kaki King wore a Gucci thistles-and-birds printed mohair pant suit. (Printed suits were BIG at the event; Michele himself wore one.) Other guests dressed in Gucci included Dakota Johnson, Chloe Sevigny, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jared Leto, Gia Coppola, Brit Marling, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Eva Chow and Salma Hayek Pinault.
Meanwhile, costume designer/stylist Arianne Phillips, who collaborated with Michele on costumes for Madonna’s Rebel Heart tour, put Gucci together her own way, wearing a printed bomber jacket with black pants, loafers and a serpent-and-flower embroidered GG handbag.
“The beautiful thing about Alessandro is that he has a layered sensibility and an appreciation for craftsmanship,” Phillips said. “He’s a costume designer who creates fashion which is a reflection of our culture. Fashion is about what’s relevant now, a message in a bottle for the cultural zeitgeist. He has a way of expressing layers of femininity and character.”
Michele was joined at the event by an impressive number of designers from near and far, including Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci (who arrived with pals Kim Kardashian and Naomi Campbell), shoe guru Christian Louboutin, Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott (who wore a crown, natch), Monique Lhuillier, Jenni Kayne and Libertine’s Johnson Hartig.
It wasn’t just the Gucci-dressed -- individuality and eclecticism were on full display elsewhere at the event, too.
Italian stylist Erica Pelosini wore a Valentino gown embroidered with tiny strips of fur. “When it came, it was like, ‘drool,’” she said.
Fashion consultant NJ Goldston’s cotton candy pink satin Prada gown was covered in crystal embellishment like jewelry. “I fell in love with it,” she said of the one-of-a-kind style from the fall 2015 collection.
Photographer and jewelry designer Lisa Eisner chose vintage Yves Saint Laurent harem pants, a pink sequin top and a feather capelet by L.A.-based costume designer Stacia Lang. Eisner’s feather earrings and necklace are part of her new collection rolling out later this month at Maxfield.
Artist Ana Prvacki also wore feathers — a capelet by Sarah Bromell’s Wicked Awesome Feather Studio, worn with pants and Margiela boots. “Do you want to hug me?” she asked, stroking her downy soft accessory.
And several people chose embellished designs by Libertine’s Hartig, who is on a roll touring with his new Rizzoli book, “Libertine: The Creative Beauty, Humor and Inspiration Behind the Cult Label.”
Everywhere you looked there seemed to be someone wearing one of his joyful, multimedia collaged pieces. It was appropriate for the museum gala; they are their own kind of artwork, after all.
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