Daily Front Row

May 5, 2010

Tate Tower

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Laura Brown, Jason Wu, Glenda Bailey, and Becca Cason Thrash
JONATHON ZIEGLER/ PatrickMcMullan.com View Gallery

(NEW YORK) “One thing that can make great art is wine,” declared Glenda Bailey with a toast, kicking off the second American Patrons of the Tate Artists Dinner last night. The event, hosted by Bailey, Bazaar, and Lynn Forester De Rothschild, was held on the 44^th floor of the Hearst Tower, but the stunning views weren’t the only draw. Members of the art, fashion, and social circles—including Stefano Tonchi, Jason Wu, Gabourey Sidibe, Becca Cason Thrash, Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, Stefano Pilati, and more—convened for cocktails and a gorgeous dinner event to raise money for the museum.

“Art. That’s what will get us out!” laughed Kate Mulleavy of the social schedule of herself and sister Laura. “Art has always been important to us. I studied art history in school, and Laura pretty much minored in it.” The Rodarte girls admitted they’d had quite a busy week on their trip to New York from Los Angeles, though another transplant was also making the rounds. “I just did my trunk show at Barneys,” said Erdem Moralioglu. “It was really good, but I had to come straight from there!” The London-based designer is only spending a few days in the city, but last night’s stop was particularly important: “Glenda kindly invited me,” he said, motioning to the EIC, who sported his dress. “I fitted her for it myself.”

“I remember once when I went to the Tate, Lady Diana was there,” remembered Iman as she arrived for cocktails. “It was a big event. Very glamorous, like tonight!” The supermodel arrived at Hearst Tower with Stephen Gan at her side, on the heels of artist Matthew Barney and his equally well-known wife. “I don’t have anything of Matthew Barney’s,” Iman said of her own art collection, “but I love his things, and more importantly his wife! I love Bjork. We like to say we’re very Catholic in our art collecting—it means we collect whatever we want and whatever we like! My husband collects a lot of British art, and I like a lot of African sculptures.”

Soon, black-clad waiters were motioning to guests to sit for dinner (a feat easier said than done—until the bar closed, with the likes of Wu and Moralioglu turned away for drinks). The dining room was decorated with bright yellow roses and colored pencils lining the tables (16,000 pencils, according to Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota), with slideshows of artwork on every wall. “I was a very bad dinner guest because I was looking at all the slides!” laughed Patti Smith, who provided the entertainment for the evening with a four-song set. In fact, her renditions of “People Have the Power” and “Because the Night” had the decidedly un-rowdy singing and clapping along. Kate Mulleavy may have summed it up best of all: “She was rad.”
EMILY GYBEN