All photos Lieba Nesis
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Apollo Circle for young patrons held its tenth anniversary gala benefit from nine to twelve in the Temple of Dendur wing at the Museum. The theme this year was “Between the Seams” and is inspired by the exhibition “Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade 1500-1800 ” on view at the Met through January 5, 2014. The Apollo Circle, founded in 1997, is a membership group created for young donors to the Museum and this is the biggest and most visible event of the year.
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| Princess Khaliya Aga Khan & Indira Cesarine |
The evening was sponsored by Maiyet, the luxury fashion brand which seeks to promote prosperity and artisanal skills in areas that need it most. Maiyet, a luxury label founded in 2011, makes ready-to-wear clothing, jewelry, handbags and shoes with an emphasis on masterful workmanship in their products. The event which featured cocktails and DJ Brendan Fallis contained a crowd of over one thousand people ranging in ages from nineteen to fifty and including a number of princesses some Rockefellers and Hearsts, and more than a couple of debutantes, models and socialites. Amanda Hearst, Ingrid Rockefeller, Zosia Mamet, and Princess Khaliya Aga Khan were just a small segment of the luminaries at this happening: this was the “it” crowd of New York, Greenwich and Europe dressed in their best attire and ready to party. The level of fashion was astounding with many of the guests wearing couture from top designers such as Zac Posen, Wes Gordon, Naeem Khan and Maiyet.
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| Wes Gordon in Tom Ford tuxedo |
This event is a must on most of the influential twenty somethings social calendar including Wes Gordon, the famed 27 year old designer, who showed up in a Tom Ford tuxedo. He said this was an event he loves because of the “fun group of people, the fun crowd and all of the beauty.” He was also pleased that there were at least two women in the crowd who were wearing his designs. He has dressed Gwyneth Paltrow and Kerry Washington and would like to dress Cate Blanchett because of her grace and talent.
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| Abigail Lorick & Bethanne Caples in Maiyet |
Bethanne Caples, wearing Maiyet, and one of the head designers at the company said, “we are a brand started on textiles so we are huge supporters of sustaining craftsmanship around the world, and that is why this event was a perfect marriage for us to support this incredibly important exhibition.”
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| Caroline Calloway & Princess Maria Antonia of Sicily |
She said alot of dresses, bags, shoes and jewelry were on loan to girls attending the event and that Maiyet was worn all over the world with their two biggest accounts in the United States being Barney’s and Net-a-Porter. Georgia Newman, assistant designer at Rag and Bone, commented on the fashion of the night as mostly being “very interesting but some of it too classic prom and too mechanical by taking a fancy dress and putting ruching on or silver and gold instead of making an exquisite classic dress with beautiful fabric and adding a thrill to it. While our customer is older Rag and Bone remains a versatile and edgy brand of exquisite quality.” Rag and Bone’s upcoming collection is going to have a very nineties feel with dresses which are plain in the front with fullness in the back in varied colors such as burgundy and other unusual palettes.
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| Samantha Moray in Delpozo Catherine Smith in Zac Posen & Rachel Seville in vintage |
As the evening came to a close the guards had to usher the crowd out amidst all the dancing and revelry. There was so much visual stimulation in the room ranging from the beautifully dressed guests to the majestic Temple of Dendur edifices it was hard to believe some tickets could be purchased for a mere three hundred dollars. This evening is all about young up-and-comers gathering in a cultural landmark to celebrate life in New York City. As I gathered my camera and headed out the door Princess Maria Antonia of Sicily was posing in her red dress with a group of red garlands around her head; a fitting end to a visually and culturally important event in a Museum whose walls are adorned by royalty.
