High Notes
Socials and stars flock to the Met's opening-night gala.“I’m learning to sew again because of Project Runway,” confessed Helen Socials and stars flock to the Met's opening-night gala.
Legendary diva Renée Fleming performed the musical equivalent of a triathlon at the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night gala this fall. The soprano wowed Jane Fonda, Tory Burch, Lauren duPont and Lynn Wyatt with excerpts from Verdi’s La Traviata, Massenet’s Manon and Strauss’s Capriccio—each requiring a costume change into couture creations by Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld and John Galliano.
The decked-out audience met Fleming’s sartorial standard—though some attendees admitted that, left to their own devices, they wouldn’t appear quite so stylish. “I’m learning to sew again because of Project Runway,” confessed Oscar winner Helen Mirren, wearing Zac Posen. “I made myself the most hideous outfit—these shorts that I will never wear—just because I like to cut patterns.”
Meanwhile, as the event crept into its third hour, a few people grew worried. “I’m texting the babysitter that we are only at the second intermission,” said new mom Julianna Margulies. Christie Brinkley skipped the sitter and brought along her 13-year-old son, Jack. “It was fun,” he said afterward at the dinner, held in a tent decorated to evoke the party scene in La Traviata.
During the three-course meal, Rufus Wainwright caught up with Faye Dunaway and Parker Posey, and Georgina Chapman cracked jokes with her mother, Caroline Wonfor. But by hour six, some were ready to call it a night. “Je m’en vais, as they say,” said Vera Wang, taking her leave.
Two evenings later many of the same folks were at Carnegie Hall’s season opener. Sharing a box once again were Mercedes Bass and Annette de la Renta, while Marie-Josée Kravis sat nearby. Also in attendance to catch the all–Leonard Bernstein program, which included an appearance by Yo-Yo Ma, were Nancy Kissinger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas.
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