It’s possible the Guggenheim has never been so packed.
For the second year in a row, CULTURED shut down the museum for its annual CULT100 bash, dedicated to a spring issue that brings together 100 luminaries and rising talents shaping the world around us.
Launched earlier this month, the magazine—a whopping 400 pages—features a list of honorees that traverse the realms of food, film, art, fashion, and more—many of whom gathered in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building for cocktails and a lively program hosted in exclusive partnership with Valentino and Valentino Beauty.
Over the course of three hours—as scores of film, art, music, and fashion-world figures packed into the Guggenheim’s legendary rotunda—Adam Scott made small talk with a horse, Caroline Calloway crashed the party, and martinis flowed out of an old-school ice sculpture.
Attendees—including a number of cover stars who descended in their Valentino finery from the well-appointed rooms of Midtown’s Fifth Avenue Hotel, a partner of the CULT100, in Wheely transportation—were greeted in front of the historic facade by CULTURED’s red carpet correspondents Delaney Rowe and Dylan Kelly, who bantered with guests before sending them breezing through the doors. Keke Palmer, Lena Dunham, and Grace Gummer all arrived dressed in Maison Valentino’s latest collection, sporting Creative Director Alessandro Michele’s signature sharp suiting, bold embroidery, and sheer designs.
Guests—among them cover stars Adam Scott, Marcello Hernández, Emma Cline, Naomi Watts, Vinnie Hacker, and Sombr, as well as Ego Nwodim, Natasha Lyonne, Ciara Miller, B.J. Novak, Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin, Joey Bada$$, Anne Imhof, Jane Krakowski, Wisdom Kaye, and Nathan Fielder—meandered through CULT100 honoree Carol Bove’s ongoing exhibition with drinks in hand. The show marks the artist’s first museum survey, filling the rotunda with more than a quarter-century of work. Towering metal constructions mingle with more intimate wall-hanging compositions. We even spotted Babyface making his way up the spiral.
Elsewhere on the ground floor, guests settled into the velvet-draped Valentino Beauty lounge. Replete with the entire Anatomy of Dreams fragrance collection, attendees perused the scents and plucked specialty cocktails inspired by the line from silver trays. The intimate space pulled shoulder-to-shoulder traffic all night long, and those who couldn’t make it in missed Nicholas Alexander Chavez taking selfies against the plush backdrop.
As the lights dimmed, the crowd drew toward the stage as cover star Keke Palmer kicked off the night’s programming. Sporting a lime green blazer with an oversized Valentino cravat, she playfully gassed up her fellow CULT100 honorees. “I want to take a moment to shout out a few—not all, because if I did, we’d be here all night, and while I believe in culture, I also believe in respectable bedtimes,” she said, sparking peals of laughter below. Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson arrived onstage next, to introduce her attendees to the world of the CULT100. “The 100 extraordinary people on this year’s CULT100 list remind us that culture is not something we simply observe,” she said. “It’s something we shape.”
Adam Scott, with his trademark laid-back charm, introduced Daniel Caesar to kick off the night’s musical performances. The singer is set to tour across the States this fall with last year’s album, Son of Spergy. (Our devoted readers can keep an eye on our newsstands for more… For now, a rendition of “Who Knows” will have to satisfy.)
The lilting opening notes of an acoustic set filled the towering space next as Eartheater took the mic, introduced by Vinnie Hacker. As the musician departed, she nodded to the next act, Fcukers, who guided the evening’s descent into revelry. HorsegiirL, the Berlin-based musical artist with a signature equine snout, trotted in next, transforming the final hour of the evening into a full-on barn burner. Her debut album, Nature Is Healing, drops June 5.
As the night came to a close, guests spilled onto the street for a last chat and cigarette, many with CULTURED’s silver gift bags teeming with fragrant roses, a few bottles from Valentino’s Anatomy of Dreams series, and, of course, a copy of the CULT100 issue. With the treasures claimed in the blink of an eye, the rest of the night’s attendees snagged a magazine—emblazoned with one of the issue’s 12 cover stars—on their way back into the spring air. The only competition, it would seem, for a more eclectic, irreverent, unpredictable evening? Whatever we dream up next year.
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Introducing a Play For Every New Yorker Who’s Had More Bad Dates Than Good
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