New York's social scenesters busted out the black-tie garb this week as a pair of major institutions threw their annual fall galas. On Tuesday at the Whitney, artist
Richard Tuttle commemorated the museum's first 75 years with a series of installations. Among them was a metal bridge where chairs
Steven and
Heather Mnuchin and honoree
Flora Miller Biddle (whose grandmother founded the museum after Met reps told her there would never be a place for American art) greeted MoMA's
Agnes Gund, cultural devotee
Anne Bass, and starlet
Chloë Sevigny. "I'm here because my best friend growing up in Connecticut was Flora Biddle's grandson," said the actress, decked out in Dolce & Gabbana. "The Whitney is a great New York institution."
Other enthusiasts included hotelier Andre Balazs, art aficionado Beth Rudin DeWoody, and tennis great John McEnroe, who abandoned his better half, Patty Smyth, to the paparazzi, leaving her to wonder aloud, "Where are you going? I'm your wife!" The evening raised $2.4 million, the majority of which came from the dinner on the third floor for 550. Later that night, a younger crowd including actors Adrian Grenier and Piper Perabo, designers Peter Som and Behnaz Sarafpour, and a slew of socials crowded into the lower-level gallery for the after-party.
On Wednesday, the American Ballet Theatre celebrated its new season at City Center. After watching snippets of upcoming performances, Calvin Klein, Susan Fales-Hill, and Arie and Coco Kopelman, along with chairs Grace Hightower De Niro, Sherrell Aston and Muffie Potter Aston, and David and Julia Koch made their way to a lamb dinner awaiting them at the nearby Pierre hotel. Principal dancers Julie Kent and Irina Dvorovenko—both of whom just returned from maternity leave—dutifully made the rounds. "I felt so full of energy," declared the latter about her comeback. "I think I gave even more than before." Despite a newfound passion for her profession, her maternal instinct was still intact. "My baby, Emma, waited in the wings with my mother while I danced," she confessed proudly. "And she didn't make any noise!"
—Sarah Cristobal
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