LACMA’s 10th Annual Art + Film Gala Brings Superstar Power
It was a night of star power and fun as celebrities gathered from two industries over the weekend. The Los
Ellie Mason
It was a night of star power and fun as celebrities gathered from two industries over the weekend. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art held its 10th annual Art + Film Gala, and stars from both the art and film worlds showed up to celebrate. Honored were legends like Steven Spielberg and Kehinde Wiley. CELEB takes a look at the event and some of the best red carpet looks of the night.
LACMA’s 10th Annual Art + Film Gala
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art gathered together the best in the business for a night of celebration, and to honor some industry greats. Sponsored by Gucci with an assist from Audi, the night’s event brought stars out to frolic, relieved to be able to hit the red carpet again together.
Guillermo Del Toro presented an honor to film legend Steven Spielberg, who admitted to discomfort at being honored by an art gala. Spielberg doesn’t refer to himself as an artist, or see what he does as art. However, in the film industry, Spielberg is an artist. The Jaws and Schindler’s List director took the stage with his signature hesitant and awkward charm, per Hollywood Reporter; ” … he explained: ‘Kehinde and Amy are here to represent art. I’m here to represent film.’ What ties them together is that both artists and filmmakers confront and seek encounters with the unknown in their work. ‘Maybe it’s hard to admit to being an artist because it entails an obligation to go into the unknown in pursuit not of perfection but of revelation,” said Spielberg. He also proudly talked about his wife Kate Capshaw’s work as a portraitist, calling her ‘my soul’s companion’ and noting that, ‘In recent years, I’ve had a whole new reason to love portraiture because…I’m in love with a portrait painter.’”
Kehinde and Amy are award-winning artists who were also acknowledged at the event. Wiley and Amy Sherald painted official portraits of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michele Obama; their artwork debuted for guests in the Resnick Pavilion at the event.
THR shares, “Actress Tracee Ellis Ross offered a tribute to Sherald, saying, ‘She paints of me, she paints of us, she paints of Black people. How we are, who we are, as we are, without the many pretenses, masks and code switches that we have to make in order to be safe in the world. … She paints us larger than life in all of our glory and all of our ordinariness.’” Sherald is well-known for her artistic rendition of Breonna Taylor, which appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair. Wiley was honored by director Ava DuVernay.
Red Carpet Looks
The honorees weren’t the only stars shining this weekend. CELEB takes a look at some of the stars who walked the red carpet and our favorite looks of the evening:
- Lil Nas X: You can’t talk red carpet without bringing the quintessential fashion artist to the forefront. Lil Nas X looked chic and relatively dialed back for the evening in a yellow-gold Gucci suit with fur accent on the forearms. With a peach button-up open under the coat, Lil Nas X looked like a fur-lined sherbet. But what looks outlandish on others somehow works for him, and this look was working.
- Paris Hilton: The Hilton heiress looked like a Greco-Roman goddess in a Pamella Roland. The shimmering white gown was bedecked with draping crystal accents and a tulle over-skirt.
- Hailey Bieber: This was a bit of a miss for us as her dress had promise but lacked pizazz. A floor-length dress-shaped rendition of a wool scarf, it wasn’t doing the stunning Bieber any favors. Saint Laurent almost never misses for us, but it could be that Bieber looked miserable that made it a miss.
- Salma Hayek: Hayek on the other hand looked understated and elegant in a sunset-esque Gucci dress with a little sparkle and shimmer.
- Tracee Ellis Ross: The actress looked fierce in a shimmering, powder blue Gucci suit with a coppery shag coat. Not sure what’s up with the suit-and-fur Gucci look this season, but it works.
- Elle Fanning: Fanning always slays but she looked especially diva in a gauzy black Gucci number. A dazzling floral accent perched on her shoulder made the look a little off-kilter, but she rocked it.
- Angelica Houston: The acting legend looked elegant and classy in a simple green gown with matching floor-length over-cape.
- Billie Eilish: The singer gave her signature sultry pout in a lace Gucci gown with a delicate, low neckline. The fur look made another appearance here with a black faux fur shawl.
- Addison Rae: The superstar influencer definitely renewed our faith in Saint Laurent in a stunning black gown with a navel-deep neckline.
- Jared Leto: Leto seemed to be wearing a leisure suit torn right out of the ’70’s, complete with some more of that Gucci faux fur around the cuffs and a gauzy opaque undershirt. This look was a look – viewers can pick W or L for themselves.
Overall, it was a bit of a weird night for fashion with Gucci’s obsessive faux fur accents. But all in all, the stars looked as dazzling as they always do and the joy at being able to play together again is as evident as it has been at every function so far this year.
LACMA
Everyone who is anyone was at the event last night, including Jeff Bezos – who almost never walks the red carpet, Bob Iger, Serena Williams, James Corden, Steven Yeun, Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ridley Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Awkwafina, Dakota Johnson, Diane Keaton, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Wilde and many more.
The gala is chaired by Leonardo DiCaprio and LACMA board member Eva Chow. $5 million was raised from the evening, and proceeds will be funneled to LACMA’s initiative to centralize film in the museum’s programming among other programs. The evening took time to honor the contributions of Black and other minority artists in the industry, and guests could stroll the garden with a craft cocktail or vibe with some beats from DJ D-Nice.
It was a wonderful night of Hollywood charm, bringing the physical artists and the screen artists together for a night of fun and focus.