The carpet was “Brat” green–and Gucci green, too–at the LACMA Art+Film Gala Saturday night in Los Angeles that was capped off by a performance from Charli XCX.
The 13th annual event, sponsored by Gucci, honored film director Baz Luhrmann and artist Simone Leigh, and drew a high-wattage crowd to the Los Angeles County Museum, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Blake Lively, Kim Kardashian, Kaia Gerber, Laura Dern, Amy Sherald, Catherine Opie, Kering chief executive officer Francois-Henri Pinault and Gucci CEO Stefano Cantino and creative director Sabato De Sarno.
Wearing a blue velvet Gucci suit, natch, Luhrmann glided through the crowd with his wife, collaborator and costume designer Catherine Martin.
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“I’m touched. There are awards and awards shows, but this stands for something which is a lack of silos between fashion, music and film. And that’s me, that’s what I’m about,” Luhrmann told WWD. “There are too many silos in the world.”
“Monsters” series portrayers of the Menendez brothers —Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez — were catching up in the midst of the swirl. “I’m pinching myself,” said Koch of attending his first LACMA gala. As for being in the middle of the craziest only-in-L.A. story ever, with their Netflix series leading in part to a resentencing hearing for the brothers scheduled for Dec. 11 in L.A., he said, “I hope they get out, I wish them all the best.”
De Sarno mingled with Ricky Martin, Colman Domingo and others. He was wearing a white tuxedo with attitude and oversized black lapels from his new Hollywood-inspired 16-piece Gucci Notte eveningwear collection, which made its debut on models at the event.
“It was supposed to be black, but…” he said, of his creative take on black tie.
Gucci–and green–were the unofficial dress codes. “I’m wearing Brat green, very demure and very mindful. Sabato really hooked me up with that,” said singer Asia Chow of her very demure green Gucci chiffon Empire dress.
“Brat means not giving a…” said fashion stylist Gabriela Karefa Johnson, musing about the power of her Gucci acid green minidress.
“I think Brat is fun, empowered and being your authentic self,” said Ellizabeth Wiatt, senior vice president of development at LACMA, in a Gucci green sequin embroidered column.
After cocktails, and a few more mega fashion moments–Chloe Sevigny in a Saint Laurent brocade jacket, lace bodysuit and red miniskirt, for one, Sarah Paulson in a Altuzarra black and white scalloped and pleated confection, and Emily Ratajkowski in a 1996 archive Donna Karan Collection backless chocolate brown gown — everyone made their way into the tent for dinner.
This year, LACMA gala co-chair Eva Chow enlisted Michelin-starred Cote Steakhouse from New York to do the honors, bringing Korean flavor to the event, which also included soju cocktails from her very own Khee brand.
After the first course was served, Leigh was honored first. The first Black woman to represent the U.S. in the Venice Biennale, in 2022, the Brooklyn-based artist works in sculpture, video, and installation to explore the themes of Black female-identified subjectivity and labor. She describes her practice as “auto-ethnographic,” and her sculptures often use forms traditionally associated with African art, merging the body with domestic vessels such as baskets and jugs.
“This moment right now reminds me of the day my daughter came home and told me that her friends had decided I was cool,” said Leigh, whose current exhibition is at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the California African American Museum through Jan. 25.
Anna Wintour introduced her friend Luhrmann, recounting tales of how he art-directed fantastic moments at the Met gala over the years, including one that had Rihanna dancing down the center of a dinner table.
“The only person who could offer a tribute truly worthy of Baz is Baz. We know this already from his films, from ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ to ‘The Great Gatsby’ to ‘Elvis.’ His movies are as brilliant and energized and joyous as he is. Big as those movies are, they cannot quite contain him,” she went on, speaking of his forays into TV, theater, opera, interiors, dance, design, photography, anime and AI.
Luhrmann used part of his acceptance speech to recount how he was brought up by other creatives in the industry, including Jim Sharman, Australian director of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” He reminded those in the room of their duty to lift up new voices and generations, and “let the new energy smash through this ossified world we are in and lead us on.”
The event raised $6.4 million for the museum’s expansion project due to be completed in April 2026, and to support its film programs.
Charlie XCX closed the night, taking the stage in a dramatic red Gucci trench coat and bra to “shock you like defibrillators” as she sings, before being joined for a “Talk talk” reunion with Troye Sivan. The party was just starting.
