This mix of celebrity and art royalty aside, the gala is a bellwether for the world-conquering ambitions of LACMA, and raised a record-breaking $6.8 million to centralize film in the museum’s programming, and fund its mission at large. LACMA has long wanted to go toe-to-toe with its East Coast counterparts—namely the Metropolitan Museum of Art—and now it has a showstopper of a building, designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, set to open in April of next year. And LACMA, with this gala, has real showbiz leverage, the support of Hollywood power players. Just look at the host committee, comprised of co-chairs Eva Chow and Leonardo DiCaprio, who were joined by Gucci Artistic Director Demna and Gucci President and CEO Francesca Bellettini.
But Demna is perhaps is most telling. One of the most influential and controversial fashion designers in the last decade, he reimagined the idea of zeitgeist while at Balenciaga. The Pinault family—who also own Christie’s, and CAA—moved him to Gucci, which is a genius move on a lot of levels but, for our specific purposes here, quite wonderful for this particular event. Demna really likes hanging out with artists. At one point, sculptor and photographer Paul Pfeiffer went over to say hello, and Demna cupped his hands over his heart and said to Pfeiffer: “I love your work.”
Demna told me he’s restoring a historic architecturally significant home in Los Angeles to live in. He’s also been homing in on the conceptual ideal of Hollywood to situate the narrative of the new Gucci. In lieu of a runway show, he commissioned Spike Jones and Halina Reijn to make The Tiger, a short film starring Demi Moore, Edward Norton, Ed Harris, Elliot Page, Keke Palmer, Alia Shawkat, Julianne Nicholson, Heather Lawless, Ronny Chieng, Kendall Jenner and Alex Consani. The result brought the characters from his “La Famiglia” collection to life.
