Daily Front Row

2010 May 26

Garden Parties, MoMA-Style

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Karen O
WILL RAGOZZINO/PatrickMcMullan.com View Gallery

(NEW YORK) “This is the who’s who of the world---not just the art world. They seem to converge here,” declared Vera Wang last night during MoMA’s annual Party in the Garden. “I don’t know how I got here, actually! But I do know that I’m happy to be here.” Wang’s sentiments were echoed by fellow A-list revelers Jeff Koons, Chuck Close, Glenn Close, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who sipped champagne under the stars in the museum’s sculpture garden.

This year’s event honored Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, and guests munched on comfort food like sliders and mini grilled cheese sandwiches before dinner and a special performance by Karen O and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Elated, Wang beamed, “I’ve been to this event a few times and it’s fun for me. It’s a big departure from what I normally do.” She motioned out towards the cloudless sky, “Being here on a night like tonight? It doesn’t get better than this.”

Koons arrived with a very pregnant wife, Justine Wheeler. “It’s been an exciting week, because we’re entering the summer, and this is when I spend a lot of time in the studio," he explained. "I don’t have many appointments, and I focus on my work. I really do try to shut down almost all appointments. It’s a relaxing, productive and very creative time for me.”

Nicole Miller was also thankful for the heavenly weather, and confessed that the garden party had her thinking of her former green thumb. “I used to have a big garden in the Hamptons. But one summer I went to Martha’s Vineyard, and when I came back it was so full of weeds that I gave up. Now, I have a little basil plant--and that’s enough of a garden for me!”
EMILY POPP