Last night at the Brooklyn Museum, Dior welcomed friends of the film, fashion, and art industries to honor artist Titus Kaphar at this year’s Brooklyn Artists Ball.
The evening commenced with cocktails and a private viewing of Kaphar’s awe-inspiring work, showcased at the museum’s Giants: Art From the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys exhibition. Next came a captivating marching band performance; the band’s banners proudly displayed Kaphar’s art as they led the way to the museum’s magnificent Beaux-Arts Court, which will soon transform into the runway for Dior’s forthcoming pre-fall collection.
“Dior has a long-standing connection to art because before Mr. Dior was a couturier, he was a gallerist,” Dior’s creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, told Vogue. “To support the Brooklyn Museum is part of this tradition of supporting the arts that is very strong in the house of Dior’s heritage.” Having previously been named the 2022 Brooklyn Arts Ball honoree, Grazia Chiuri now serves as one of the event co-chairs of the beloved annual fundraising fête.
Notable attendees included Rosamund Pike, Naomi Watts, Thomas Doherty, Antonia Gentry, Kristine Froseth, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Spector, Aria Mia Loberti, Isabelle Fuhrman, Mickalene Thomas, and more dressed in Dior.
Back in the Beaux-Arts Court, the room’s decor sported Dior-approved magenta-hued archways and long tables draped in dark purple and pink blossoming sculptural arrangements. Guests mingled over the candlelight, enjoying a multi-course meal (with particular excitement over the cacio e pepe artichoke first course). As party-goers took their final bites of ravioli, the evening’s festivities and speeches began.
Born in the North Side of Kalamazoo, or “the zoo” as Kaphar endearingly refers to his hometown, the artist humbly marveled and reminisced about his life-long journey. Kaphar, who sits on the museum’s board of trustees, was in the first year of his MFA program at Yale when he saw the museum’s solo exhibition of Kehinde Wiley’s work in 2004, when for the first time, he saw a solo show for a living Black artist. “In [my hometown], there was a lot of love, but there was not a lot of art. The life I live and all of this, I wasn’t able to imagine this as a possibility then,” Kaphar told attendees. “This is an extraordinary moment. To be here right now and be the center of this feels a little weird, honestly, but it also feels like a culminating moment in my career.”
After showering Kaphar with a much-deserved round of applause, party-goers enjoyed a surprise performance by British rapper Little Simz. The authoritative and lyrical performer sang her way through the crowd, bringing dinner attendees to their feet to dance along. Afterward, the after-party continued with a DJ set by Swizz Beatz.
