Chanel, Matthieu Blazy Celebrate Dia Foundation Fall Gala

The CFDA Awards may have drawn fashion’s glitterati to the Museum of Natural History on Monday night, but about 60 blocks south the fashion and art crowd was celebrating creativity of another kind.

Matthieu Blazy, creative director of Chanel, was in town from Paris to co-chair the Dia Art Foundation’s annual fall gala honoring American artist Roni Horn and British film director Steve McQueen. The charitable event was the first to be supported by Chanel after their partnership became official in May.

Blazy, whose relationship with the nonprofit extends further to his Bottega Veneta days, was joined by Chanel No.5 face Marion Cotillard and brand ambassador Sofia Coppola. The trio, and a flurry of gallerists and collectors dressed in Blazy’s drop-waist tweeds and glove pumps, took in Argentine artist David Lamela’s multidisciplinary exhibition on view at Dia Chelsea before migrating to a cocktail hour around the corner where a candlelit dinner was served.

Remarks were given by Nathalie de Gunzburg, chairman of Dia’s board of trustees, who began with a personal thank you to Chanel and Blazy. “I hope we’ll be together for many years,” she said, handing the mic off to contemporary artist Matthew Barney to pay tribute to Horn.

Recalling Horn’s photographic diptych “Clowd & Clown,” Barney said he never asked if it was the artist posing in costume “because I know that Roni isn’t a clown, but there’s a brilliant comedian in there.”

Next, it was Dia director Jessica Morgan’s turn to speak, an especially meaningful moment as this was her last fall gala before heading to the Tate in London. Listing some highlights of her tenure, which began in 2015, Morgan noted Dia has executed more than 100 exhibitions, tripled its collection and is nearing its endowment of $200 million. “It’s been an absolute joy to work here,” she told the room. “I’m going to be looking very carefully to see what’s going on, so don’t mess it up.”

The lights then faded to black as songwriter and poet Meshell Ndegeocello wove through the galley tables, serenading McQueen to the soft strum of guitars. “Don’t eat the meat and don’t drink the wine,” she sang, too late for guests who already did. “Be very wary of those with limited ideas and concepts about space and time.”

Under its Chanel Culture Fund initiative, the French house has been expanding those ideas by ramping up its arts patronage. This year alone, Chanel returned to the Venice Biennale, funded ongoing projects at London’s National Portrait Gallery and Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art and formalized a new partnership with the M+ museum in Hong Kong.

Proceeds from Dia’s fall gala will go toward commissions, publications, lectures and other educational programs in addition to the foundation’s restoration plans for existing spaces and site-specific works.