THE GALA AT THE MET

Every year, Vogue Magazine hosts a gala social event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This spring, a spectacular dinner was held in the museum’s Egyptian wing, in the Temple of Dendur. The guests – celebrities and socialites – pay literally thousands of dollars per plate, with the profits going toward keeping the museum in the black. Back in the 1990s, when Anna Wintour took over as editor of American Vogue, she also took control of this annual event, making it even more glamorous than it already was.

This year’s theme was “The Model as Muse” – how artists, designers, stylists, editors and such get their inspiration from models. “It was a fantastic evening”, Carol Alt reports. “The hosts were Kate Moss and Justin Timberlake, who also were the co-chairs along with Anna Wintour and designer Marc Jacobs. That was just for starters. I saw so many stars on the red carpet, it was incredible! Renee Zellweger, Jessica Biehl, Shalom, Amber Valetta, Cheryl Tiegs, Bono, Kate Hudson, Iman, Kanye West (who also performed on-stage), Heidi Klum…the list just goes on and on. There were over a thousand guests there!

“You know, everyone thinks I must have worked with every famous photographer in the world, but…that isn’t exactly the case. There’s a really great photographer named Peter Lindberg, with whom I never got to work. So when I saw him, I actually walked across the room to say hello to him. He got up out of his chair and said, ‘Oh, my god! Carol Alt!’ I said, ‘How come we’ve never worked together?’ and he laughed and said, ‘I don’t know. That was a huge mistake!’ And then he added, ‘But life’s not over…!’ He is just amazing!

“Of course, I also had a chance to see some old friends, such as Paulina Porizkova, who was on last year’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’, looking as gorgeous as ever. I’ve known Paulina since practically the very beginning of her career. In fact, she and I did a film together, which became a cult hit, called ‘Portfolio’. I finally got to meet her husband, Ric Ocasek, of The Cars, who’s also is a music producer. The night of this gala also happened to be their 25th anniversary, so they left a little early to go have a quiet dinner together, which I thought was so beautiful.”

“The photo that accompanies this article shows me with another of my friends from the modeling world: Cheryl Tiegs. She looked absolutely amazing and it was so good to see her again! My dress, by the way, was a D-Squared creation, and I thought the Grecian style was a great fit (no pun intended!) for this particular event.”

For those of you wondering how an event such as this could possibly be held inside one of the world’s foremost museums, Carol explains:

“The Temple of Dendur is in the glass room that can be seen from the park (that would be Central Park) and it’s huge. They hold a lot of big events there, so it’s really set up to accommodate huge crowds. Can you imagine walking through the museum, holding a cocktail in your hand and “toasting” the old masters?! Then going up in the elevator to the temple and having Bono give the opening speech to a thousand celebrity guests, followed by Kanye West, who actually made his entrance by walking out through the temple to perform.

“Now, for me personally, the most amazing thing was seeing myself hanging on the wall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art…in my Sports Illustrated cover photo, no less! I had to laugh, actually. Of all of the thousands of photographs they could have chosen of me, (for example I had 15 Vogue and Bazaar covers around the world that I KNOW of!) they went with the least ‘fashion’ one. They also had each of our names written on the walls. Donald Trump came up to me at one point and I said, ‘Can you believe it? I’m hanging on the wall of the Met! Like a piece of artwork!’

“I think it’s a case of just when you think there’s nothing much left to experience with a ‘wow’ factor, along comes something like this!”

The “Model As Muse” exhibit continues at the Met through August 9, 2009, so if you’re planning a trip to New York (or already live there), be sure to make time for a visit. Carol would love to hear from you if you do go – let her know if you enjoy the exhibit as much as she enjoyed participating in it.