In Arkansas, Cutting a Rug at The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art 

There is a singular name that touches everything under the sun in Bentonville, Arkansas, and that name is Walton. Most notably among them was the late Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, whose spirit is felt throughout the town of just 54,000 residents, starting with his red Ford pickup truck that greets visitors of the Northwest Arkansas airport, as well as an exact recreation of his wood-paneled office—down to the blue ceramic coffee mug and stacks of papers—within the Walmart Museum in downtown Bentonville. 

But just a few blocks north starts the 120 acres that comprise the Moshe Safdie-designed Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, a different breed of museum entirely, and the brainchild of Sam Walton’s daughter, Alice, opened in 2012 with the support of Walmart and the family’s private endowment. Its approach to the works showcased inside is strikingly egalitarian, with nearly every period, medium, and scale of artwork represented, and more to come upon completion of another 100,000 square feet of gallery space highlighting craft and indigenous works, due in 2025. 

Wednesday saw yet another step toward expansion with the debut of “Fashioning America,” an anthology of American fashion curated by historian Michelle Tolini Finamore, as well as the Fashioning America Symposium presented in partnership with the CFDA, drawing coastal crowds into the American heartland for a day of talks focusing on sustainability, diversity, and the future of fashion, held on the museum grounds. After a quick outfit change, a gala celebration followed. 

“We all notice how successful the Costume Institute has been in driving traffic to The Met, and we thought this could be a wonderful way to reach a whole new audience in our region,” board chair Olivia Walton, wearing a floral gown and matching cape by Wes Gordon for Carolina Herrera, told Vogue while the first flutes of Champagne were passed. “Tonight is the first fundraiser we’ve ever had. We’re ten years old, and Alice has generously endowed operations of the museum, and a gift from Walmart makes all admission free, but we are a public non-profit, which means a third of our funds need to come from the public. So, in a way, the more we want to do, the more we need to raise, so it’s high time to have a fundraiser.” 

As a mannequin dressed in a Virgil Abloh-designed gown presided over the pre-dinner cocktails in the museum’s glass ceiling rotunda, it was here that the many takes on the evening’s theme—“Grit to Glamour”—came to light. Dressed in every iteration of Americana were supporters of the museum from near and far, and for some, like James Walton, just across town. His ensemble of choice for the evening? An American-as-apple-pie varsity letterman jacket with his last name embroidered on the back. For Natalie Steen, it took the shape of a feathered, vintage Art Deco find, and for Cameron Silver, a bedazzled denim ensemble with accompanying cowboy hat, a harbinger of things to come later in the evening. 

Slightly more formal in a glittering Oscar de la Renta confection was Karlie Kloss, who served as a co-chair for the evening alongside Derek Blasberg, Hank Willis Thomas, and Tommy Hilfiger. “It really is a world-class exhibit, and such a beautiful setting with a lot of very interesting and curious people enjoying every moment of it,” Hilfiger told us, sporting a suit and a pair of new sneakers, all designed by him, but of course. “I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. I’d like to come back and see more of the incredible art, and maybe do some mountain biking. I just learned that Bentonville is the mountain biking capital of the world!”