At The Young Fellows Ball, The Frick Collection Bids Farewell to the Breuer Building

Since 2021, the Frick Collection has temporarily taken up residence in the Breuer building on Madison Avenue, welcoming patrons to the iconic Marcel Breuer building while its historic Gilded Age mansion on 5th Avenue undergoes a major makeover. Now, three years later, the Frick is making its much-awaited return to its illustrious home just five blocks south. Last Thursday night, the museum s Young Fellows Ball bid farewell to the interim abode.

Following the theme of Midnight on Madison, the Gatsby-style soirée was an homage to the museum’s final weekend in the brutalist building before its treasured artworks were transferred to its original home. Channeling the glamor of a New Year’s Eve fête, gentlemen were clad in velvet suits adorned with colorful pocket squares and bejeweled lapel pins. Some opted for a more eclectic look for that added drama; pairing cowboy boots with tuxedos and beaded lapels with oversized bow ties. Meanwhile, ladies dazzled in sparkling sequined gowns with gloves galore and Judith Leiber minaudières aplenty. Others, however, such as Ivy Getty, Jenna Lyons, and Diana Agron, kept it classic with their black gowns.

Overlooking the dance floor was a zodiac clock counting down to the stroke of midnight, and guests couldn’t help but pull out their phones and take a quick snapshot (to post on their Instagram stories, of course). Outside on the terrace, a lush flower wall had guests lining up for a photo op, but the real magic happened on the second floor, where attendees gathered at the photobooth surrounded by paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Fragonard.

It seemed that guests were keen on keeping true to the theme. The evening’s libations, to which many eagerly gravitated towards, dubbed “The All-Nighter,” was a stimulating concoction made with coffee liquor, freshly brewed espresso, and garnished with espresso beans. And because of that, no one could resist the pull of the dance floor. As the clock struck midnight, the festivities showed no sign of slowing down. Guests boogied to Daft Punk and Dua Lipa, and if they weren’t tearing up the dance floor, they indulged in churros that suspended from a moving chandelier and freshly steamed baos brought out on a milkmaid’s yoke. Only at the Frick’s Young Fellows Ball could Thursday night revelry reach such heights.