Ballet and Fashion Commingled at the New York City Ballet’s Fall Gala

“Everything is beautiful at the ballet,” sang Sarah Jessica Parker (a wink to Marvin Hamlisch’s song for “A Chorus Line”) to a packed house at the David Koch Theatre last Thursday night. Her song swept through the room of black-tie-dressed gala-goers as she welcomed them to New York City Ballet’s Fall Gala. And she was right; everything was beautiful—Carolina Herera creative director Wes Gordon had reimagined the costumes for George Balanchine’s “Who Cares?” and the room sparkled.

At around 5 pm, a very New York mix of guests gathered to revel in the season-opening of New York City Ballet, which was celebrating 75 years. It’s an event with heady fashion ties, and the guests lived up to the gala’s stylish reputation. Diane Kruger stunned in a white Givenchy dress, Naomi Watts wore a darling A-lined Carolina Herrera dress in black, Nicky Hilton Rothschild wore a diaphanous white Oscar de la Renta gown, and Lizzie Tisch wore the lilac Rodarte dress she had made the year she chaired the Met Gala. Andy Cohen, Dianna Agron, Ariana DeBose, Christy Turlington, Justin Theroux, and many more were also in attendance. After a photocall and a cocktail hour that unfolded in Lincoln Center’s famed plaza, guests took their seats inside the theater for a program that celebrated the ballet company’s singular repertoire.

Co-founding choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins took center stage as excerpts from their iconic works were performed. Dancers awed the audience with Robbins "Glass Pieces," a piece that draws from the real-life bob-and-weaving sidewalk choreography of New York City pedestrians and is set to the jaunty music of Philip Glass. But Balanchine came first on the program; award-winning artists Patti LuPone, Vanessa Williams, and Joshua Henry graced the stage as guest vocalists for a one-time-only performance of Balanchine s "Who Cares?," set to a series of George Gershwin songs. This special piece was elevated even further with the introduction of Gordon’s new costume designs.

“Well, you can ask a model to do pretty much anything when it comes to clothes, but a dancer has quite a strong opinion because she has to do extreme athletic in whatever she’s wearing, " said Gordon of the costumes. “This year is a very special year because rather than get carte blanche to create something, we were honored to be asked to do a new update to the Balanchine costumes for ‘Who Cares?’ This is the 4th iteration of costumes, and they have to adhere to the original vision of Balanchine—the colors, the silhouettes, the shape. So it’s about finding within those parameters ways to do subtle adjustments and tweaks.”

Unlike previous designer collaborations produced for the ballet, which are envisioned for new works that don’t always have a life beyond their premiere, Gordon’s new costumes (pleated and embellished mini dress leotards in a trio of cranberry, periwinkle, and ballet-pink) will be seen by audiences for every future performance of “Who Cares?”

“The idea of merging fashion and choreography is her brainchild, and it has been going strong for over 10 years,” said Diana Taylor, chair of the New York City Ballet board of Sarah Jessica Parker, introducing the actor and balletomane to the stage. It was just over a decade ago that Parker had the brilliant idea to welcome contemporary fashion design talent to the ballet to whip up costumes for new premieres. Over the course of the initiative, choreographers (like Kyle Abraham, Justin Peck, Gianna Reisen, Sidra Bell) have been paired with fashion talent (Valentino Garavani, Dries Van Noten, Sarah Burton, Carolina Herrera, Virgil Abloh, Christopher John Rogers) to debut new pieces with new costumes produced in collaboration with NYCB’s director of costumes Marc Happel.