Inside an Evening at the National Portrait Gallery with Erdem and Vogue100
On the last night of London Fashion Week, Erdem Moralıoğlu and Emma Elwick-Bates hosted a glittering dinner in partnership with Vogue100 at the National Portrait Gallery. Erdem’s brilliant spring 2024 collection debuted the evening before. The impeccable show, which took place at the entrance of the British Museum, left the whole city buzzing. The dinner allowed a moment for friends of the brand to revel in the excitement and toast the designer behind the magic.
The celebration attracted a bright constellation of stars. The intimate group included luminaries across fashion, film, and fine art. Lily James, her chestnut mane piled high, glittered in a gray tweed suit by the designer as she explored the 18th-century galleries. Model and artist Karen Elson posed with Alexa Chung, the digital arbiter of taste. Elson’s violet gown and Chung’s brilliant yellow frock made for an arresting study in contrast. Gugu Mbatha-Raw stunned in an emerald gown. Fellow British designers, including Christopher Kane and Roksanda Ilincic, came to support Moralıoğlu.
Photographer Dave Benett, who has prowled the world’s most flashy fêtes for decades, moved around the party with his camera flashing. Despite the excursions of the previous days—a frenzy of over 30 runway shows, dozens of presentations, countless parties, and Vogue World London—the mood was giddy and energetic.
The National Portrait Gallery, a neo-classical masterpiece built of Portland stone, has loomed over St. Martin’s Place for over a century. For three years, between July of 2020 and June of this year, the museum closed for renovation. Led by star architect Jamie Fobert, the project resulted in a majestic reimagining that fused history with modernity. Erdem hosted his Fall 2020 collection, themed around Cecil Beaton, at the museum shortly before its closing (and the pandemic). The return to the venue to celebrate his Spring 2024 collection felt triumphant, and the evening offered guests a chance to discover the gorgeous galleries with a glass of Champagne in hand. Of course, the director of the NPG, Nicholas Cullinan, was eager to escort excited guests like The World of Interiors’ Hamish Bowles, who donned his signature purple blazer, around the collections.
Attendees, like Vogue’s Laura Ingham and philanthropist Jordan Rhodes, wandered through the quiet galleries, typically packed with tourists, families, and students. The pictures ranged from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. The darkly painted Tudor wing, where many gathered to sip champagne, features the most famous portraits of Elizabeth I and other famed women of her era, including her doomed mother, Anne Boleyn, and rival queen, Mary Queen of Scots. The classicism that runs through Erdem’s designs, which almost every guest wore, evoked the pictures that hung about them. Patterns, embroidery, puff sleeves, and layers abound. In Erdem, as in royal portraiture, poetry and power live side by side.
As for the evening’s cocktail of choice, Royal Salute crafted a flight of floral-inspired choices. From rose water to honey-lavender notes, the luxury whiskey chilled with a branded block ice cube tasted delightfully refreshing and exquisite.
During the reception in the Tudor and Civil War galleries, the decorated dining room was kept a surprise. At last, permitted to see the dramatic setup, attendees were wowed. Explosions of native wildflowers lined two long tables in the “Portrait! Portrait!! Portrait!!!: Exhibition Culture” gallery turned private party. Dozens of portraits–72 to be exact–hung along the towering, scarlet walls. Directly between the two tables hung Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai (1776).
The Event Concept and By Word of Mouth teams supervised the evening s spectacular production, which transformed the museum into a one-of-a-kind party. As a delicious feast progressed, the room buzzed with gossip, banter, and laughter. At one table, Moralıoğlu held court with Billie Piper, the multi-hyphenate entertainer, to his left. Across the room, Elwick-Bates sat across from Tabitha Simmons, who styled the Erdem runway show and next to Jordan Rhodes. Interior designer Max Hurd snapped photographs of Vogue’s Julia Hobbs, looking like a femme fatale with her scarlet bob and an edgy pair of black Erdem gloves.
While the evening felt everlasting, our precious time in the museum started to fade as the delicious dessert course was served. The farewells felt infinitely more bittersweet, knowing that LFW was over and some guests would be heading home or onto the next fashion city. However, the evening’s fond memories will last forever, or at least until the next fabulously Erdem soirée.
Dave Benett1/33Lily James
Dave Benett2/33Emma Elwick-Bates
