Inside Chanel and Tribeca’s Annual Dinner Party Dedicated to the Arts 

On Monday night, Chanel and Tribeca gathered film and fashion folk for an evening dedicated to celebrating the art of artists supporting artists. In collaboration with Tribeca, the evening honored 10 emerging artists who contributed original work to the festival’s award-winning filmmakers as part of the 2022 Artist Awards Program.

Throughout history, art has played an integral and influential role at Chanel. The house’s founder and visionary Gabrielle Chanel often drew inspiration from her creative peers and surrounded herself with leading artists of her time. In the tradition of giving back to and celebrating a community that champions creativity across industries, Chanel and Tribeca’s festive fête was born.

For one night only, New York’s iconic French brassiere Balthazar was closed to the public for a formal affair with industry notables including Robert De Niro, Whitney Peak, Lily Allen, Cazzie David, Rebecca Dayan, Sadie Sink, Andrew Garfield, Chase Sui Wonders, Jemima Kirke, Christy Turlington, Zosia Mamet, Myha’la Herrold, Andie MacDowell, Amanda Stenberg, Evan Mock, Zach Posen, Lauren Santo Domingo, and Tommy Dorfman. For newcomers to the Chanel and Tribeca family and veterans across both industries, tonight felt like a homecoming for all attendees, especially the honorees. A sophisticated and stylish moment for artists to support each other over a decadent steak frites and a glass or two of champagne felt even sweeter after a hiatus due to covid. 

Curator of this year’s intergeneration group of incredible artists, Racquel Chevremont, explained her process for discovering the next generation of great talent. “I look for someone who has an original voice,” Chevremont told Vogue. “Someone who is creating not just great art but something that I haven’t seen before in a way that is genuine to them.” This year’s contributing artists selected by Chevremont include Deborah Roberts, February Jones, Garry Simmons, Hank Willis Thomas, Leilah Babirye, Ming Smith, Nicoletta Darita de la Brown, Nina Chanel Abney, Quattara Watts, and Wardell Milan.

“Tonight is everything,” Darita de la Brown exclaimed. “I dance in these streets but now I’m walking into a space where we are talking about our narratives, we are telling our stories, we are highlighting and celebrating each other's art.”

After the fabulous red carpet that drew a large crowd eager to a glimpse of the star-studded affair, attendees headed inside for a buzzy cocktail hour. Glasses of bubbly floated throughout the lively room dressed in overflowing seafood towers and bountiful bouquets of fresh peonies.

Sporting a look straight from the resort runway, Lucy Boynton spoke of fashion’s relationship with film. “Costume is the first access point for me,” she explained. “It’s the moment that I depart from myself and step into someone else, so I approach fashion in that same way. It’s armor or it’s an enhancement of one’s self.”

Of course, Chanel ambassador and Academy Award-winner Penélope Cruz was in attendance. Outfitted in a hot pink gown with a matching mini bag, Cruz made her way through the room, greeting longtime friends and new acquaintances.“I’ve been the biggest fan of Chanel since I was a little girl. I swear I used to study all of the collectsions,” Cruz confessed. “Since my first show with the brand in 1990, I’ve realized that the more I know the team, the more I respect and admire them. They create a kind of magic that I began to understand when I visited the artisans in the atelier,” Cruz smiled. “Everything is a work of art.”

Thinking about how intertwined the fashion and film worlds are, Chevremont paused for a moment and smiled, “You can’t have one without the other.”

Leave it to Chanel and Tribeca to turn a downtown bistro into an elegant soirée on a school night.