New York, March 15, 2009 – On Sunday we were lucky enough to be invited to the Metropolitan Opera’s 125th anniversary gala, with a performance featuring Placido Domingo, who was celebrating forty years with the Met.  It was quite an evening, glamorous, glorious – and long. 

A 5:00 PM cocktail party kicked things off – strange to be in full formalwear while the sun is still shining, and with YSL as the evening’s sponsor, fabulous frocks were everywhere.   (Although Kanye West admitted that he was not, in fact, wearing a YSL tux.  “Is that bad?” he deadpanned.)

At intermission, we wandered into the founders’ lounge and found a gaggle of actors: Parker Posey, Emily Mortimer and her husband Alessandro Nivola schmoozed with Willem Dafoe and Julianna Margulies.  Frank Langella walked by, and introduced Dafoe to Jeremy Irons.  Starchitect Richard Meier nodded hello, and at the signal to return to our seats, we saw Kanye West and his date, Amber Rose, stroll by on their way back to the auditorium.  Claire Danes said that this was her first-ever opera.

YSL creative director Stefano Pilati was happy with the turnout.  “I have to say that it’s quite impressive tonight,” he told us.  “The level is really, really high, and beautiful and, you know, especially in a moment like this, it fulfills your heart, doesn’t it?” he added, laughing. 

Everyone immediately dug into their food at the dinner – because it was almost 11:00 PM by that time!  But when Placido Domingo entered the room, we all dropped our forks and gave a rousing standing ovation.