Mick Jagger, Naomi Campbell and Janet Jackson were among the guests at the inaugural British Museum Pink Ball, a fundraising event billed as London’s “answer to the Met Gala.”
12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen and Love Island host Maya Jama were also in attendance for Saturday’s event.
Jackson wore a long red dress while Jama arrived in a floral outfit and Campbell appeared in a dress inspired by the Union Jack.
The event was invite-only, much like the Met Gala, known as fashion’s biggest night. Celebrities reportedly pay $75,000 (£56,000) for a ticket for that event, which supporters the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Tickets for the British Museum Pink Ball were a comparatively reasonable £2,000 ($2.685) per person.
According to a press release, the theme of the event was “a celebration of Indian heritage and contemporary artistry” tied to the museum’s “Ancient India: Living Traditions” exhibition.
The event was co-chaired by Isha Ambani, the daughter of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and Nicholas Cullinan, director of the British Museum.
The inaugural theme was pink, a reference to the colors and light in the “Ancient India” exhibition, which closes Sunday.
Writing for The Independent, Joy Lo Dico argued that the glamorous fundraiser is “just what London needs.”
“Whatever New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art can do, the British Museum will do better,” Lo Dico wrote.
The ball shows off an “admirable confidence that London is still swinging through, despite the adverse forces in motion around it,” she added. “The capital needs a good party. At a time when Britain is fretting about decline, a glittering, outrageous party is a statement of vitality: that the capital still swings. It is the champagne and social fluidity that will lead us out of the darkness.”
