Kendall Jenner, model
I remember Jared Leto last year had a mold of his own head. He’s like, “Take it for the night!” And I’m like, “This thing is heavy. I have wings! I need to give this back to you.”
Law Roach, stylist
I sat next to Lewis Hamilton and he invited me skydiving. I haven’t taken him up on that yet, but Lewis invited me skydiving!
Stephen Jones, milliner and exhibition headpiece designer
I remember once walking up to Marc Jacobs. He was with Karen Elson and Cher and he said, “Stephen, have you met Cher?” I mean, only at the Met gala!
Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Cardinal Dolan, who I got to know quite well during the Heavenly Bodies dinner, he likes his food and he was appalled about how small the portions were. He’s used to, I suppose, massive portions and tipped a waiter to go out onto the street to get him two hot dogs.
Jeremy Scott, designer
A personal moment for me goes back to Madonna. Growing up, I was persecuted for being gay, for being different, for having flamboyant style in rural Missouri. I would basically have to ignore all these verbal, sometimes physical, altercations. I had one real beacon at that time and that was Madonna. And it was what gave me hope. Seeing her documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare and seeing her love of her dancers and the gay community, I would think, Well you know what? Madonna will be my friend one day. And I used that as a way to protect myself from the daily battle. Fast forward to 2017, when she was my date to the Met gala and we went into the video booth. There I am dancing with Madonna; I’m making a music video with Madonna, who is dressed in my designs. I just remember turning to her saying, “You know, that was one of my biggest highlights of my life, just getting to dance with you.”
Detective Michael Lombardi, New York City Police Department
I had a unique interaction the year Tom Brady hosted, maybe three years ago. Here, being in New York, I’m a diehard Jets fan. We were set up on Fifth Avenue and a car tries to pull in. So the window rolls down and it was a few guys trying to cut in and I was like, “Listen you can’t come in this way,” and then I recognized who they were. It was Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, two receivers for the New England Patriots. We had a fun little interaction. I was like, “This is not Patriots country! This is Jets country!”
Chapter Eight: Meet Me in the Bathroom
Kendall Jenner, model
You almost forget the environment you’re in and then you’ll walk into the bathroom and be like, “Oh my God, there’s Jennifer Aniston! Oh my God, Sarah Jessica Parker.” You know what I mean?
Elle Fanning, actress
I know Cass Bird was in there for awhile and she would take all the photos and I even have some cool photos. I have a really good photo of Lupita Nyong’o in the bathroom. It’s on my phone still and I never showed it to her. You always can snap good photos in the bathroom, that’s for sure. There’s feathers and glitter all over the floor being left behind and people whispering in each other’s ears the gossip that’s going on. You can always tell there’s some drama. It feels like a high school bathroom.