SUMMER DELIGHT: Oscar-winning Australian actor, producer and humanitarian Cate Blanchett has been named the cohost of this year’s Serpentine summer party, slated for June 24.
The “Blue Jasmine” star will be the sole artist cohost in the party’s 25-year history. Last year, the midsummer bash was cohosted by South Korean music artist Peggy Gou and British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
This year’s fundraising party will bring together Serpentine supporters alongside leading figures from art, culture, fashion, architecture, business and technology to marvel at the new Serpentine Pavilion — an elongated capsule-like form with a central court that aligns with Serpentine South’s bell tower — called “A Capsule in Time” designed by Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum.
A rendering of inside Serpentine Pavilion’s “A Capsule in Time,” designed by Marina Tabassum.
Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA)/Courtesy Serpentine.
“Supporting our cultural institutions and their power to illuminate the world at large and our place within it is of paramount importance,” said Blanchett, who became a house ambassador for Louis Vuitton in 2022.
“I’m honored to cochair the Serpentine party and its summer festivities where so many creative forms —architecture, performance, music, science and digital narratives — intersect. To come together around a pavilion created by Tabassum, whose socially driven work particularly in her home country of Bangladesh to meet the challenges faced by Rohingya refugees, is an inspirational opportunity,” added Blanchett.
Serpentine’s chief executive officer Bettina Korek and artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist said they are “deeply grateful for the opportunity to celebrate our community and artistic program with a true creative icon. We are looking forward to an unforgettable evening, where the elegance of a classic British garden party will meet the energy of a salon attended by global luminaries.”
During the summer party, guests can experience highlights from Serpentine’s summer program, including Italian artist Giuseppe Penone’s exhibition “Thoughts in the Roots” at Serpentine South.
As with recent editions of the summer party, London-based emerging fashion designers will be invited to attend the event and dress their friends and muses.
Edie Campbell, Venus Williams, Alexa Chung, Jourdan Dunn and Minnie Driver at the Serpentine summer party 2024.
Courtesy of Serpentine/Darren Gerrish
At last year’s party, some of the best-dressed guests wore special creations from young fashion talents.
Alexa Chung wore a bespoke emerald green silk gown by LVMH Prize winner Nensi Dojaka. The style, which made its runway debut in Dojaka’s fall 2023 collection in red, was inspired by the green dress Keira Knightley wore in the 2007 movie “Atonement.”
Model Edie Campbell opted for a sheer tea green tulle dress by Molly Goddard. Jourdan Dunn channeled Greek goddess realness in a body-hugging black-and-white dress from Nina Ricci, designed by Harris Reed. British actress Minnie Driver wore an embroidered Huishan Zhang red number.
