British Museum hosts Met-inspired fundraising ball

LONDON

Supermodel Naomi Campbell and rocker Mick Jagger were among the attendees at the British Museum's inaugural fundraising ball on Saturday, a glitzy event touted by some observers as London's answer to New York's Met Gala.

The museum, which boasts one of the largest permanent collections on the planet, said the ball would aim to "celebrate London's status as one of the world's leading cultural capitals" and become a new fixture of its social calendar.

The theme, less ambitious than the Met's elaborate fashion cues, was "pink," inspired by the "colors and light of India" as the museum's exhibition on "Ancient India: living traditions" draws to a close.

Singer Janet Jackson, artist Tracey Emin and actors James Norton and Kristin Scott Thomas attended the event, as did London mayor Sadiq Khan and former U.K. prime minister Rishi Sunak.

Helen Brocklebank, CEO of British luxury sector body Walpole and on the ball's organising committee, said London's social calendar had "always lacked a big crescendo moment... until now".

Describing the ball as "Met Gala ambition with UK uniqueness", Brocklebank said on social media that the event was "set to become London's centrepiece".

Highlighting the involvement of prominent writers, artists and architects, British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan had insisted the ball would stand apart from New York's Met Gala.

The London event would be "a celebration not only of this extraordinary institution and our shared humanity, but of our city and country", he said.

The ball was far cheaper than the Met Gala. Tickets to the fundraiser were sold privately to around 800 people, costing 2,000 pounds ($2,685) per head, compared to the whopping $75,000 price tag for a Met Gala pass.

The event was chaired by arts patron Isha Ambani, daughter of Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani and a director on the board of his oil-to-technology conglomerate Reliance.

The ball's committee featured British veteran of the catwalk Campbell, Italian fashion designer Miuccia Prada, Spanish designer Manolo Blahnik and Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor.

The museum said the ball, which coincided with the London Film Festival and Frieze Art Fair, would help raise "vital funds" for its international partnerships, including plans to host the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry next year, on loan from France.