What’s Happening: The Oscars of the East Coast is a celebrity fantasyland masterfully orchestrated by Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour, but big-ticket issues like a looming TikTok ban and threats of a Condé Nast union strike tried to spoil this year’s fairytale theme.

The Download: Anna Wintour keeps a tight grip on the Met Gala, doing everything to keep the Oscars of the East Coast a lavish spectacle impervious to prying eyes. Held annually on the first Monday in May, the fashion-world blowout sees A-listers from fashion entertainment, sports, and social media don high-concept couture themed to the Costume Institute’s exhibition to keep the department well-funded. This year’s theme, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” honors the museum’s oldest garments that are too fragile to wear. Once guests make their way inside, little ever leaves the museum’s hallowed halls. The evening isn’t televised or live-streamed, nor are the event’s $75,000 tickets available to non-invitees. That’s intentional—Wintour, the gala’s chair since 1999, has strived to maintain its cachet as a celebrity fantasyland.

But real-world issues cast a pall on this year’s festivities. The title sponsor was TikTok, which was recently deemed enough of a threat to national security that the U.S. government passed a law to ban it unless the company finds a new owner. That hasn’t deterred fashion brands from pumping money into TikTok campaigns and branded pop-ups, which perhaps encouraged Wintour, Condé Nast, and the museum to bring TikTok into the fold in the first place. Different corporate heavyweights from Amazon to Instagram have also signed on as sponsors, leading to a historically large sum that will fund the Costume Institute’s entire annual operating budget, which totaled a hefty $22 million in 2023.

Condé Nast is simultaneously facing another massive headache. The union representing employees of Vogue and the publisher’s other titles threatened to walk out and disrupt the gala over the pace of contract negotiations. The union was bargaining with Condé Nast leadership for more than a year to establish its first contract, which would put limitations on firing employees, stipulate wage increases, and secure hybrid work protections for its 540 members. Negotiations stalled, and the company announced plans to lay off five percent of its workforce (including 94 union members) in November. The company finally reached a tentative agreement with the union at 3:30 AM on Monday. Workers still need to vote on whether to ratify the agreement, but the narrow timing suggests Wintour may do just about anything to ensure her marquee night goes off without a hitch.

In Their Own Words: “If I were consulting Vogue, I would say maybe those are the kinds of pictures I wouldn’t take right at this moment,” Mory Fontanez, a reputation manager and leadership coach, told Business of Fashion about TikTok’s sponsorship. “They just don’t want to engage themselves in a dialogue they are not meant to be in to begin with, unless they want to take a stance and talk about how this ban is ridiculous.”

Surface Says: If any of these issues give you the ick about corporate largesse, might we suggest the Debt Gala?

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Flashes of brilliance can yield the simplest solutions—look no further than the new Crispin at Studio Voltaire, a gastronomic gem located inside the venerated South London arts hub. A brainchild of HAM Restaurants, the group renowned for like-minded culinary experiences at Bistro Freddie and Crispin in Shoreditch, the venture both caters to discerning palates and has emerged as a nexus where seasonal plates are served up in streamlined interiors courtesy of local designer and editor Jermaine Gallacher.

Here, he took cues from Terence Conran’s ‘90s restaurants—Blueprint and Le Pont de la Tour were on the moodboard—and introduced subtle touches befitting the industrial setting. Dzek Dzek tiles in the serene Anthea Hamilton garden mimic the bar’s dark brown hue, as does a billowing Kvadrat curtain that acts as a retractable wall. Mouth-blown artisanal glass pendants by Miranda Keyes echo the curves of the dining room’s bentwood bistro chairs, lending a dramatic punch. It all sets the stage for Chef Michael Miles’ seasonal European fare (Portland crab with radicchio and fennel, cod with velouté and monk’s beard) and sommelier Alexandra Price’s tightly curated wine list. Because Studio Voltaire houses 61 studios, the restaurant also offers an affordable daily artists’ menu.

With recycled PET yarns as her material of choice, Sina Dyks weaves abstract emotions into complex textile sculptures marked by riotous color and technical precision. Lately, the Dutch fiber artist has taken an interest into how colors and textures can stimulate the senses and enrich our perspective—insights that will be on full display this week through five editioned tapestries at Salon Design.

When: Until Aug. 31

Where: UC Berkeley’s Environmental Design Library

What: As discussions unfold about Bay Area Rapid Transit’s future, this show journeys through the system’s architectural history and highlights the designers and planners who shaped its origins. Despite minimal budgets, the architects strived to create “aesthetically pleasing” stations surrounded by landscapes that would enhance the rider experience in hopes of attracting middle-class commuters from the suburbs to downtown San Francisco. On view are early designs for the train cars, elevated tracks, and architecture at the Embarcadero station.

Founded in Graz, Austria, in 2013 by Anastasija and Martin Lesjak, 13&9 Design has developed numerous collections from concept to production together with specialized partners in a variety of spaces including furniture, lighting, acoustics, textiles, accessories, exhibitions, and sound design. This creative community is its own label and a design studio for international companies such as BuzziSpace and Mohawk Group.

Surface Says: The companion studio to Austrian architecture firm Innocad stands out from the crowd for its science-based, social-conscious approach.

An anthropologist shares what practicing freediving can reveal about ourselves.

The Cabbage Patch Kids museum offers an off-putting live birthing experience.

The original watercolor on the first Harry Potter book hits the auction block.

More than 1.6 million people flocked to attend a free Madonna concert in Rio.