What Sarah Jessica Parker, Molly Ringwald and Spike Lee Wore to Parties This Week

There were embossed gowns with gold trains. Long gloves embroidered with pastel flowers. And dresses heavy enough to require a whole forearm to carry, as fashion and dance fans came together on Thursday at Lincoln Center for the New York City Ballet’s annual fall gala.

As guests sipped wine on the plaza, actors — including Molly Ringwald, Naomi Watts, Norman Reedus, Diane Kruger and Sarah Jessica Parker, a vice chair of the company’s board — descended on a ruby carpet.

The event comes as City Ballet leads a spirited revival around its 75th anniversary, after a series of scandals and financial challenges during the pandemic. The gala honored the founding choreographers, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and raised about $3.75 million.

The night featured performances from “Who Cares?” Mr. Balanchine’s ballet set to the music of George Gershwin, with guest performances by Patti LuPone, Vanessa Williams and Joshua Henry; and “Glass Pieces,” with choreography by Mr. Robbins and music by Philip Glass.

In the tradition of the event, the costumes were created by a guest designer. This year, Wes Gordon, the creative director of Carolina Herrera, updated the looks for “Who Cares?” while staying close to the original colors and silhouettes.

“I really started thinking about ways we could subtly and gently infuse Herrera, whether through neckline shapes, embroidery details,” Mr. Gordon said.

But he also took notes from the dancers. “You’re designing pieces that they can perform in,” he said, “this is not to stand and take a photo.”

Before the performances, Ms. Parker addressed the attendees. “This fall gala is one of my favorite times of year, when a few of the things I love very much converge — the fine art of fashion, the metropolis of New York and the New York City Ballet,” she said, wearing a black Carolina Herrera dress with a long bow that she had purchased in the garment district.

At dinner — Atlantic cod with brown butter couscous — Andy Cohen, the television host and gala chair, shared a table with the actors Amy Sedaris, Bridget Everett and Matthew Broderick. Also in the crowd was Diana Taylor, the chair of the New York City Ballet; Lizzie Tisch, a gala chair; Ivy Getty, a model; and Ubah Hassan and Brynn Whitfield, cast members on “The Real Housewives of New York.”

Ms. Hassan said Ms. Whitfield had helped her choose her dress for the night.

“I wanted to feel like Sarah Jessica Parker, which is like girly, sparkling, big clothes,” Ms. Hassan said. “See, I’ve got my little bag. I’m just channeling her.”

Below, see photos from events in New York City this week.

Was it tricky to tie your bow?

“I could have tied it easily. But I didn’t actually do this one. But a point of pride is that I can tie a beautiful bow. That was important to my mom.”

Sarah Jessica Parker

What excites you about being here tonight?

“I was a ballet dancer in my youth. I gave it up earlier than I wish I would have, although my daughter now gave it up at the exact same age. I love everything about it.”

Molly Ringwald

Carnegie Hall Opening Night Gala with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

On Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, the actress Patricia Clarkson settled into a seated corner of the Rohatyn Room alongside other guests celebrating the concert hall’s opening night gala for its 2023-2024 season.

“I haven’t been to Carnegie Hall in a while, and I got very sentimental about coming out tonight,” said Ms. Clarkson, adding that the occasion was “thrilling.”

Before the performance, guests mingled between the Rohatyn Room, a banquet space with wood walls and posters of past concerts, where there were stations of mini buffet tables of poulet roti and beef bourguignon, and the Rose Museum, which traces the concert hall’s history with archival material.

The night featured a performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, joined by the violinist Leonidas Kavakos, for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. The orchestra also performed Mussorgsky’s “Pictures from an Exhibition” and an encore of Umberto Giordano’s Intermezzo from “Fedora.” Riccardo Muti, who was recently named the orchestra’s music director emeritus for life, conducted.

Guests included the writer Robert Caro; Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York; the actress and director Zoe Lister-Jones; the opera singer Joyce DiDonato; the media mogul Barry Diller; and Mercedes T. Bass, a philanthropist and the gala’s co-chair. The event raised more than $5.6 million, the most ever for a Carnegie Hall opening night gala.

“All of this underpins everything we do for the year,” said Clive Gillinson, the executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall.

The playwright Jeremy O. Harris, who arrived a few minutes before the performance began, was one of the first to stand for an ovation, joined by Ms. DiDonato and the actor Liev Schreiber on separate ends of the box seats.

“This is how I recuperate,” Ms. DiDonato said.

For dinner, guests traveled to Cipriani in Midtown Manhattan, where they were served baked tagliolini, branzino al forno and tiramisù. Fall leaves were projected on the walls as musicians played “La Vie en Rose.”

Is there a piece of culture that you’ve read, watched or seen recently that you really responded to?

“If we’re talking about film, Martin Scorsese’s new movie, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’ ”

Ellen Burstyn

What did you keep in mind when you got dressed tonight?

“How to work together a little bit of rock ’n’ roll and a little bit of refinement.”

Joyce DiDonato

“Spike Lee: Creative Sources” at the Brooklyn Museum

In the lobby of the Brooklyn Museum on Tuesday night, Spike Lee addressed a crowd gathered to celebrate a new exhibition examining the filmmaker’s inspirations throughout his career.

“There are so many people here that I love,” Mr. Lee said, highlighting two in particular, Bill “Dollar Bill” Bradley, the former U.S. senator and New York Knicks player, and Tonya Lewis Lee, the producer and Mr. Lee’s wife. They had celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary the day before.

“Two great days in a row,” Mr. Lee said.

“But I always come after the Knicks,” Ms. Lee said.

The exhibition, “Spike Lee: Creative Sources,” features more than 400 items from the filmmaker’s personal collection, including family photos, art and sports memorabilia.

“He’s a big fan. He’s a big collector, big hoarder,” said Cinqué Lee, Mr. Lee’s brother, an actor and filmmaker.

Upstairs, just past the museum’s American Wing, Mr. Lee rallied friends together — which included Mr. Bradley, Adam Driver, Don Lemon and Robin Roberts — and guided them through the exhibition on the fifth floor.

“When people would come to my office in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, they would always say, ‘It’s just like I’m going into a museum,’” said Mr. Lee, who was wearing a blue Brooklyn Dodgers hat and a Dodgers warm-up jacket. “And the fact is, it was a museum, but it was not for the public.”

As Mr. Lee walked through sections of the exhibition — Black history and culture, Brooklyn, sports, music, photography, cinema history and family — he greeted actors like Giancarlo Esposito and Laurence Fishburne.

“This is like a culmination of the work up-to-date,” said Mr. Lee, adding, “But no way, no how am I done and my best work is yet to come.”

More than 1,000 people attended, and guests included the musicians David Byrne and ASAP Ferg; the actors John Leguizamo and Rome Neal; and the costume designer Ruth E. Carter.

Mr. Leguizamo said he was struck by the breadth of the exhibition, “the incredible joy to the incredible pain.”

“You see his favorite ’45s and his favorite sports stars, and you see all the oppression, and the racism, the activism,” Mr. Leguizamo said, continuing, “what made him as a man, made him an artist — it’s Spike.”

What does it mean to have this exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum?

“It means — it’s a cliché to say it — we have arrived. But this is real. Twenty years ago this wouldn’t have happened.”

Rome Neal

What do you think of the exhibition?

“I feel so much joy in my heart to have been a part of this, but I’m also experiencing Spike from the inside out — his world inside of him, his inspirations — and that’s even bigger than the movies.”

Ruth E. Carter