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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Lifestyle
Joe Bromley

Inside the Serpentine Summer Party 2024 with Maya Jama, Venus Williams and Benedict Cumberbatch

A host of very warm A-listers gathered in the shade of the Serpentine Gallery’s summer pavilion on Tuesday night, as June’s party season truly hit its peak.

Maya Jama, Venus Williams and Benedict Cumberbatch were among the stars who headed to the Serpentine South gallery, in Hyde Park, to admire architect Minsuk Cho’s pavilion which is made up of five parts “that we call islands," he says. It came at the end of the London art scene’s party circuit, and attendees buckled in for a final hurrah (before they all flock to Glastonbury, that is). 

Sadiq Khan and Bianca Jagger (Marco Bahler/BFA.com)

Among bottles of Ruinart and magnums of Whispering Angel, Serpentine gallery heads Bettina Korek, CEO, Hans UIrich Obrist, Artistic Director, mingled with the likes of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Skepta, Bianca Jagger and artists Yinka Shonibare, Marina Abramovic, Marc Quinn and Es Devlin. It’s all in the mix.

Most fun was had by the fashion set — this year, London designers were invited to create a “squad” of guests to dress, which for the most part had predominantly happy results. Edie Campbell was dressed by her friend Molly Goddard, and was striking in neon-green, see-through tulle. Harris Reed, the London-based designer who is creative director at Nina Ricci, dressed Jama in a leopard print bandana and shirt worn splayed open with a black bralette, while Nensi Dojaka ensured Alexa Chung was the jewel of the bash in an emerald silk, strappy slip. 

Daphne Guinness and Goga Ashkenazi (Marco Bahler/BFA.com)

Other key designers included Charles Jeffrey, who dressed Vivienne Westwood’s granddaughter Cora Corre, David Koma, who came with singer Shygirl and The Crown's Prince William actor Ed McVey, and Erdem, who was joined by a radiant Bel Powley. 

The event, which acts as a fundraiser for the Serpentine, was also packed with the million-and-billionaires (still living in London), who took an opportunity to show off the latest runway fashions, and eye up lesser-seen celebrities, including Minnie Driver. Some suggested it would be good business for plastic surgeons to start handing business cards out on the door; others tucked into the beef tartare and caviar bites.

Skepta (Marco Bahler/BFA.com)

Skepta took the party into the night on the DJ decks, before Edie Campbell and Peggy Gou led the way to the Saatchi Yates x Evening Standard Late Night Summer Party which saw hundreds flock to the Mayfair gallery for pies, Johnnie Walker Blue Label cocktails and an orchestral performance from LUXE

Inside the Serpentine Summer Party 2024:

Jourdan Dunn (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Emma Weymouth, Marchioness of Bath, Venus Williams and Marco Capaldo (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Maya Jama (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Minnie Driver (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Jazzy de Lisser, Harris Reed, Lady Lola Bute and Mary Charteris (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Skepta, Yinka Shonibare, Venus Williams and Bettina Korek (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Alexa Chung (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Marc Quinn and Adot Gak (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Emilia Wickstead, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie and Alice Naylor-Leyland (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Shygirl, Ed McVey and George Smale (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Munroe Bergdorf (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Jessie Ware (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Natasha Poonawalla and Edward Enninful (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Daphne Guinness and Goga Ashkenazi (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Edie Campbell (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Bay Garnett and Charlotte Tilbury (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Richard Caring, Patricia Caring, Sofia Barattieri-Weinstein, Tamara Beckwith and Giorgio Veroni (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Skepta (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Leigh-Anne Pinnock (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Pixie Geldof, Harley Viera-Newton and Aimee Phillips (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

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