Londoner’s Diary
The red carpet was rolled out at the National Portrait Gallery for its annual fundraiser gala. The evening was co-hosted by NPG chair Victoria Siddall and a group of women with various connections to the gallery. Artist Jenny Saville recently had an exhibition there, while a portrait of Zadie Smith is on display. Fashion designer Bella Freud designed the napkins for the evening, and her father Lucian Freud’s drawings and paintings are currently on the walls. Cash was raised during a silent auction: James Corden got himself an ashtray signed by David Hockney for £4,200, which features one of the artist’s iPad drawings. A snip, compared to the £40,000 tech entrepreneur Viktor Proponya shelled out for a tour of the Slow Horses set with Kristin Scott Thomas. Then there was the obligatory performance of Murder on the Dancefloor by Sophie Ellis-Bextor before dancing in Larry’s bar in the bowels of the gallery. Guests included fashion designer father and daughter John and Simone Rocha, model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and the co-creator of TV show Industry, Konrad Kay.
