Last night belonged to CULTURED.
In case you missed it—Walton Goggins bequeathed his now-signature yellow Speedo (emblazoned with the magazine's logo) to a flustered Chloe Fineman; Rashid Johnson silenced a chatty crowd with a single “shut the fuck up;” Kareem Rahma led Benito Skinner, Molly Gordon, and Owen Thiele through a live riff on his viral SubwayTakes series; and Julia Fox sidled onstage trailing vape smoke for a raucous DJ set.
Offstage, the action was just as full-throttle, with hoards of film, art, music, and fashion-world figures packing into the Guggenheim's legendary rotunda. The occasion? The hotly-awaited launch of CULTURED’s second annual CULT100 issue.
The issue features a list of 100 figures shaping culture—from the realms of food, film, art, fashion, and more (Example A: astronaut Amanda Nguyen)—many of whom gathered in the historic uptown building for cocktails and a lively program hosted alongside presenting partner Maison Valentino.
Attendees—including editor Willa Bennett, musician Laufey, Fineman, and more—pulled up in Audi’s sleek RSQ8 and SQ7s, greeted in front of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed facade by CULTURED's red carpet correspondent Nicky Campbell, who shot the breeze with guests before sending them waltzing through the doors and into a party brought to life by Chris Hessney’s production and design firm Hessney & Co. Conservationist Meadow Walker, ballerina Misty Copeland, artists Jamian Juliano-Villani, Sheree Hovsepian, and Mickalene Thomas, and actor Tramell Tillman arrived dressed in Maison Valentino's latest collection, sporting Alessandro Michele's signature sharp suiting, bold embroidery, and sheer silhouettes.
In the main hall, waiters circled with trays of neat pours and cocktails from The Dalmore’s collection of Single Malt Whiskies from the Scottish Highlands. Each of the distillery’s bottles, also stocked generously behind the bar, were instantly recognizable with their silver stag logo—an emblem of the company’s storied heritage, which traces all the way back from 1263 to now, when casks are curated under the guidance of Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass. Also making the rounds were cocktails made with Jalisco Highlands-crafted LALO Tequila and small-batch SAINTWOODS vodka, Champagne Lallier Rosé and Blanc de Blancs, and a South African blend from IBest Wines.
Guests—including cover star Chase Strangio; MoMA's Sarah Arison; architect Shohei Shigematsu; actors Zoe Lister-Jones, Gina Gershon, and Lux Pascal; politician Chi Ossé; Gagosian's Antwaun Sargent; and musician Joey Bada$$—found their way through honoree Rashid Johnson’s career-defining exhibition, “A Poem for Deep Thinkers,” which brings together almost 90 of the artist’s works across painting, sculpture, and film. On the ground floor of the rotunda, cover star Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Thomas could be seen chatting near actor Tommy Dorfman and designer Hillary Taymour, who joked and sipped their FIJI Waters.
Elsewhere on the ground floor, guests eased into the evening in the Molteni&C lounge, nestled against the rotunda’s sweeping floor-to-ceiling windows and stocked with selections from the catalog of the Italian furniture designer—the 2025 CULT100’s exclusive home partner. Inviting, minimalist pieces offered a reprieve from the packed floor—author Jamie Hood and actor Christopher Briney could alternatively be seen kicking back in the sloping Gio Ponti collection chairs, while rounded Louisa tables were cluttered with drink glasses faster than wait staff could swoop in to collect them.
As the lights dimmed, the crowd drew toward the stage as cover star Sarah Jessica Parker kicked off the night’s programming. “What a joy to be at the Guggenheim, one of my most favorite museums,” she said. “When CULTURED [Editor-in-Chief] Sarah [Harrelson] asked me to be here, I assumed it was going to be on a Thursday, famously the day the Guggenheim used to be closed, something that Carrie Bradshaw neglected to remember in Sex and the City season five premiere ‘Anchors Away,’” she added, sparking peals of laughter below.
Cover star Chloe Fineman‚ the night's MC, took the stage next, performing a parody of SNL’s opening monologue. “I checked the list of all 100 honorees and the only one I’ve impersonated, obviously, is Hans Zimmer,” she joked. “It’s true, people are constantly begging me to do my Hans Zimmer impression.” This was followed by a series of digs at Goggins’s Speedo-clad cover (“The next season of The White Lotus is set in Thigh-land, am I right?”). Before she could continue, Goggins himself hopped on stage with a gift in hand for our MC: a bright yellow Speedo, which Fineman promptly held up for a sniff, Goggins standing mouth agape only a foot away.
Honoree Kareem Rahma—whose series SubwayTakes, featuring the likes of Cate Blanchett, FKA Twigs, and cover star Ramy Youssef, has taken over the Internet—took his show off New York transit for a special edition with cover star Molly Gordon, as well as honorees Benito Skinner and Owen Thiele. “Parents should have to pay for your Ubers until you die,” Thiele declared. “One-hundred percent disagree,” exclaimed Rahma, “I have a child.” From the crowd, Parker chimed in to disagree as well, eliciting gasps from the stage.
Up next was Adichie, introduced by Guggenheim Deputy Director, Chief Curator, and honoree Naomi Beckwith. The lauded author read an excerpt from her bestseller Americanah, regaling the audience with a scene that could have easily appeared on SATC: “a sylphlike woman running in high heels, her short dress floating behind her, until she tripped and almost fell, a pudgy man coughing and spitting on the curb, a girl dressed all in black raising a hand for the taxis that sliced past.”
Harrelson and Johnson then took the stage, both dressed in Maison Valentino, for remarks and an introduction to the night’s musical act, Icelandic-Chinese songstress and honoree Laufey. “At a time when the magazine world is changing rapidly, shrinking in some places, scrambling in others, Sarah has remained a steady and visionary force. She built CULTURED, not just as a publication, but as a community—a living testament to the power of art, creativity, and indeed, curiosity,” said Rashid of the magazine's founder. “It's been said many, many, many times, but Rashid is the voice of a generation,” Harrelson added before getting cut off by applause. “It's an honor to be surrounded by your incredible work.”
The lilting opening notes of “Silver Lining” were next to fill the space as Laufey took the mic. Parker pulled out her phone to videotape. Goggins took in the performance alongside his wife, writer-director Nadia Connors. As the musician packed up her guitar, she nodded to the next act, Julia Fox, who closed the evening with a DJ set peppered with a familiar selection of hits: Addison Rae’s “Headphones On,” Charli XCX’s “Sympathy Is a Knife,” and, obviously, her own “Down the Drain.”
As the night came to a close, guests spilled onto the street for a last conversation and cigarette, many with CULTURED’s oversized L.L. Bean boat tote in hand. The bag, a hit from last year’s festivities, was stocked with the CULT100 issue, a Molteni&C monograph, Valentino Beauty Spike Lipstick and Sogno In Rosso Parfum, Dalmore glassware, and more. With hundreds gone in a mere 10-minute mad dash, the rest of the night's attendees snagged a magazine on their way back into the spring air, carefully choosing between the publication’s record 11 cover stars. Though, we did notice the pile of Goggins’s stripped-down option dwindling particularly fast. Touché, New York.
