PHOTOS: Inside the 2026 Serpentine Summer Party

Emily Livingston and Jeff Goldblum. Mike Marsland/WireImage

On Tuesday (June 23), as the setting sun bathed London’s Kensington Gardens in a honey glow, the Serpentine Summer Party – one of the UK arts scene’s most fashionable events each year – made its flawless return. This year’s gala was hosted by the arts patron and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg,CEO Crooked Bettina Couric And the technical director Hans Ulrich Obristwith the host actress Salma Hayek Pinault And filmmakers Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu. Patron of the arts and businessman Isha Ambani (See Steve O. Smith) She returns for her second year as head of the host committee.

As always, the newly unveiled Serpentine Pavilion, serpentineIt was the star around which the evening revolved. Designed by Mexico City-based atelier LANZA and constructed of rows of brick columns that alternately reveal and conceal, it places the historic construction of the Southern Serpentine in the long-standing cultural exchange between Europe and the Americas. “The English brick city and the Mexican brick wall speak two different languages, but they both transform earth, fire and craft into culture,” Gonzalez Iñárritu said.

Actors were seen among the crowd Michael B. Jordan, Jeff Goldblum, Kyle MacLachlan, Rebel Wilson and Fisher Island; Artists Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Wolfgang Tillmans, Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry and Yinka Shonibare; structural engineer Lina Ghoutmeh; social Nicky Hilton; And as usual, a great parade of designers, Aaron Ish, Charles Jeffrey, Shit lo, Daisy Knatchbull, Daniel Lee, David Koma, Dilara Fendikoglu, Emilia Wickstead, Erdem Moralioglu, Harris Reid, Priya Ahluwalia, Robert Won, Roksanda Ilinic and Wes Gordon among them. When not mixing and mingling, they went on an artist-led excursion through Kensington Gardens that showcased the Serpentine’s summer programme, featuring major exhibitions of works by Cecily Browne (“The Making of Pictures”) and David Hockney (“A Year in Normandy and Other Thoughts on Painting”), along with a public installation by Jesús Rafael Soto. Pénétrable BBL Jaune (1999; 2023 edition).

In what we understand to be a completely new approach to the summer party, LANZA has partnered with an Egyptian artist Laila Johar To form the creative direction of the holiday. She created an escalating series of culinary experiments that included tamales, hibiscus, mango, guava and a chocolate concoction inspired by pavilion bricks, along with Air weighta series of exquisite fabric combinations. “The spiral invites movement, the food follows its path, passes between hands, participates in conversation, is consumed and transformed,” she said. “Somewhere between architecture, landscape and banquet, the party becomes a living composition shaped by the movement of people.”

The cleverly curated music program kept the energy high as dusk gave way to darkness. DJ Wolfram Amadeus Open, followed by DJ Carlitabefore Danny L. Harley Weaving together what was arguably the most compelling set of the night. But the most joyful tunes of the evening were played by Mariachi Las Adelitas, whose vocal performance brought warmth, humor and an unexpectedly poignant thread of celebration to a night that was already, by all accounts, quite harmonious.