Get ready for another spin through the week’s biggest art-and-style moments. From billionaire shake-ups at the Met Gala to surrealist bags, desert-dream installations and a garden of calm blooming in Basel. Let’s dive in.
Valentino Goes Full Surrealist
Maison Valentino has enlisted nine global artists to reimagine the DeVain bag through an AI-charged, ultra-experimental lens. The first wave, Thomas Albdorf, Enter The Void, Paul Octavious, Albert Planella and Tina Tona deliver museum-worthy dreamscapes that feel equal parts couture and hallucination. What are your thoughts on this AI takeover?
The Met Gala Gets a Billionaire Plot Twist
The Met Gala theme reveal is usually the main event, cue predictions, dream co-chairs and inevitable theme fumbles but this year, the spotlight has shifted to its new lead sponsors: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos. With around 450 seats at $75k each reserved for sponsors and co-chairs, the guest list is now tighter than ever, and the 2026 theme, Costume Art, billed as “embracing the body,” isn’t giving much away. It does, however, beg the question: which VIPs will the Bezos duo be hoping to see on the steps next May?
A Garden Where You Least Expect It
Vitra has opened a tranquil garden complex near its Basel campus, a contemplative haven soundtracked by gongs and ceramic flutes. Designed around the final work of Pritzker Prize–winner Balkrishna Doshi, the site sits among structures by Gehry, Ando, Hadid and more. Think industrial campus meets spiritual retreat.
A Dream in Stone at the Giza Plateau
StudioPROBA’s Echoes of the Infinite has landed at the Pyramids of Giza for Forever Is Now 05, and it’s breathtaking. Collaborating with Solid Nature and David Mahyari, Alex Proba transforms marble, onyx, travertine and quartzite into a cosmic, three-part journey: a circular portal framing the pyramids, a winged Eye-of-Horus form in deep green, and rose-hued verticals rising like future relics. Her largest sculptural work yet, and a jaw-dropping Egyptian debut, now on view until 6 December.
A Golden Throne Finds a New Home
In a twist worthy of its own headline, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has snapped up Maurizio Cattelan’s infamous golden toilet for a cool $12m at Sotheby’s in New York. This gleaming loo, a fully functional sculpture cast from more than 101kg of solid 18-carat gold, is the second version of the work, created after the original was stolen from Blenheim Palace. First unveiled in a public bathroom at the Guggenheim in 2016, it’s now set for a new chapter in the world of the wonderfully absurd.
