Big Blooms and Bigger Hats: Inside Central Park’s 44th Annual Hat Luncheon

Reported by Vogue.

Every first Wednesday in May, Central Park's Conservatory Garden becomes something between a garden party and a fever dream — and that's entirely the point. The 44th annual Frederick Law Olmsted Awards Luncheon, hosted by the Women's Committee of the Central Park Conservancy and known colloquially as the "hat luncheon," drew over 1,400 women in floral headpieces ranging from architecturally precise to gloriously unhinged. This year, it raised a record-breaking $5.4 million for the park's management and preservation — funding everything from restored concert ground benches to Bow Bridge's reconstructed urns.

The Hats Were the Main Event

According to Vogue, the crowd delivered. Hope Rothschild arrived in a gravity-defying blue rinse wig with a dove nestled in the ringlets. Roseline Neveling paid homage to the cocktail olive via fascinator. Luisa Diaz's wide brim spelled out "kindness" in florals. Alexandra E. Bell — owner of Upper East Side institution Suzanne Couture Millinery and, as it turns out, sister to American Ballet Theatre principal Aran Bell — wore a cream-and-black polka-dot vintage Oscar de la Renta that read pure 1960s. A lily-of-the-valley hat by CB Design Sanctuary had, in the words of one attendee, "a real Dior-esque romance." A group arrived in coordinated mahjong tile-inspired headpieces. Conservancy staff wore pieces by CFDA award-winning milliner Patricia Underwood, outfitted by Tuckernuck.

The celebrity contingent brought their own energy. Martha Stewart wore a gold Libertine coat and a vintage hat sourced from Arts and Ends in Northeast Harbor, Maine — customized with a Helena Simon pink rose brooch — and recalled childhood trips to the park with her father: ponies, rowboats, a dollar a day. "Everyone goes all out," she said. "It's because Central Park is so important to all of us." The Fendi family — Fe in custom Emilia Wickstead, daughters Alessia and Paola in Emilia Wickstead and vintage Mary McFadden respectively — sourced their hats across Europe: London, Rome, and one lucky find in Fe's own closet. Alice + Olivia's Stacey Bendet matched her Adley poppy dress with a sculptural vintage hat customized with yet more poppies. Hill House Home's Nell Diamond previewed pieces from an upcoming "Sunset Gingham" capsule. Sarah Wetenhall, owner of The Colony Hotel, commissioned a custom theater-millinery hat ringed with bees. Marcella Hymowitz paired a vintage YSL hat found at Les Puces in Paris with a drop-waisted Zimmermann lace gown for a full 1920s botanical moment.

The Conservancy event honored longtime trustees Judy Hart Angelo and Janet Ross, with Women's Committee president Tracey Huff and Conservancy CEO Betsy Smith presiding over a garden dressed in towering hydrangea and rose arrangements by Andrew Pascoe Flowers. Guests toasted the season with Whispering Angel rosé and Terrazas de los Andes Chardonnay. A light rain barely registered.

When a room full of women collectively decides that a Wednesday afternoon calls for sculptural millinery, mahjong tiles on their heads, and $5.4 million raised for a public park — that's not a luncheon, that's a statement.

Read the original at Vogue.