The archetypal art professional wears a consistent uniform of head-to-toe black. But that won’t land you on Vanity Fair‘s best-dressed list.
Luckily for the art world, a few more colorfully attired artists, collectors, and dealers did make the cut for this year’s lineup, which was released today. Among the anointed are collector Pamela Joyner, artist Kehinde Wiley, and art dealer Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn.
Also on the list are celebrity power couple turned art collectors David and Victoria Beckham—she has basically become the public face of Sotheby’s Old Masters department—and actress Chloë Sevigny, a fixture of the New York art-world party scene who counts Poison Ivy, Joan of Arc, and Thumbelina among her style icons. There’s also designer Rei Kawakubo, founder and creative director of Comme des Garçons, who in 2017 had her own show at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, courtesy of the Costume Institute.
This year’s list got a boost of art-world cred from writer and curator Kimberly Drew, a member of the 2019 judging committee and author of the magazine’s October cover story on Lupita Nyong’o.
In previous years, art dealer Vito Schnabel and artists Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, and David Hockney have all made the list.
Take a closer look at the art-world figures honored for their superior fashion sense below.
Pamela Joyner, cultural philanthropist, collector
Pamela Joyner. Photo by Jared Siskin, ©Patrick McMullan.
A champion of African American artists and a board member of the Getty and the Art Institute of Chicago, Pamela Joyner and her husband, Alfred J. Giuffrida, have toured their art collection to museums around the country. She told Vanity Fair that her least favorite fashion trend is “casual that devolves to sloppy,” and that her preferred look is “classic with a curated edge.” Joyner listed Dorothy Dandridge, Katharine Hepburn, and Madame de Pompadour as her personal style icons, describing them as “women ahead of their time.”
Kehinde Wiley, artist
Artist Kehinde Wiley (L) and Barack Obama unveil his portrait during a ceremony at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, on February 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images.
The magazine singled out the chalk-line-print custom suit that Kehinde Wiley wore at the unveiling of his official portrait of former President Barack Obama at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, as an example of his bold signature style. The artist offered an unexpected fashion tip, telling Vanity Fair that “simple white Converse go with everything,” while excoriating so-called “fast fashion,” which he believes “shows a disrespect for the ceremony surrounding clothing.”
Solange, artist and musician
Solange Knowles performs during the runway during the Kenzo Menswear Spring Summer 2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week. Photo by Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images.
Solange might be best known as a musician, but she’s certainly earned her art world bonafides over the years, most recently by working with artists Jacolby Satterwhite and Rob Pruitt on a performance art music video for her record When I Get Home that screened at museums across the UK and the US this summer. Fashion designer Duro Olowu, husband of Studio Museum in Harlem director Thelma Golden, who appeared on last year’s list and helped select this year’s, praised Solange’s ability to understand and explore style “as a radical art of presentation.”
Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, gallerist, Salon 94, New York
Jeanne Greenberg-Rohatyn. Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Patrick McMullan.
“I’m into uniforms. Overused is good—buy two next time!” Jeanne Greenberg-Rohatyn advised Vanity Fair, sharing her love of black wool-lined Birkenstocks, Nike Air VaporMax X Off-White sneakers, and sculptural Karl Fritsch rings.