Gala guest trips, takes 3 photographers down with her
The gown was 14 feet long. The steps were 28. The photographers were in the wrong place. Everyone is fine, except one camera, which is not.
A guest at the fall gala on the museum steps on Thursday night caught the hem of a 14-foot gown on the 19th step, fell forward, and took three photographers, a velvet rope and a potted fern down with her before coming to rest on the 23rd step, upright, smiling, and asking whether anyone had got the shot.
Several people had. The guest, a model who had been at the gala for about four minutes, was unhurt. Two of the photographers were unhurt. The third was unhurt but his camera, a source close to the camera said, "is gone."
The gown
The gown, by a designer who has asked not to be named "until we know how the pictures look," had a train that the designer's assistant described as "14 feet, which is a lot, but she asked for it." The train was carried up the first 18 steps by two assistants who, at the 19th, let go so the model could "have the moment."
“Did anyone get the shot?”
The model, on the 23rd step
The moment lasted about a second and a half.
The photographers
The three photographers had been standing in a spot on the steps that was, by the gala's own plan, reserved for "the fern." They had moved there, one said, "because the light was better and the fern wasn't using it." The fern has not commented.
One of the three was the Bugle's own photographer, who was on the steps on assignment and who, by his account, "saw the train coming and didn't move fast enough." His camera survived. His hat did not.
The recovery
The model stood, adjusted the gown, thanked the photographers, apologised to the fern and walked the remaining five steps unassisted to a standing ovation from the people who had been waiting behind her, several of whom had been waiting for some time.
A figure in red and blue was seen on the museum's roofline during the incident and did not intervene. The Bugle's publisher has described this as "typical." The model's publicist said she "would have been fine with a hand, but it's okay."
The gala raised $14 million. The camera has been replaced. The fern is expected to make a full recovery.