Inside the 2025 Tiffany Blue Book Gala With Mikey Madison, Alicia Keys

On Friday night, Tiffany & Co. celebrated the launch of its 2025 Blue Book high jewelry collection “Sea of Wonder” with a gala dinner held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For many in the crowd, the black-tie occasion served as a prequel to the first Monday in May.

“It feels like a mini Met,” said actress Taylor Russell, who was dressed in a flow-y white gown by Conner Ives and several pieces of Tiffany & Co. jewelry, including a necklace of intertwined Akoya pearls and diamonds and a 9-carat diamond ring.

“ Working with them and being here has been kind of a dream true. Thinking of wearing Tiffany, as a little girl, was not even something that I ever dreamed of,” she added. “The little girl in me, her wildest dreams came true.”

For Gabrielle Union, wearing and working with the brand as an ambassador is also the culmination of a childhood dream.

“I started as a fan, you know, the girl with their face pressed against the window,” she said, wearing a statement pendant necklace from the 2024 Tiffany Blue Book Collection. “Over the years I’ve been blessed enough to be able to borrow things, and then my spouse started buying things, and it just became a really organic relationship.”

Her husband Dwyane Wade had painted one of his nails Tiffany blue for the occasion. “Just a little homage to the brand,” said the retired NBA player, who accessorized with a Tiffany brooch and watch. “I knew they were gonna focus on the jewels, so I just wanted to coordinate.”

Greta Lee had on a set from the 2025 Blue Book’s “Urchin” chapter, featuring Fancy Intense Yellow diamonds set in 18-karat yellow gold and platinum. 

“The aqua theme of tonight is actually very meaningful for me, because the first time that I got to wear Tiffany was the night of the Oscars last year,” said Lee, who wore Jean Schlumberger by Tiffany shell earrings for a pre-party, followed by High Jewelry pieces for the awards ceremony. 

The “Past Lives” actress will soon have plenty more occasions to wear Tiffany on the red carpet. Her upcoming projects include blockbuster “Tron: Ares,” out in the fall, season four of “The Morning Show,” and indie film “Late Fame,” from the same producers as “Past Lives.” The film costars Willem Dafoe and is “set in New York — it’s about being an artist,” she said.

“Abbott Elementary” star Quinta Brunson was also wearing a set of Fancy Intense Yellow diamonds, rendered in the brand’s iconic “Bird on a Rock” design. “It’s just classic and classy,” said Brunson.

Taylor-Joy, a house ambassador, recently starred in the brand’s 2024 Holiday Campaign, “With Love, Since 1837.” “I really appreciate the melding of both legacy and innovation,” said Taylor-Joy, who attended the event with husband Malcolm McRae. “They always have respect for the past, whilst wanting to go somewhere in the future. And I just really enjoy being a part of those conversations.” 

The actress, who’s filming Apple TV+ miniseries “Lucky,” was wearing a diamond necklace, earrings, and ring from the 2025 Blue Book’s “Wave” Chapter.

Dinner tables were set amongst the sculptures within the Charles Engelhard Court, and during cocktail hour Taylor-Joy crouched down to read the title card for Frederick Wellington Ruckstull’s “Evening” before turning her gaze upwards toward the marble woman, posed to suggest approaching slumber.

But the night was still young for the Blue Book crowd, with a multicourse sea-themed meal co-catered by Eric Ripert and Daniel Boulud ahead. 

Guests including Oscar-winner (and recent Tiffany & Co. HardWear campaign star) Mikey Madison, Cooper Koch, Zoey Deutch, Kelsey Merritt and Chase Crawford — making their official debut as a couple — Adriana Lima, Ai Tominaga, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Diego Boneta, Valentina Ferrer and more were busy catching up around the room. Models were stationed in pieces from the collection, offering guests an opportunity to get a closer look at the designs — a reminder that, yes, the jewelry is for sale. And in some cases, already sold.

 ”It’s amazing to see so many pieces of jewelry in this room,” said Tiffany chief executive officer Anthony Ledru, taking in the starry arrivals as the natural light dimmed overhead.

The jewels weren’t the only Tiffany masterpieces on display: the glassed-in courtyard of the museum’s American Wing houses several works from the Louis Comfort Tiffany studio, including the stunning three-part “Garden Landscape” stained-glass window, a recent acquisition that was unveiled late last year. 

“We had the good fortune to be invited, and since that visit, it was in our head to do something in that wing — and we did it,” said Ledru. “The Met and Tiffany were born in the 19th century. We both have a love for New York, a love for beautiful things, and we even share a love of Tiffany, so no better place in New York City to have the 2025 Blue Book Gala.”

Not that the process of securing the venue was easy. At the start of dinner, he shared the difficult journey of bringing the bling to the sculpture court with the crowd. “We’re in New York, so anything is possible,” he added.

It was a message driven home during the after-dinner performance. Alicia Keys had the entire room, from the VIPs to plainclothes jewelry guards, on their feet and singing along by the time she closed out her set with New York aspiration anthem “Empire State of Mind, Part II.”

“Here I was thinking it was going to be stuffy — never,” said Keys, taking in the grandeur of the setting as her hands hovered above the keys of a grand piano. “It’s really beautiful, timeless New York energy.”

Needless to say, if you were in the room on Friday with diamonds on your neck — borrowed or bought — you had, indeed, made it: there, New York, anywhere.