New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) honoured the master filmmaker Steven Spielberg at its annual film benefit on the evening of Thursday, November 12, 2026. Presented by Chanel, the gala’s lead sponsor since 2011, the benefit was held for the 18th time this year and raised funds for the museum’s film collection. Naturally, most of the red carpet carried the Chanel signature; yet one of the night’s most talked-about looks came from another Paris house.
The evening’s programme was as crowded as its red carpet. Emily Blunt, Steve Martin, Martin Short and Martin Scorsese each paid tribute to Spielberg, while Tom Cruise made a surprise appearance. Ariana DeBose performed “Somewhere” from West Side Story before dinner, and the night closed with Bruce Springsteen, introduced by Stephen Colbert, playing “Dancing in the Dark”.
See W Magazine's MoMA Film Benefit photos on Instagram
The Chanel looks of the night
Zoe Saldaña
Zoe Saldaña arrived in head-to-toe Chanel. She paired a jade skirt set embroidered with cream flowers with a sheer silk tank trimmed with fine gold chains and a blue bralette, finished with two-tone Chanel shoes. The softness of the pastel tones and embroidery under the evening lights was the clearest example of Chanel’s romantic side.
See Harper's Bazaar's Zoe Saldaña post on Instagram
Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams chose a black open-weave netting midi dress from Chanel’s Pre-Fall 2026 collection. She wore the dress, with its multicoloured embellishments and feathered, fringed trim, over a black bodysuit. It was noted that Kristen Stewart had worn the same design in March; a good example of how one dress takes on a different character on two different stars.
Christy Turlington Burns
Supermodel Christy Turlington Burns wore Look 51 from Chanel’s Fall 2026 collection: a long red-and-black textured knit dress with a flared hem. Two-tone shoes and statement earrings completed the look.
See Harper's Bazaar's Christy Turlington post on Instagram
Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore chose Look 54 from Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2026 collection: a fringed black-and-white check tweed coat. She added a black turtleneck and trousers underneath, with pearls and a newsboy cap. It became one of the most fun and most shared images of the night.
See Harper's Bazaar's Drew Barrymore post on Instagram
Riley Keough
Riley Keough kept to a clean line: a sleeveless black Chanel midi dress with a deep V-neck and gold double-C details on the shoulder straps, worn with black sandals. Skipping jewellery put the dress’s details in the spotlight.
See Riley Keough's post on Instagram
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer opted for an all-black Chanel look: a long double-breasted coat over a slightly sheer, sparkling tiered maxi dress. Green-toned drop earrings were the only touch of colour.
The standout look beyond Chanel: Emily Blunt
The most talked-about name outside Chanel was Emily Blunt. The actress wore pieces from Daniel Roseberry’s Schiaparelli Spring/Summer 2027 collection: a black pleated bustier with a sweetheart neckline, a high-neck black tank and slim trousers with draping at the hip. Gold drop earrings and a large ring balanced the sculptural bustier. Blunt attended with her husband, John Krasinski.
See Vogue's Emily Blunt post on Instagram
And the rest
- Cate Blanchett: made the night’s strongest colour statement in a red double-breasted jacket with a matching skirt.
- Spike Lee: wore a multicoloured striped Chanel jacket recalling the colours of the New York Knicks.
- Tonya Lewis Lee: chose a black Chanel jacket and trousers.
- Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Martin Scorsese and Tom Cruise were also among the guests.
Why it matters
The MoMA Film Benefit works as a kind of “closing show” on November’s fashion calendar. For Chanel, the night was a chance to show collections of the Matthieu Blazy era and archive-adjacent pieces side by side on a single red carpet: Pre-Fall, Fall 2026 and Métiers d’Art looks appeared on the same evening. Seeing the same dress on two different stars a few months apart also shows that luxury houses now use the red carpet not as a one-off showcase but as a long-running chapter of a collection’s story.
Seen from Turkey, the lesson is clear: a long-term partnership with a cultural institution guarantees a fashion house the world press’s attention on the same date every year. A similar model is open to our museums and designers too. Readers who want to follow the global fashion calendar can check our fashion week calendar guide.
Sources
- Bustle — Chanel’s 2026 MoMA Film Benefit
- Red Carpet Fashion Awards — Celebrities at Chanel’s MoMA Film Benefit
- Red Carpet Fashion Awards — Emily Blunt chooses Schiaparelli
- MoMA — Film Benefit event page
- The Impression — Chanel and MoMA to honor Steven Spielberg
- W Magazine — official Instagram post
- Harper’s Bazaar — official Instagram post
Image: The 53rd Street facade of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (representative image) — Wikipedia Loves Art participant “The_Grotto”, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5
The Instagram posts in this article are official posts by the respective accounts, published using Instagram’s embed tool; image rights belong to their owners.