Photos: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Nasturtium Patron Party

Check out scenes from the April 3, 2019, event at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

By Julia Kacmarek· 4/10/2019, 4:15 p.m.

Nearly 350 guests attended the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s ’70s-styled Nasturtium Patron Party on Wednesday, April 3 to celebrate the return of the annual flowers draping from the courtyard windows with fondue, drinks, and a nasturtium-infused menu.

The evening featured “Project Runway” winner Erin Robertson, a Massachusetts College of Art graduate, who brought in models donning ‘70s and floral inspired fashions as they walked through the courtyard. Prior to the event, Robertson held an Instagram contest inviting fans to design and submit their own ‘70s and Nasturtium inspired outfits. Winners of the contest were selected to walk the courtyard during the party.

As guests entered the Museum, acoustic guitarist Hayley Sabella welcomed them by performing 1970s’ cover songs near the entrance and later in the Tapestry Room. Guests got groovy in Discotheque G with tunes by DJ Saucy Lady and had fun doing a flower power scavenger hunt throughout the Museum. Peggy Fogelman, the Museum’s Norma Jean Calderwood Director, spoke in the courtyard where Isabella Stewart Gardner requested that her favorite flowers, bright orange nasturtiums hang from the windows in the palace every year in time for her April birthday.

Photography by Ally Schmaling

Jeffrey Rayport, Advisor; Peggy Fogelman, Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; John Childs, Chief of Collection Services and the Ann C. Pingree Director of the Phillips Library at Peabody Essex Museum