13 October 2018
Earlier this year, the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that its superstar curator Andrew Bolton would assume the title “Wendy Yu curator in charge”.
Yu is the founder and chief executive of Hong Kong-based Yu Holdings, whose family wealth comes from her father’s door manufacturing business. In recent years she has become a regular at fashion shows and high-profile events such as the Met Gala, which is hosted by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour every year at the Metropolitan Museum.
A source familiar with the Metropolitan Museum’s fundraising efforts says Yu would have paid between US$3 million and US$4 million for the endowment.
It was a meeting with Wintour during Paris Fashion Week two years ago that led to Yu’s involvement with the Costume Institute, which has a collection of more than 33,000 costumes and accessories. Before Yu’s donation, it was the only department at the museum without an endowed curatorship.
According to Bolton, after he and Wintour met with Yu and suggested the possibility of an endowment, it didn’t take long for her to agree to make a substantial donation.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3025350/stars-luxury-brands-and-chinas-perilous-patriotic-tightrope