Rio Carnival. Copacabana Palace. A black-tie gala. Each is synonymous with opulence and tradition, with cult-status reverence (among Brazilians and the rest of the world) and with being a very fun party. And each year, on the Saturday of Carnival, the three form a glitzy trio that becomes The Copa Carnival Ball at Copacabana Palace, A Belmond Hotel; Rio’s hottest party – no small feat, in a town where street parties sprout up seemingly unannounced drawing hundreds of thousands of revellers and 90,000 people crowd into the Sambadrome for hours to dance with the greatest samba schools on the planet.
Copacabana Palace’s first Carnival ball took place in its inaugural year, at the height of the Roaring Twenties. Its status became instantly mythical in the city; in the decades that followed it was attended by the starry likes of Bridgette Bardot, Mary Pickford and Joan Fontaine, who, if you squint hard enough (or sink enough Caipirinhas) you can practically still see shimmering through the Copa’s grande-dame hallways and decadent ballrooms.
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Now, the guest list is the most elevated in town. Politicians, socialites and musicians walk the black carpet to a crowd of paparazzi and locals straining for a good look, while a live band beat out a samba soundtrack to get guests in the mood for the main nights at the Sambadrome (these take place on Sunday and Monday – Carnival is not a once and done kind of event and requires a ‘90s rave-culture style of stamina). In 2023, as the Copa celebrates its 100th anniversary (spy the guest book and signed photos of Neslon Mandela, Princess Diana and national hero Gisele Bündchen in the newly revamped Hall of Fame for an idea of this place’s starry status) and Carnival is wholeheartedly back for the first time since the pandemic, the hotel hosted one of its biggest parties yet – celebrating the past, the present and the future at a trippy gala.
Take a peek behind the curtain at some of the most fascinating moments we experienced – and some of the ultra-glittery things we observed.
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