LONDON — Art has become as much about the crowds and fashion as it is about the pieces.

At Frieze London and Frieze Masters, the twin fine art fairs that take place in Regent’s Park, a clutch of designers, models, businessmen and photographers browsed from booth to booth, including Claudia Schiffer, Raf Simons, Giancarlo Giammetti, Mario Testino and Rick Owens.

They have been adding glitz to the art fair that has kept a rotation of collectors returning annually. Frieze London drew 168 galleries this year, while a 15-minute walk away at Frieze Masters, 137 galleries were showing pieces of historic art.

Sales on the first day of Frieze, otherwise known as the VIP preview slot, proved to be promising, totaling more than 6 million pounds.

At Frieze Masters, Hauser & Wirth sold Gabriele Münter’s “Der blaue Garten” for 2.4 million Swiss francs, along with René Magritte “Le domaine enchanté” for $1.6 million; Paul Klee’s painting “Befestigter Ort” for 1.45 million euros; Marcel Duchamp’s “Jaquette” for $1.35 million, and Alina Szapocznikow’s “Sculpture-lampe” for $1.2 million.

Other works by Salvador Dalí, Man Ray and Louise Bourgeois were also sold with a starting price of 200,000 euros.

The gallery Robilant+Voena, which specializes in Old Masters and post-War Italian art, sold three works by Lucio Fontana, two of which contain the artist’s signature slashes. “Concetto Spaziale, Attese” sold for 1.6 million euros and “Concetto Spaziale” for an asking price of 895,000 euros.

The other work was a ceramic, going for 200,000 euros.

Michele di Robilant, an associate at the gallery, said he noticed a slight shift at this year’s fair.

“We’ve seen an influx of multigenerational and younger collectors looking to ground their contemporary art collections in an art-historical context, placing Old Master and Modern works at a unique focal point for collectors concerned with the long-term financial health of the works they’re acquiring,” he said.

Great success was also to be found at Frieze London.

The Gagosian had a sold-out booth dedicated to Lauren Halsey’s work that points to Afrofuturism, ancient Egyptian iconography and popular culture. One of her pieces, which resembles ancient Egyptian stones, depicts Vanessa Williams dancing at Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show. The gallery did not share sales numbers, but according to sources it was over the 500,000 pounds threshold.

Hauser & Wirth sold Ellen Gallagher’s “Lips & Paper” for $950,000 and Avery Singer’s “Lost Boccioni” for $800,000.

Austrian gallerist Thaddaeus Ropac sold Robert Rauschenberg’s mixed media work for $850,000 and an Antony Gormley sculpture for 500,000 pounds.

“What stands out this year is just how international the fair has become — one of the most global editions we’ve had. We’re seeing significant new participation from galleries across Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, which really reinforces London’s position as a hub for the international art community,” said Eva Langret, the artistic director of Frieze London.

She added that the U.K. continues to play a vital role in the global art market. In 2024, it accounted for around 18 percent of worldwide art sales by value — more than the rest of Europe combined.

“It really shows the continued strength and resilience of London’s position,” Langret said.

Mohammed Hafiz, cofounder of ATHR, a gallery in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was returning for a fifth time to Frieze London.

“Frieze London is one of the leading fairs in one of the most important cities. It’s a very familiar city for Arabs and Saudis, we get a lot of exposure from our local collectors and interest from buyers and institutions,” he said.

This year’s booth featured works by Saudi female artists Daniah Alsaleh and Basmah Felemban. The gallery sold seven pieces on the first day to a mixed clientele, from Germany, the U.S., Saudis and Arabs living in London.

The Breeder, an Athens-based gallery also went down the route of championing female artists such as Maria Hassabi, Georgia Sagri, Kyriaki Goni, Margarita Myrogianni and Olga Migliaressi-Phoca, whose artwork of a mirror that said “Saint I Ain’t” using the Saint Laurent typeface was one of the fair’s buzzy Instagrammable pieces.

The gallery sold several pieces, which ranged from 3,000 pounds to 75,000 pounds. The Breeder has been part of Frieze London since the art fair’s beginning in 2003. “London is fresh and dynamic,” said Nadia Gerazouni, a director at the gallery.

Frieze’s art fever is contagious.

Pippa Lamb, an angel investor and partner at Sweet Capital that normally invests in technology, was eyeing up art in her leopard print Reformation boots and vintage Rafael Nadal T-shirt.

“I grew up wanting to be an artist. I almost went to art school. I absolutely love the intersection of creativity and technology; it’s definitely something that I have started to invest in recently,” she said.

A host of fashion and jewelry brands got involved in this year’s fair.

Tiffany & Co. joined Frieze London as the official partner for the Artist-to-Artist program, where renowned artists choose young artists from all corners of the world for solo presentations at the fair. The brand is providing bursaries to help emerging artists selected by established figures.

De Beers got into the action by tapping South African designer Thebe Magugu to design mac coats for its 20-minute film at Frieze Masters. 

“The base print is a red rock that can be found in South Africa and it speaks to my ancestry and also to the physicality of mining on De Beers’ side,” the designer said.

He sketched a cave drawing based on a rock he photographed in Johannesburg on top of the base print.

Dunhill returned to Frieze Masters with its intimate talks between artists and creatives in a cozy cream-colored auditorium that was shaped like a tent with plush furnishings in beige tones, inviting in C-suite executives, members of the press and its clients to the events.

The lineup kicked off with Christopher Rothko and Carl Strehlke in a talk titled “An Encounter in Spiritual Spaces: Mark Rothko and Fra Angelico” followed by conversations between William Dalrymple and Susan Stronge, Glenn Brown and Arturo Galansino, Edward George and Matthew Harle, Tracey Emin and Nicholas Cullinan, and Antony Gormley and Arturo Galansino.