Theme Ideas

One reoccurring design style seen at award season after-parties was a masculine, residential-style look, featuring deep-buttoned leather sofas, potted kentia palms, and muted color tones of chocolate, copper, and gold. Case in point: For AMC’s Golden Globes party, held in the Stardust Room at the Hilton, Benarroch Productions created a sleek, upscale environment meant to feel like a retro-style club.

Bollywood-inspired themes surrounded Grammy events—a style that already has caught on at events around the country. The Recording Academy's official after-party (pictured), held at Los Angeles Convention Center and produced by Along Came Mary Productions, had a Bollywood-inspired theme with entertainers, dancers, acrobats, projections, elevated lounges, and design evocative of the world of Indian films. For the Grammys Special Merit Awards, 15/40 Productions took its cue for the lighting from the Recording Academy's invitation, which displayed an intricate henna-like pattern.

Several events brought decorative tents inside venues to house seating groups and bars. The Recording Academy’s Grammy after-party had colorful, Indian-themed tents, and at Cash Money Records’ Las Vegas-themed pre-Grammy party (pictured), Colin Cowie set up a section of black-and-white Hollywood Regency-style cabanas as lounge areas.

Spotted everywhere from AMC’s Golden Globes party to the Architectural Digest greenroom at the Academy Awards (inspired by the 1934 film The Thin Man), bold, Art Deco-style accents were big. The stage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards (pictured) was meant as a contemporary interpretation of the Streamline Moderne style of the 1930s, with design elements such as vertical steel tubing that evoked the organ pipes from vintage movie theaters.

The crimson blooms continued their big comeback at award season events. Red roses popped up on the tables at the Golden Globes, at W and Guess’s pre-Golden Globes party, at Essence and Target’s pre-Black Women in Hollywood Oscars dinner, and in the Godiva-sponsored lounge (pictured) adjacent to the In Style and Warner Brothers’ Golden Globes party, for which Abel McCallister created several rose-petal-covered walls.

Several events incorporated abstract, geometric patterned textiles reminiscent of the 1960s, most notably HBO’s Golden Globes party. Longtime collaborator Billy Butchkavitz designed a look that took its inspiration from the patterns on the stone mosaic walkways of Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, which turned up on everything from the upholstered walls and furniture to 12-foot-long dangling display cases.

To give the tents a more luxurious feel, many events covered the ceilings in heavy draping. At People and Entertainment Industry Foundation’s official SAG after-party, held just adjacent to the Shine Auditorium, Tony Schubert of Event Eleven designed a rich, romantic setting evocative of the Deco era using draped fabric panels from Crdzines Inc.