Stage & Hall Design

NBC Universal/Focus Features' Golden Globes party conjured the feel of old-school discotheques.

HBO's Golden Globes bash

A plasma-screened water wall served as the centerpiece in Angel City Designs' look for NBC Universal's party.

As the official champagne sponsor for the awards, Moët & Chandon returned with its philanthropic initiative, “Toast for a Cause,” on the Globes arrivals carpet. Moët invited nominees to raise a toast in support of their favorite charities, and for each toast raised, Moët will donate $1,000 in the nominee’s name to the charity of his or her choice. This year marked the third anniversary of the program, which made its debut at the 2009 show.

About 160 guests went to this hot-ticket annual dinner, and about 750 joined later for the after-party. In Style manager of creative development Kelly Austig explained that planning for the production-heavy fete began in the summer, and for this year’s look, event designer Thomas Ford of Tom Ford Designs and Time Inc.’s Cyd Wilson took early inspiration from a piece of fabric.

Designer Thomas Ford was inspired by water and fluidity, constructing a tent over the Beverly Hilton Hotel pool and creating an underwater feel using a palette of teal, navy, silver, and coral. Walls were modeled on the reflective surface of ocean waves at night.

A 20-foot-long, 11-foot-high interactive LED light sculpture transmitted a custom commissioned water-themed art installation video during the party. Thousands of small monitors projected one large, moving, and life-like image.

One major new component this year: For the first time, the mag worked with a big-name chef, Giada De Laurentiis, to design the menu, which was executed by the hotel’s catering staff. Her dishes fused Italian cuisine with California influences. Apart from that well-received new addition, In Style’s Kelly Austing explained that the party tends to stick with the same vendors year after year. “One of the reasons we have such a cohesive event is that everyone’s been around a long time,” she said. “We’ve really gotten it down to a science. Because we have such a collective audience with each other, everyone is very vested in making the party better than the previous year.” Vendors included Goodman Audio for sound, and DJ Pesce who spun for the crowd.

For the sixth consecutive year, Godiva partnered with Warner Brothers and In Style on their Globes party. The brand created a chocolate exhibition dedicated to the chocolatier's namesake, Lady Godiva.

Working again with Larry Abel and Raymond McCallister of Abel McCallister Designs to create the look, the brand transformed its space into a chocolate gallery with displays of artwork made entirely out of chocolate.

Guests indulged in chocolates and baked goods while checking out the chocolate artwork inspired by artists such as Matisse, Van Gogh, and Jackson Pollock.

A dot pattern using hundreds of Chocoiste white chocolate pearls created a look inspired by “The Drowning Girl” by Litchenstein.

More than 500 individual squares of Godiva chocolate bars and tablets were woven together with yards of foils to create a piece inspired by Mondrian, and 50 yards of bright blue foil from Godiva Gems, along with more than 100 French vanilla truffles, were used in the making of a painting inspired by Matisse. It took three days of carefully planned spatters, drips, and pouring of Godiva dark, milk, and white chocolate to make the painting inspired by Jackson Pollock. Flowers for the chocolate painting inspired by Van Gogh were actually individual Godiva Parfait Chocolates in delicately patterned cups.

HBO’s party took to its annual haunt, the Beverly Hilton’s Circa 55 restaurant and adjoining pool area. Led Working with HBO’s team including Cindy Tenner, Nancy Lesser, and Michael McMorrow, longtime collaborator Billy Butchkavitz designed the party, drawing inspiration for the design from the early 1990s collections of Issey Miyake, using a color palette of platinum and champagne. A dramatic 22-foot high wall of metallic draperies and acrylic mobiles created the backdrop for the event, while also concealing two floors of guestrooms.

Geometric sculpted furniture, urns, and vases mimicked the lines of Miyake’s early cutting-edge fashion designs.

Here's something you don't see every day: For the party, Butchkavitz and his team drained the Hilton's iconic pool to create a splashy, fully carpeted, sunken lounge. Both the wall and the lounge came from Special Event Contractors.

Town and Country supplied the rentals, and Set Masters created the custom decor elements. Images by Lighting handled the lighting, and the sound came from Emerging Entertainment. Catering came from Beverly Hilton executive chef Katsuo Sugiura, who was having a very busy night indeed. DJ Spider spun for the crowd.

Celebrities posed in front of a whimsical step-and-repeat that appeared to show the HBO logo in bubbles.

With so many of the Weinsteins’ nominated films set in old Hollywood—including My Week With Marilyn and The Artist, which scored big wins at the show—production company Best Events executed a design meant to complement the look and feel of that era. The design was a combination of sepia tone and black-and-white noir vignettes in a dramatically draped tent, with draping by CR Dzines.

After a brief rainfall, bartenders poured drinks in an area outside the party tent.

No Static handled the sound, Lighten Up the lighting, CJ Matsumoto & Sons the flowers, 360 the security, and Primo XL the carpet.

A photo booth from Polite in Public beckoned guests to pose for photos in front of vintage-looking Hollywood hills backdrops.

Golf carts shuttled guests who preferred not to walk the short distance from the hotel to Fox's party at the old Robinsons-May building. The tented party under a clear tent got midnight blue carpet, camel wall drape, ash-washed wood walls and tables, with black Chesterfield lounge furniture. A ceiling treatment of oversized lamps added drama to the look.

The tent had a large outdoor viewing deck that overlooked red-carpet arrivals at the Hilton. The party had a viewing component for a select group, which began at 4:30 p.m., and showed the ceremony on large plasma screens throughout tent and on the deck.

A committee from all the participating Fox divisions lent input and ideas for the event, which was produced by 15/40 Productions, with flowers from Collage Designs, rentals from Town and Country, shuttles from Chuck’s Parking, sound from Goodman Audio, and show broadcast from Sweetwater. Jackson Catering provided food, offering some of its well-known Lemonade fare, plus chef Alan Jackson’s Southwestern specialties. DJ Tendaji spun for the after-party crowd.

Alison Bossert oversaw the production of this studio’s party in the Hilton’s eighth-floor Stardust Room, which had hors d’oeuvre and dessert stations catered by the hotel. Alas, the studio’s much-touted Moneyball did not take home the night’s big prizes.

Sony's space, done in purple hues, offered hors d'oeuvres and dessert stations from the Hilton's catering team.

About 350 guests watched the live NBC broadcast from this party, designed and produced by Angel City Designs. “Our challenge every year is to come up with a design that successfully integrates the brand essence of all the event sponsors and title holders, that works both in the daylight hours or the beginning of the live broadcast, as well as the nighttime, post-awards celebration,” said Angel City Designs' Damon Drescher in a release.

The contemporary deco styling, including raised V.I.P. lounges, were a design tribute and unofficial kickoff of Universal’s centennial celebration. Hilton’s integration includes a lounge area with luxe furniture groupings representative of Hilton’s luxury brands.

The overall color scheme of blue, silver, and black matched the current color scheme of sponsor Chrysler’s corporate and marketing images. The planning team for the hosts included Hollace Davids and Linda Pace-Alexander, Hazel Brown, Stephanie Testa, Lisa Oropeza, and Wendy Schellinger. ELS handled the lighting, Q1 Designs the lighting design, Classic Party Rentals the rentals, DSR Audio the sound, CJ Matsumoto the flowers, and the hotel the catering and bar service.

At this party, Chrysler’s sponsorship included an on-site red carpet display of the 2012 Chrysler 300 as well as a Fiat experience as part of an outdoor lounge that overlooked the telecast’s red carpet arrivals area.

E! Entertainment brought to this year’s event live entertainment in the form of music by MC Lyte and a post-awards performance by Janelle Monae.

Columbia hosted a very A-list party to celebrate the Globes and nominees at a private residence on Saturday night. Benarroch Productions installed a structure over the pool and entire backyard that appeared to be an actual extension of the home. Production included hard-wood walls and floors, bamboo roof, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, and a fireplace. The likes of George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, and Brad Pitt were among the group, which sipped Dom Perignon and nibbled caviar under a sea of crystal chandeliers and gold leaf bamboo dripping with orchids and candles.

In addition to producer Benarroch, Greco Decor handled the decor, Along Came Mary the catering, Collage the flowers, No Static the sound, and Images by Lighting the lighting.

C.A.A. hosted a pre-awards party at Soho House on Friday. Madonna, Demi Moore, Sean Penn, Ashton Kutcher, Robert De Niro, Sean Combs, and Jamie Foxx were all among the big-name attendees.

On Friday, W magazine hosted its annual pre-awards party at Chateau Marmont. Caravents produced the event with minimal additional decor, per the Chateau’s restrictions; a framed blow-up of the magazine's cover announced the host. DJ Pesce spun for the crowd, as she did at In Style's party on the big night.

A roster of celebrities filled the W party.

On the night before the awards, Showtime chairman and C.E.O. Matthew Blank and president of entertainment David Nevins hosted a reception inside Osteria Mozza’s private wine room, honoring the network’s recent spate of award nominations. Claire Danes, David Duchovny, and Laura Linney were among the group

On Saturday and Sunday at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, the magazine brought guests to experience a range of beauty services intended to get them red-carpet ready. Offerings included hair and makeup touchups by L’Oréal Paris, mini manicures by OPI, and beverages from Kim Crawford Wines and Smartwater. Caravents produced and designed the space, with a clean and modern palette of black and white with touches of gold and fuchsia. Textures included silk dupioni, white ultra suede, and reflective finishes.

In Style’s Kelly Austing described the goal as to make a “clean and fresh and comfortable environment. In Style likes to do luxury to the point that it’s functional, comfortable, and beautiful.” Cara Kleinhaut of Caravents said that, to be on-brand with In Style, “there can’t be a nick in the furniture, there can’t be any imperfections. L’Oreal is such an important advertiser to all the Time Inc. brands, and [in the lounge] you can really get a hands-on experience with [the mag’s] advertisers.”

HBO hosted its 10th annual Luxury Lounge, including the L’Oreal Paris beauty suite, at the Four Seasons. HBO and Mediaplacement brought guests to peruse the wares of sponsors like New Era Cap, Nautica, Magaschoni, Michael Antonio footwear, and others.

Among the sponsors at HBO's lounge was Basil Hayden bourbon, which created a menu of specialty cocktails with themes that reflected Globes-nominated titles.

Down the hall from the gifting area was L'Oreal's beauty suite, which transformed a space in the Four Seasons into full-service salon.

Alison Kennedy PR hired Joe Moller Events to produce L’Oreal’s portion, with an outdoor space under a tent from Town and Country and splashy gold furniture from Luxe Event Rentals.

This annual event created by Live Loyal PR and EMC Bowery drew attendees for hair and nail services, eyelashes, spray tans, and teeth whitening.

Events By Fabulous used red accents in the all-white lounge space at Confidential Beverly Hills. Tropical flowers in modern vases, available for rental at Fab-U-Tique, gave the room a spa-like appeal, and branded pop-up walls directed guests to various areas, including beauty, wardrobe, and lifestyle.

GBK hosted a lounge including gifts and services on Friday and Saturday at the L’Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills.

The event had an eye-catching press wall made with greenery and framed logos.

The fund-raising component included a donation to the Clinton Global Initiative, as well as a local education fund in Fiji, said GBK C.E.O. Gavin Keilly.

Wella Beauty Bar, in association with the BMF Media Group, hosted a two-day suite over the weekend at Nine Zero One Salon.

Attendees came for styling including braids and blowouts, spray tans by Fake Bake, and hand massages by Bio-Oil. The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau provided spa treatments and offered chances to win packages at the upcoming Miami Spa Month. Manicurists and makeup artists were on hand to complete guests’ looks.