On Sunday, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences held the 88th annual Oscars, bringing the ceremony back to its annual home at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Produced by David Hill and Reginald Hudlin, the show was hosted by Chris Rock, who relentlessly addressed the Academy's diversity problem in a three-hour-plus telecast seen in 225 countries around the world on a stage dressed in more than 200,000 Swarovski crystals.
After the show, A-list guests moved upstairs to the Academy’s own bash, the Governors Ball, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland, where caricatures of Hollywood icons past and present decorated a blush-colored ballroom.
Elsewhere around town, the splashy—and coveted—parties continued late into the night. The famous Vanity Fair bash, hosted by editor Graydon Carter , took over a custom-designed space in Beverly Hills, with design by Basil Walter of BWArchitects. A bit further east in West Hollywood Park, another A-list event—the 24th annual Elton John AIDS Foundation dinner and viewing party, hosted by Elton John and husband David Furnish—raised a hefty $6.2 million.
Of course, the celebrating was hardly contained to the big night alone, with brands feting the Oscars in the week leading up to the ceremony. Vanity Fair's Campaign Hollywood parties and programming included the hub for digital media and influencer types known as the Vanity Fair Social Club. The gathering space, which outgrew its Hollywood home and this year moved to Culver City, included five days of formal programming and social media sharing ops.
Another that relocated was Essence magazine, which hosted its annual celebrity-heavy Black Women in Hollywood awards on February 25 at the Beverly Wilshire. The event moved last year from the Beverly Hills Hotel when Oprah Winfrey's decision to carry the show on OWN required a space with more room for the broadcast. The event had special significance in a year when topics related to race dominated the Oscar conversation.
Here are some of the visual highlights from these and other events during Hollywood's biggest week of the year.
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The circular dining room included wood-paneled walls installed with large flat screens for viewing the broadcast and suede banquettes around the perimeter. Lighting came from an oculus-like fixture in the center of the ceiling, as well as from candlelight, wall sconces, and table lamps fitted with custom shades showcasing photographs from the Vanity Fair archives—including several of this year’s nominated actors. More than 1,400 lighting fixtures were installed over seven days; it was the party’s biggest lighting designs ever.
For the third year in a row, Mark Seliger took portraits of guests exclusively for Instagram. The magazine partnered with Carol production designer Judy Beckett to design the studio.
Chef Thomas Keller created the event’s menu. After dinner, the tables were removed from the dining room and a central bar was installed to transform the space into a cocktail area, presented by American Airlines.
Academy governor Jeffrey Kurland worked with longtime producer Cheryl Cecchetto and Sequoia Productions to produce and design the Governors Ball, which drew 1,500 invited guests to a room that was decorated in a blush-colored palette.
The look for this year's Governors Ball was influenced by the caricature-decked walls of Sardi’s and Brown Derby restaurants. Decor included more than 170 commissioned pieces showcasing present-day and historic Hollywood icons rendered in black and white drawings, which were displayed gallery style.
Mark Held of Mark’s Garden returned as the ball's floral vendor, designing highly stylized sculptures using white flowers like calla lilies, gardenias, ranunculus, phalaenopsis orchids, and succulents. He used about 10,000 blooms in total, flying them in from Holland, South America, and Mexico at the last minute for freshness.
Having moved years ago from a seated-dinner format, the ball once again had a menu from chef Wolfgang Puck of more than 50 dishes, including hors d’oeuvres and small-plate passed entrées. Among the many options were sriracha-candied macadamia nuts; braised short rib with cauliflower puree and golden raisin puffed Thai rice; white grape almond gazpacho; rye berry risotto with peas and asparagus; and poke, stone crab, made-to-order sushi, and other raw bar items served atop illuminated ice blocks. Keeping with Puck’s annual offerings, some of the menu items were presented in the shape of Oscar statuettes, such as smoked-salmon Oscars, and 14-karat-gold chocolate Oscars for dessert. Ball chair Jeffrey Kurland, who is a costume designer, designed the staff uniforms; the event had an army of more than 900 event staff.
Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews performed with his band Orleans Avenue at the ball. The evening also featured husband-and-wife DJs DJ M.O.S. and DJ Kiss, who spun an array of music for the crowd.
The Vanity Fair party included a complex custom build with five months of planning: The entry and exits featured 15 oversize red lanterns, each 20 feet high, illuminating the historic façade of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Inside, guests moved through a passageway that connected the building to a platform that filled an entire city block before coming out onto the arrivals carpet.
The main party space included a 30-foot-high glass wall facing Beverly Hills City Hall, which was specially lit for the occasion. The centerpiece of the party space, an 80-foot-long custom chandelier made from 500 translucent triangles, hung from the ceiling at irregular heights. The fixture was illuminated by moving lights from above in color schemes that varied throughout the night. The space included a 60-foot-long illuminated silver bar and paneled wood walls, and two billboard-size photographs from from the magazine’s archives decorated the room. The main party space opened onto a balcony with steps that descended onto the entry plaza and garden of City Hall, which included casual seating and a bar.
The 24th annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards viewing party, hosted by Sir Elton John and David Furnish, took over West Hollywood Park, with sponsorship from Bulgari, M.A.C Cosmetics, Neuro Drinks, and Diana Jenkins. In a boldly colorful dinner tent accented by red decor and tabletops, a live auction featured items such as a Bulgari Serpenti pavé diamond necklace, a five-day vacation at Steven Tyler’s Hawaiian retreat, and tickets to the Vanity Fair party later that evening. Over the past 23 years, the annual event has raised more than $350 million.
Guests arrived at the viewing party on a white arrivals carpet surrounded by a rainbow frame.
Red tulips topped the tables, and chef Gordon Ramsay served a five-course meal for the fourth consecutive year.
Heavy white draping marked the walkway within the party; simple lightbulb fixtures hung overhead.
Among the desserts at the after-party were popular espresso milkshakes topped with mini doughnuts on straws. Other items included shortbread cookies baked in the form of pink AIDS ribbons and chocolate mousse decorated with Oscar statues.
Designed by Rolex and produced by Event Eleven, the Oscars' backstage greenroom was designed to be reminiscent of a 20th-century private home in Hollywood. Warm tones of walnut wood, beige leather, and Venetian stucco marked the main room. A bar had a mirrored glassware rack framed in bronze.
A floor-to-ceiling light box lent the illusion of a picture window with a panoramic view of Los Angeles.
Essence magazine hosted its ninth annual Black Women in Hollywood luncheon on Thursday—a chance to gather and honor a group of primarily African-American women in the midst of the Oscars’ diversity crisis. Honorees included Tracee Ellis Ross, Debbie Allen, and Nina Shaw. Essence’s Candace Montgomery and Caravents’ Cara Kleinhaut—longtime partners on the event—created the luncheon with a color-blocked stage set. “The event's foundation is so strong and we've spent a lot of time [building] the quality,” Montgomery said. “Ultimately, we are just trying to maintain that level of excellence.”
The overall look and feel this year was a modern, graphic approach, with a bold marine blue, gold, black, and white palette. Vibrant flowers topped tables in the dining room as well as in adjoining cocktail space.
A lip bar from sponsor L'Oréal bore a custom portrait backdrop, surrounded by a high-gloss black and gold frame. In addition to lip shades, guests picked up the event's signature overstuffed—and extremely heavy—gift bag created by Gift Bags by Rachael as they left.
Vanity Fair's Social Club returned to the scene for the third consecutive year, this time at Platform, a soon-to-open creative space in Culver City. The event included programming like panels, one-on-one conversations, and discussions with social influencers about the impact and future of social media in Hollywood and beyond. The club provided a venue for bloggers and digital media types to write and work while in town for the week of the Oscars.
As an engaging way of distributing swag, the Vanity Fair Social Club asked visitors to photograph items they wanted from a gift bar, post the photos to social media using relevant hashtags, and then claim their items after staffers verified their posts.
The event splashed its hashtag on every available surface, including floors, lanyards, and the building's elevator.
Global Green hosted a February 24 event at Mr. C Beverly Hills with a green carpet that nodded to the organization’s green initiatives. Guests dined on Cipriani cuisine at earth-toned—but glittering—tables. Stevie Wonder performed at the event, where marquee-style lettering spelled out Global Green.
Officially part of the event, supporters of Global Green were on site protesting for a more sustainable and eco-friendly environment.
The 11th annual Oscar Wilde event took place on February 25 at J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot production company in Santa Monica, with event management by the O'Neill Group. More than 450 guest came out to see the likes of James Corden, Daisy Ridley, and Lenny Abrahamson honored in the indoor-outdoor space, where—aptly—Guinness and Teelings Whiskey flowed freely, and the food by Kensington Caterers included beer-battered fish and chips and stout-marinated beef. Senovva projected sponsor logos, video, and more on the building's existing architecture.
Cadillac celebrated the start of the festive weekend on Thursday under a clear tent decked with illuminated orbs at the Chateau Marmont, with production from Event Eleven. (Cadillac was the official vehicle sponsor of the Academy Awards, and, in addition to the event, the brand debuted a new series of ads during the telecast.) Celebrities and V.I.P.s were also chauffeured to the event in the CT6, the brand’s full-size sedan. For understated event decor typical of events hosted at the Chateau, monochromatic calla lilies sat alongside logo glass LED candle holders. DJ Michelle Pesce spun for the crowd.
Smartwater hosted an intimate dinner to celebrate Jennifer Aniston’s support of St. Jude Children’s Hospital as the latest installment of W Hotels Insider Collective. The private event held at W Hollywood with chef Michael Voltaggio also celebrated the launch of the new Smartwater sparkling. The Gathery handled production, which included a monochromatic and eye-catching display of illuminated white balloons.
With Essence providing black women in Hollywood with their own event, there was one event focused on the men: The Icon Mann dinner took place on Friday at Mr. C, with sponsorship from Lexus, SAG-Aftra, Variety, and Diageo. Idris Elba, Boris Kodjoe, Roland Martin, Malcolm Jamal Warner, and Evan Ross were among the attendees. William P. Miller for WP Miller Special Events produced the event for the gents, where tabletop decor was among the masculine details. Instead of using table numbers, each table was curated in honor of a notable historic black man—including Nelson Mandela, Malcom X, and Fela Kuti—and had memorabilia significant to that person’s legacy. Miller called it a “subtle approach to engage conversation amongst those in attendance [that] they have the power within to carry the torch.” Additionally, soapstone sculptures by South African artist Tendayi Guwamombe were intended to signify strength, solidarity, and family; the 500-pound sculptures were imported from South Africa for the event. Attallah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, served as the keynote speaker.
