Magazine watchers who say GQ has gone the way of Maxim could find some evidence at GQ's Hot Winter party. The event had plenty in common with Maxim's recent Sno party: Both bashes had all-white wintry looks and women dancing in fuzzy snow boots. And just six weeks after Maxim went to the new club Marquee, GQ took its advertisers a block up Tenth Avenue and around the corner to the neighborhood's other new club, Crobar. (As for the actual magazines, we think the recently refreshed GQ is actually more like a jazzier version of Details—but we're here to talk about parties.)
GQ special projects director Nicole Onufrey and her event producers at EventQuest learned of the theme overlap from BiZBash's story about the Maxim party after the GQ invitations went out. "We heard about that a week before [our party]," EventQuest creative director Mark Veeder told us. "We were already down the path."
GQ did take the snowy concept further, and Onufrey saw few similarities between the parties. "We would never do anything like Maxim," she said. "If we have a hot girl, she's silicone-free." (How's that for cold?)
The new GQ is also more about buying than babes, and the magazine plied advertisers who may have been invited to both bashes with some nice prizes: Each guest received an individually numbered book of cards to enter 10 different raffles. To show off the offerings—an iPod with accessories, a parka and sledding lessons, a turntable and DJ lessons—EventQuest set up male and female models in all-white looks on platforms around the dance floor to pose and collect raffle cards in large glass bowls.
To give the large club a wintry look, EventQuest—the firm that also did GQ's Men of the Year party the past two years—hung large blue Mylar stars above the dance floor, lit the space with dramatic blue lighting, and put out low-lying fog. One bar featured a vodka luge sculpted from (surprise!) ice that helped bartenders chill martinis. And to add a surprise to the evening, some fake snow even dropped on the crowd a few times from a snow machine on the ceiling.
Dressed in fuzzy white boots, scarves and ski hats, the waitstaff from Match Catering and Eventstyles served margarita-flavored snow cones and .phpberry popsicles. The menu also included tuna tartare on crisp brioche and dates stuffed with smoked almonds and bacon.
—Chad Kaydo
Read our coverage of Maxim's recent promotional event...
Read our coverage of the GQ Men of the Year event...
GQ special projects director Nicole Onufrey and her event producers at EventQuest learned of the theme overlap from BiZBash's story about the Maxim party after the GQ invitations went out. "We heard about that a week before [our party]," EventQuest creative director Mark Veeder told us. "We were already down the path."
GQ did take the snowy concept further, and Onufrey saw few similarities between the parties. "We would never do anything like Maxim," she said. "If we have a hot girl, she's silicone-free." (How's that for cold?)
The new GQ is also more about buying than babes, and the magazine plied advertisers who may have been invited to both bashes with some nice prizes: Each guest received an individually numbered book of cards to enter 10 different raffles. To show off the offerings—an iPod with accessories, a parka and sledding lessons, a turntable and DJ lessons—EventQuest set up male and female models in all-white looks on platforms around the dance floor to pose and collect raffle cards in large glass bowls.
To give the large club a wintry look, EventQuest—the firm that also did GQ's Men of the Year party the past two years—hung large blue Mylar stars above the dance floor, lit the space with dramatic blue lighting, and put out low-lying fog. One bar featured a vodka luge sculpted from (surprise!) ice that helped bartenders chill martinis. And to add a surprise to the evening, some fake snow even dropped on the crowd a few times from a snow machine on the ceiling.
Dressed in fuzzy white boots, scarves and ski hats, the waitstaff from Match Catering and Eventstyles served margarita-flavored snow cones and .phpberry popsicles. The menu also included tuna tartare on crisp brioche and dates stuffed with smoked almonds and bacon.
—Chad Kaydo
Read our coverage of Maxim's recent promotional event...
Read our coverage of the GQ Men of the Year event...
A model posed on a scooter—one of ten raffle prizes—at GQ's Hot Winter party at Crobar.
EventQuest hung large blue Mylar stars over Crobar's large dance floor. (Photo by Stillman Jefferson Thomas Digital Photography)
Match Catering and Eventstyles' waitstaff wore white hats, scarves and fuzzy boots to serve wintry treats like margarita-flavored snow cones. (Photo by Stillman Jefferson Thomas Digital Photography)
A model danced on Crobar's stage in a parka, another raffle prize.
