Many say there’s a party that is almost more important for celebrities than the Oscars themselves. A gala held after the Academy Awards ceremony, one so exclusive that even Madonna and Michael Jackson had to wait in line, and where even being Courtney Love‘s date isn’t enough to get in if you’re not on the guest list. It’s the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, which has been held for over 30 years, and has been attended by actors, directors, presidents, and writers from all over the world. Taking advantage of the fact that the coveted statuettes will be awarded this Sunday, the American magazine has compiled a series of testimonials and anecdotes about the tradition that began with Irving “Swifty” Lazar, the most powerful talent agent in Hollywood at the time, and was continued by Graydon Carter, the magazine’s editor from 1992 to 2017.
“Courtney Love came up to me. She goes, ‘Gray, Gray, you’ve got to let my manager in,’” recounts Graydon Carter, former editor of Vanity Fair, in the recently published article, “An Oral History of the Vanity Fair Oscar Party.” “I said, ‘Why?’ She said, ‘He’s got my money, he’s got my car keys, he’s got my drugs.’ I said, ‘Look, Courtney, I just can’t deal with this right now. There’s Sara Marks [the magazine’s director of special projects], over there. Why don’t you go and talk to her?’ She goes over. I see Sara just shake her head. In those days, there were hundreds of press people and video cameras outside. We broadcast the live feed into the room on the televisions so that people could just see the arrivals. All of a sudden, Courtney says, ‘I’ve got an important announcement.’ All of the cameras go on her. Then she goes, ‘Sara Marks is a cunt,’” he recounts in the recent interview.
“The first year, we did it very small, because I was worried we’d fail. But we had really interesting people — Mick Jagger, David Hockney, Billy Wilder, Nancy Reagan, and Betsy Bloomingdale,” Carter recalls. The early parties were simply celebrities eating In-N-Out burgers while watching the ceremony. “This dinner started at five in the afternoon. I said, ‘Do you realize that we’re each putting on $1 million worth of clothes to sit and watch television while we eat dinner?’” recalls writer Fran Lebowitz. “I saw Nicole Kidman in her, like, $100 million dress with a handful of fries and a malt,” actress Kelly Lynch notes of those parties.
The list of celebrities who attend year after year is extensive, and the galas “felt like college parties,” recalls Lindsay Lohan. “I showed up wearing a long white Versace dress. I was so nervous that it was going to get ruined. But packed in my Birkin, I had another short dress. So I went into the bathroom to change. Stella McCartney was in the bathroom with a bunch of other actresses, wondering what I was doing. I was like, ‘I’m changing because I don’t want to ruin this beautiful gown!’”
Actress Anjelica Huston reminisces about once sitting with “Lisa Eisner, Robert Graham, and Tom Ford and making little sculptures out of bread — this was in between visits to the loo to top up on marijuana. Graydon always encouraged wicked behavior because it made the party more fun,” she recounts.
Designer Diane von Fürstenberg described the celebration as “Graydon’s fantasy of how he saw Hollywood,” an event where attendees were “supposed to feel like you’re the chosen one,” she told the magazine. Designer Tom Ford echoed this sentiment: “It was so small, you know, like Studio 54. You felt really lucky to be invited.” He added, “One of the things I remember the most was standing next to Nicole Kidman wearing that famous green Dior dress that L’Wren Scott had styled her in, and just being dazzled by how absolutely breathtaking she was.”
Monica Lewinsky felt equally “flattered” when she received the invitation: “It just didn’t feel like something one says no to. I was trying to find my footing as a public person. Now that the Starr report had been delivered and impeachment was over, I was moving into a stage of freedom. Or so I thought. I hoped it would be a kind of rebirthing and a resetting of how people saw me.”
At these parties, “You would see Tom Cruise talking to Fran Drescher. You would see Madonna whispering in the ear of Brad Pitt after he had broken up with Gwyneth Paltrow. The women would line up to talk to him,” notes journalist Frank DiGiacomo, who also recalls finding a $750,000 Harry Winston bracelet on the floor of a party that belonged to Elizabeth Hurley. “She never thanked me.”
The Oscars after-party — attended by every winner — has been the birthplace of countless anecdotes and the stage for some of pop culture’s most iconic moments. Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber made their relationship public on the red carpet at the 2011 party. Will Smith, following his controversial assault on Chris Rock at the 2012 Oscars, made a triumphant entrance to the event. “You figured Will Smith would show up and keep it pretty low-key. But all of a sudden, we hear the DJ’s voice booming out: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Will Smith!’ Then he starts blasting Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It. We’re like, ‘Oh, fuck.’ Nobody told the DJ!” recounts Michael Hogan, former digital director of Vanity Fair.
The person responsible for starting this tradition in Hollywood was Irving “Swifty” Lazar, the most powerful talent agent in the industry at the time. He was nicknamed “Swifty” for his ability to secure million-dollar contracts with a simple handshake or during a meal, signing on a napkin. His client list included actors Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine, Humphrey Bogart, and Gene Kelly; writers like Ernest Hemingway and former President Richard Nixon when he wrote his memoirs; and he even represented singers like Madonna and Cher at times.
His Oscar party was very exclusive. It started as a small dinner among friends and gradually became more popular until every celebrity wanted to attend, but if you weren’t on the guest list, there was no way in. After his death in 1993, Vanity Fair took over as host, and for celebrities, it has become just as important an event as the ceremony itself, and it also marks the end of awards season.
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