Vanity Fair The Oscars

Noël Coward, the ultimate sophisticate, said it best in the opening lyric of his campy song—“I’ve been to a marvelous party.” He didn’t mean the Oscar party, but that is exactly what people say, and have been saying for 75 years [actually 85 now], on the morning after the Academy Awards. Oscar night is the party night in Hollywood—New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July rolled into one—and since 1994 the Vanity Fair party has been the one to be seen at. It’s also the hardest to get into, which makes it all the more desirable. Such glamour, such swank, such high fashion, and, above all, such star power. The crowd outside cheers the famous descending from their limousines, and the journalists, lined up behind velvet ropes, scream the…

April 1995 was a watershed moment for Vanity Fair: that month Graydon Carter devoted the entire issue to Hollywood to mark the 100th anniversary of the moving image. “For Americans especially, the movies remain the one true indigenous entertainment art,” he wrote in his Editor’s Letter. “It is something we have just always been good at. Indeed, it can fairly be argued that moviemaking is the one artistic endeavor in which America has always led the world, and probably forever will.” Nobody at the time imagined that Carter was establishing a tradition, or that a foldout cover of talent would become an annual event. Nineteen covers later, however, it endures as the gold standard of special movie issues. Features editor Jane Sarkin and I have helped organize them all. For…

Ready, Set. . . STYLE! 3 Weeks to Go A few days of eating healthy, hiking, doing yoga, and relaxing at a wellness retreat is the perfect way to gear up for the pre-awards madness. We Care Spa in Desert Hot Springs is a popular choice, while the Pearl Laguna in Laguna Beach repeatedly earns five-star reviews. It’s important to literally feel comfortable in your own skin, so check out Dr. Ava Shamban’s practice for awards season’s cosmetology needs (e.g., re-surfacing and collagen fillers). DAY AFTER Now that you’ve survived the whirlwind, indulge in some luxurious body treatments. Try a four-handed massage at the Hotel Bel-Air Spa by La Prairie or hydrotherapy at Spa Montage to unwind in style. 4 Hours to Go To achieve stunning tresses the day of,…

I or more than a dec ade, the only way people could get a glimpse inside “the most famous party in the world,” as the press refers to the Vanity Fair Oscar party, was by devouring page after page of photographs in the May issue. After some partygoers tried to sneak in their own cameras, guests were politely asked to check their cameras on arrival and collect them on departure. For all intents and purposes, what happened at the party stayed at the party, unless it was shot by a V.F.-commissioned photographer The idea to do a photo booth, which we introduced in 2010, was prompted by the simple thought that our guests might enjoy taking home a strip of candids as a souvenir. We banked on the idea that…

In 1964, Irving Paul “Swifty” Lazar—the literary and talent agent (and social whirligig)—began holding a yearly Oscarnight “viewing party,” hosting a sit-down dinner for close friends and mainstays from Old-Line Hollywood, during which the assembled would watch the televised Academy Awards ceremony. Additional glittering guests would arrive throughout the evening. And, in time, being “invited to Swifty’s” became synonymous with L.A. exclusivity. When Lazar passed away, in late 1993, the starriest night of the year seemed destined to lose its sparkle. But then Vanity Fair stepped in. On March 21, 1994—at Mortons restaurant, in West Hollywood—the magazine established what would emerge as the premier annual gala in American nightlife. The Vanity Fair Oscar party, from its inception, was a chic, formal dinner followed by an after-bash that would draw a…

The Making of Pulp Fiction The first independent film to gross more than $200 million, Pulp Fiction was a shot of adrenaline to Hollywood’s heart, reviving John Travolta’s career, making stars of Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman, and turning Bob and Harvey Weinstein into giants. How did Quentin Tarantino, a high-school dropout and former videostore clerk, change the face of modern cinema (and win an Oscar in the process)? MARK SEAL takes the director, his producers, and his cast back in time, to 1993 In late 1992, Quentin Tarantino left Amsterdam, where he had spent three months, off and on, in a one-room apartment with no phone or fax, writing the script that would become Pulp Fiction, about a community of criminals on the fringe of Los Angeles. Written…