Parties You Will Never Get Into

Before Lady GaGa was born, there was already Grace Jones. In the old days, one trusted Grace Jones to put on concerts bordering on disco theatrics and out-and-out madness. At the anniversary bash of Viktor & Rolf’s perfume, partygoers were able to briefly relive her glory days.

Dutch designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren arranged for the legendary diva to mark five years of Flowerbomb, their label’s wildly lucrative fragrance. A thousand guests packed the ballroom of Paris’ Le Meurice Hotel — including the likes of Jade Jagger, Renzo Rosso, Anouck Lepere, Afef Jnifen Tronchetti, Provera Lou Doillon, Keziah Jones, Renzo Rosso, Carmen Kass, Gareth Pugh, Daria Werbowy, Elettra Wiedemann, and Liya Kebede — to celebrate with the duo.

Guests were noticeably on the edge prior to Jones’ arrival, jostling for the best seats in the house. The designers had most of them in the VIP section however, which they shared with pals like Jessica Stam and Karolina Kurkova.

Then, around 12 midnight, Jones sashayed into the stage, wrenching an ecstatic cry from the crowd. Wearing a sable unitard with humongous sleeves, a Philip Treacy mask, and a flat-top hairdo, Grace Jones looked every bit the Lady GaGa precursor. She began her set with “La Vie en Rose,” which she proceeded to pepper with booty shakes and provocative commentary.

At 62, Jones still had the fashion instinct of a young, bold pop princess. Halfway into her performance, she tugged her leotard tightly, forming a thong, and yelled, “I’m ready when you are!”

Finally, it was time to sing the birthday song to the perfume, personified as a gigantic box. She sung it with the designers onstage.

“This is the first time I’ve sung happy birthday to a perfume,” she jested to the audience.

Lindsay Lohan failed to catch the Jones gig, arriving from London just as guests were trickling out.

Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb now ranks among the bestselling fragrances in the world. The designers created the scent in collaboration with L’Oréal.

Model par excellence Natalia Vodianova has a heart — a Naked Heart Foundation, that is. Each year, she mounts the Love Ball, a glamorous fundraising rendezvous for her nonprofit organization.

This year’s fundraising was held at Camden’s Roundhouse in London on Feb. 23. Sponsored in part by De Beers, the ball fetched £1.2 million for the foundation, which erects children’s playgrounds in Vodianova’s native Russia.

While guest Elizabeth Hurley diverted some with her see-through sari, hostess Natalia Vodianova certainly got the most attention at the bash. She arrived wearing a shimmery diamond necklace called Magic Moment, which she designed with De Beers. By night’s end, the necklace had a new owner, who shelled out £180,000 for it.

Others made similar costly bids for artists’ opuses. Peter Blake’s artwork, “I Love You,” was auctioned for £160,000 while a sculpture by Jake and Dinos Chapman earned £135,000. Tracey Emin, in a speech, pronounced the latter’s auction “an absolute bargain.” She herself drew some generous bids, for her piece “With You I Breathe.”

Works by artists Jeff Koons, Keith Tyson, Pavel Pepperstein, Francesco Vezzoli, Gosha Ostretsov, Anselm Reyle and Marc Quinn were also featured.

In between biddings, guests were entertained with musical performances, beginning with Yusuf Islam’s incredible rendition of Natalia Vodianova’s personal favorite, “Where Do the Children Play?” Another highlight was a number by British songstress Leona Lewis. The music of Kristof Barati, Paloma Faith, Sharleen Spiteri and Ruby Wax also wafted through the Roundhouse.

Having a ball that evening were such belles as Kate Moss, Donna Karan, Rachel Zoe and Carolina Herrera. Diane von Furstenberg, fresh off the show of her House’s outgoing creative director Nathan Jenden, was also present. Other guests included Mario Testino, Stella McCartney, Jacquetta Wheeler, David Gandy, Amber Le Bon, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Paloma Faith and Matthew Williamson. Harper’s Bazaar Editor Lucy Yeomans co-hosted the affair.

Love Ball 2010 was also sponsored by Louis Vuitton, Gagosian, and Christie’s.

Life is a cabaret. This goes for all the tastemakers in Germany. No slump in the economy is stopping these people from reveling at the Mercedes-Benz Berlin Fashion Week. This year’s Berlin Fashion Week was kicked off by Hugo Boss’ Boss Black runway presentation, which was followed by a post-show soiree at the Hamburger Bahnhof museum.

The likes of Matt Dillon and Hillary Swank gathered inside a massive tent behind the stage. The excitement of the event was mirrored by the ambience of the party. All sorts of beautiful people were impossible to miss as they roamed the L.E.D.-lit dance floors. Apart from that, the place was also filled with high tech digital projections and magnums of champagnes.

Berlin’s merrymaking throng had continued to party their way to Friday at the historic Friedrichstadt Palast Theater, where the second-annual Style Nite was held. The event showcased three of Berlin’s most talked about labels: Kaviar Gauche, Michalsky, and Lala Berlin. The event had taken the conventional flashy display of fashion up a notch. The event, which went on for about four hours, kindled the love for musical theater among these Berlin fashionistas. The event welcomed all 2,000 martini-swigging guests with a presentation of Lala Berlin’s collection for the season.

Right after Lala Berlin presented his final fashion masterpiece, a dancer clad in a Kaviar Gauche mirrored bodysuit took the crowd’s attention as she swiveled under laser beams. What came next was Bella Berlin the Dancer followed by Michalsky’s Heinrich Zille-inspired couture collection. The event, which was far from disappointing, was sealed with a timeless performance from Spandau Ballet.

After showcasing all the creations of Berlin’s biggest names in Fashion, the crowd of revelers moved to a more sedated party scene at the Bebelplatz, where they partied on with pyrotechnics, booze and gossip aplenty.

This year’s Australian Vogue Party at Fox Studios was one of the best shindigs in all of 2009. And how could it not be? After all, 2009 marked the 50th successful year for Vogue Australia.

The party was a great success. The fact that Audrey Wilder Sang and Jenny Kee twirled around with glee were signs that the party was an absolute blast. It was one of the simplest ways to sum up the magazine’s opulent celebration. The iconic designer, Jenny Kee, had taken the stage in a burst of colors, commencing the glamorous festivities.

But before the guests, of whom there were around 700, had witnessed the impromptu podium dancing, they were greeted upon their arrival at the studio’s soundstage by none other than the chief executive officer of News Limited himself, John Hartigan. Along with the News Limited CEO came a charged line-up of male models and Kirstie Clements, the classy editor in chief of Vogue Australia.

Upholding Vogue’s superior standards, the party served the guests—all 700 of them—a magnum of Moet and Chandon while they were prettily seated in King Furniture. So far, Vogue standards on this side of the globe have never failed to anyone’s wildest expectations. It comes as a small surprise that the company has gone through 50 years of success and glamour.

The guest list in itself was one of the main reasons the party was so brilliant. Parties seldom become boring when the likes of Cate Blanchett, Megan Gale, Miranda Otto, and Collette Dinnigan are in attendance. In addition to that bunch, the who’s who of Australian fashion were also found present at the event. These included Kit Willow, Jayson Brundson, Lydia Pearson and cover girls Abbey Lee (who were all dressed in Max Azria), and Nicole Trunfio (who was clad in Louis Vuitton).

MacDella Cooper, the humanitarian from New York who is also known as “Liberia’s Angel,” revealed her plans for the MCF Academy in Liberia that she carried out with the support of the MacDella Cooper Foundation and her committee of luminaries of media, fashion, and design. She said that the plans would be primarily about the establishment of the first tuition-free school for the less fortunate children in Liberia.

On the final night of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York, the MacDella Cooper Foundation Fashion Week After Party planned to raise $500,000 for the MCF Academy, which will open next year.

“Having escaped the brutality of a decade-long civil war in Liberia myself, I know firsthand that Liberia desperately needs a new generation of empowered, educated individuals to continue its recovery,” said Cooper, who is also the president of the MacDella Cooper Foundation.

The After Party had Winka Dubbeldam’s (the architect for the Academy) designs for the institution. It also had an exclusive Fall 2009 Collection screening by famous fashion designer Korto Momolu, an appearance by a Project Runway Season five finalist as well as a keynote speech by the chief executive officer of Women’s Wholesale at Jones Apparel Group, Susan Metzger. Cocktails were served that night filled with dancing and tunes from DJ Dusko.

Some of the hosts for the MacDella Cooper Foundation Fashion Week After Party were: Interview magazine’s publisher Samantha Fennell, New York Post columnist Julia Szabo, Ralph Lauren Corporate Sonya Pankey, The Rachel Ray Show’s designer Evette Rios, CESLIE-The Women’s Network’s editor-in-chief Ceslie Armstrong and Lifetime Networks’ Barbara Brennan.

Among the honorary chairs of the event were Krystyna Houser, a dedicated sponsor to one of the many academic facilities on the MacDella Cooper Foundation Academy, and Donna Poyaidjais.

First off, before the party-hopping started, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held a celebration of the new retrospective of Ron Arad. The event was hosted by fashion model Linda Evangelista and was attended by some of the most prominent names in the fashion industry: Rachel Zoe, Anouk Lepere, Yigal Azrouël, and Franca Sozzani. They had the chance to get into culture, and probably on the front page by the next day, just before going to back to back parties.

Recording artist and live performer Lady GaGa—who is known for having unique and eccentric live performances topped with her crazy outfits—was performing at the Out magazine’s bash at the Box. It was the third consecutive night that she performed live at the venue. Apparently, an insider said they were only really short sets.

Coco Before Chanel premiered that night on September 16th. It gave the New York crowd the chance to settle down and, for the ladies, to rest their feet from wearing those inches-high stilettos for a few hours. Among those who attended the debut of the film were Agyness Deyn, Charlie Rose, Candice Bergen, and Rachel Bilson. And they most certainly enjoyed the party right after the screening.

Lindsay Lohan & Taylor Momsen

At the G-Star’s show, platinum blonds rising star Taylor Momsen and singer-model-actress Lindsay Lohan (aka LiLo) were spotted at the event huddling together and enjoying the event. Vanity Fair dubbed them as the “Front-Row Doppelgangers” that night.

Finally, Fashion Week would not have been as great as it was if it weren’t for the backing of a Roitfeld, which was proven by Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld who hosted a party for high fashion designer Giorgio Armani that sponsored a Richard Hambleton show. Just a few of the attendants who were excited about the artwork were actor Josh Hartnett, Mary-Kate Olsen, queens of R&B Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and Bar Rafaeli. After the exhibition, they went to Indochine, where the party continued until the early hours.

That night at Horseferry House, the Burberry head-quarters, was flowing with Snow Leopard vodka cocktails and Champagne as the Burberry chief executive officer Angela Ahrendts and creative director Christopher Bailey invited celebrity friends and fashionistas to celebrate its homecoming and end of the London Fashion Week.

Following its glamorous show of color and high fashion outfits, Bailey proposed a toast to 25 years of London Fashion with his invited guests. Some of these include Harry Potter franchise star Emma Watson, Lord of the Rings co-star Liv Tyler, singer-actress Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, Posh Spice aka Victoria Beckham, Agyness Deyn, Alexa Chung, Mary-Kate Olsen and Erin O’Connor. Slumdog Millionaire’s Dev Patel and Freida Pinto were seen being intimate with each other as they held hands entering the party.

The Burberry fashion house went all out as it offered five types of classic cocktails, with bottles of Moet and Chandon champagne filling every empty glass in sight. Aside from having these drinks, the party, which was held in Westminster, London, also had a stream of canapés such as mini Welsh rarebits, fish pies, bite-sized burgers and even little Yorkshire pudding swirls with horseradish and beef.

The live performance of The Kooks kept the crowd on their feet, then Deyn and Chung were taking turns on the DJ’s deck in playing for a dance floor that was jam-packed with prominent figures in the entertainment, film and fashion business. Bailey, who was wearing a white blazer, was even spotted making shapes before the marble dance floor were owned by two models who attempted to do some freestyle break dancing.

When the 80s sound of Take On Me by new wave band A-ha had reached its outro, the crowd disbanded late in the evening, with every event participant on a natural high as the London Fashion Week came to a close.

The party capping Alexander Wang’s show surfaced as one of New York Fashion Week’s best ever. Gotham’s wildest party animals even likened the merriment to those by Marc Jacobs, only that the latter never held his in a gasoline station.

MAC and Katie Grand engineered the September 12, 2009 party at the Mobil gas station next to Chelsea’s Milk Studios. Come party night, eager revelers swarmed towards 10th Avenue at 15th Street for the elusive ticket. It never came for many non-celebrities, of course.

Even with the gas tanks turned off by Mobil attendants, the aura within this hallowed expanse was one of paranoia. At one point, the DJ had to remind chain-smokers that it was, after all, a gas station. But the edginess was part of the explosive allure.

More than the makeshift bars serving Belvedere vodkas, revelers loved the station’s paid-for-everyone convenience store. Butterfingers and junk foods galore beckoned to the likes of Kirsten Dunst, Jared Leto, Mischa Barton, Agyness Deyn and Lily Donaldson. Pixie Geldof raided shelves of Nerds, as Cup Noodles started going into Alice Dellal’s bag.

Veuve Clicquot champagnes stood side by side with gas station staples like Gatorade and Orbitz gums. Baited with Pop cheeseburgers and fries were names such as Anouck Lepere, Devon Aoki, Kristian Laliberte, Amanda Leigh Dunn, Zev Norotsky, Isabeli Fontana, Trish Goff, Tallulah Harlech, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Theodora Richards, Will Blondelle, Jamie Burke and Lykke Li.

Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction was seen negotiating through the port-a-potties to catch the night’s main event: a Courtney Love mini-concert. In between expletives and puffs of fags, the onetime Hole front-woman revisited hits like “Malibu” and covered songs like “Bette Davis Eyes.” Rapper Santigold likewise performed.

BFFs Wang and Erin Wasson took to the stage in the small hours, when the DJ initiated a titanic dance party.

In the end, the Devil does indeed wear Prada.

Clothed in Prada Cruise, American Vogue’s deified editor-in-chief Anna Wintour heralded the premiere of The September Issue with close friends and VIPs. The long-gestating documentary played August 19 at an invitations-only screening party hosted by Wintour in New York City.

Moviegoers were a roll call of fashion overlords. Designers Oscar de la Renta, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Vera Wang, Jack McCollough, Jason Wu, Lazaro Hernandez, Richard Chai, Georgina Chapman, Zac Posen and Thakoon Panichgul all made sure to attend, lest they enrage fashion’s legendary “Nuclear Wintour.”

Insiders considered the screening party one of the most important dates for fashion in 2009. After all, the R.J. Cutler-directed documentary is a voyeuristic chronicle of Vogue’s September 2007 edition, one of the thickest magazine issues of all time.

A flood of people vied for a ticket to the premiere, which included a private dinner with the Vogue editrix herself. Despite the limited invites, folding chairs had to be hauled in the venue at the Museum of Modern Art for extraneous viewers.

Wintour accorded the September 2007 cover girl her seat of honor at the screening party. Sienna Miller, who graced the cover in a now-iconic shot by Mario Testino, calmly sat front-row as Wintour impaled her onscreen with icy putdowns.

Indeed, this is the film where Wintour famously dismissed Miller as being “too toothy” for Vogue.

If there were any acrimony between the two, nothing of the sort was seen at the premiere. Arriving with daughter Bee Shaffer, Wintour closely accompanied Miller on the red carpet, the actress clad in a sky-blue mini-dress by Thakoon.

Renée Zellweger, who was also a Vogue cover girl, was included in Wintour’s guest list, along with P. Diddy, Cassie, and Alexa Chung. Models Karlie Kloss, Chanel Iman and Caroline Trentini also came.

Not to be missed at the party were Wintour’s famous Vogue subordinates, Andre Leon Talley and Grace Coddington.

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show will be broadcast Dec. 1, 2009. Heidi Klum, of course, led the parade with her post-baby body at the annual event Thursday, Nov. 19.

Klum gave birth five weeks ago to a daughter.

Here is a slideshow of the girls preparing for the taping.

See more pictures and coverage here.

Outfits were centered around four themes that included Star Trooper, Pink Planet, Enchanted Forest and Romantic Journey.