Parties You Will Never Get Into

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).

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.

Twenty-three-year-old singer Lady GaGa, not well-known for her conservative attire or opinions, drew stares Monday night with a hat that resembled a cocoon at the the Accessories Council Excellence Awards in New York.

The black lace veil accompanied a rather interesting outfit that included a pink bra over a long sleeved black shirt, shiny hotpants, fishnet stockings and, of course, heels.

Read more and see pictures here.

Needless to say, Lady GaGa was not a recipient of an accessory award this year.

With celebrities dominating magazines nowadays, one feels nostalgic for times when real models graced their covers. In honor of fashion’s most inspiring faces and bodies, The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art has dedicated their spring exhibition to models.

Titled “The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion,” the exhibition runs from May 6 through August 9, 2009. It formally opened May 4 with a gala benefit attended by a large throng.

Marc Jacobs served as the gala’s Honorary Chair. His co-chairs were Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour; singer Justin Timberlake; and supermodel Kate Moss.

Ninety-six of Moss’ peers, including current supermodel Gisele Bundchen and model-turned-host Heidi Klum, gushed forth into the museum’s Tisch Galleries for the exhibition. “Muse” exhibits around 80 fashion creations dating as far back as 1947 and as recent as 1997. It features such models as Twiggy, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Amber Valletta, Lauren Hutton, Suzy Parker, Shalom Harlow, Jean Shrimpton, Veruschka, Nadja Auermann, Lisa Fonssagrives, Peggy Moffitt, Janice Dickinson, Beverly Johnson, Jerry Hall, Helena Christensen, Sunny Harnett, Brooke Shields, and Dorian Leigh.

Moss wore a golden turban and a high-hemmed Marc Jacobs lamé toga to the event, while Bundchen donned a blue sequined Versace. Designers like Carolina Herrera, Jason Wu, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, and Donatella Versace also walked the red carpet.

Still, mainstream celebrities studded the event. Renée Zellweger, Jessica Alba, Kate Beckinsale, Liv Tyler, Anne Hathaway, Katy Perry, Victoria Beckham, Blake Lively, Ashley Olsen, Mary-Kate Olsen, Eva Mendes, Kate Bosworth, and Rachel Bilson all enjoyed their model turns on the carpet. On the unconventional hand, Madonna stopped museum traffic with thigh-high boots, blue barmaid dress, and towering bunny headgear by Louis Vuitton, while Rihanna cross-dressed in a Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo.

World-venerated fashion designer Domenico Dolce turned half a century old on September 25, 2008. On his golden anniversary, he got his Midas touch out, not to make clothes, but to throw a celebration bespeaking a great era.

Hollywood and the fashion world’s brightest stars lent their wattage to the party, held in Milan, Italy. All roads in the city seemingly led to Club Prive, located beneath the plush Principe di Savoia hotel.

Designer Stefano Gabbana, the other half of the Dolce & Gabbana fashion empire, came in an antiquated carriage drawn by four horses. He was escorted by supermodels Claudia Schiffer and Eva Herzigova.

Multimedia celebrity Jennifer Lopez and her husband Marc Anthony arrived in a black carriage, while another carried burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese. Actor Mathew McConaughey came aboard a Rolls Royce, with Camilla Alves in tow.

More than 200 dropped by to party with the designer. From fashion’s corridors of power came the likes of Anna dello Russo, the majestic fashion director-at-large of Vogue Nippon; Rachel Zoe, celebrity stylist; and Stefano Tonchi, New York Times fashion editor. There were models galore, too, as vintage as Marpessa Hennink and as contemporary as Lily Donaldson. British talent David Gandy was just one of the many male mannequins that night.

Italian-American actress Monica Bellucci of The Passion fame and Italy’s Olympic swimmer Paolo Bossini partied there, too. Artist Marco Perego and the dancer Emilie Fouilloux were also invited.

Italian pop singer Tiziano Ferro was also present, but the cachet for entertainer of the night went to Diana Ross. Hidden from the other guests in a mirror-filled room, the diva surprisingly emerged on stage and whipped the night’s overture, “I Will Survive,” to a tearful audience.

Guests garbed themselves in the best Dolce & Gabbana fashion.

Victoria’s Secret has been known to throw out extravagant and glitzy fashion shows every year with alluring supermodels flashing their skimpy yet fabulous lingerie down the runway. Each VS show is typically one great party by itself, but the models and guests just can’t get enough that even the show’s after party is still packed with hordes of A-list people.

The 2008 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show lived up to everybody’s expectation. The show was held at the amazing Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach on November 15, 2008. In fact, the show was one of the hotel’s re-opening highlights after wiping out a whopping $1 billion for its renovation.

The fashion show was another total success with a theme focusing on “glamour, sophistication and return to elegance.” Seated at the front row were stars like Sean “Diddy” Combs, Kim Kardashian, Martha Stewart, John Stamos, Lenny Kravitz, and Paris Hilton. Thirty-five gorgeous models flooded the glittering runway to the tunes of Kanye West and Chris Brown while artificial rose petals were pouring down. Usher also delivered musical performances, singing a medley of his hit songs. Other highlights of the show were the giant-sequined gift-bow wings on Heidi Klum and Adriana Lima modeling the 1,500-carat fantasy bra that is reported to be valued at $5 million.

After the show, an exclusive after party was held at the hotel’s LIV club. Guests splurged on the all-night open bar while free Victoria’s Secret goodie packs were handed on the way out. Guests who were at the club included actor Terrence Howard, Diddy, Paris Hilton, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mario Lopez, and the VS models.

The night before the fashion extravaganza, Fontainebleau held a $5 million grand re-opening soiree where VS models were on hand to cut the ribbon. Talk about Marisa Miller, Doutzen Kroes, and Heidi Klum, together with the hotel’s new owner and CEO Don Soffer. Guests who were present at the bash included Alex Rodriguez, Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, Kristin Cavallari, Brody Jenner, and Kim Kardashian; plus a surprise performance from Mariah Carey.