Thirty-two years ago—almost to the day—Vanity Fair’s former editor in chief Graydon Carter put on a tuxedo, popped half of a beta blocker, and took a shot of vodka. Then, he went down to Mortons restaurant in West Hollywood to greet guests arriving at the magazine’s first annual Oscar party. “I was worried we’d fail,” he said.
Carter is just one of the many people I interviewed for the oral history on how, exactly, VF’s once humble(ish) dinner transformed into a marquee event, other than the Academy Awards themselves, on Oscars Sunday. You’ll recognize many of the names—Gwyneth Paltrow, Lindsay Lohan, Bryan Lourd, Shonda Rhimes, Tom Ford, and Anjelica Huston all chimed in. Although perhaps no one did so as colorfully as Fran Lebowitz: “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?’” she told me frankly over the phone.
With all due respect to Lebowitz, the outfits are part of the fun. In anticipation of next weekend’s legendary spectacle, we published fashionable odes to Kendall Jenner’s and Julia Fox’s Oscar Party looks, as well as took a look back at the best outfits of 2025’s bash. In the words of Moira Rose, played by the late, great Catherine O’Hara: What’s your favorite season? Awards!
