Art Basel? Nah…
All the works of art – the upright handsome kind – surrounded the pool (and GQ chief Jim Nelson) at the Chateau Marmont on Thursday night for GQ’s Men of the Year Party.
If one were hunting boyfriends, or merely on the hunt to recreate a Ciroc ad, they would have had an itchy finger at the dense pre-holiday gathering.
Also read:No Fault in Ansel Elgort, Shailene Woodley’s Stunning GQ ‘Men of the Year’ Covers (Photo)
From two Jimmys who have great 2014’s – Jimmy Iovine and viral-in-the-good-way Jimmy Kimmel, to level-up comics (Nick Kroll and Amy Schumer, with vets like Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler, and the return of Dave Chappelle nearby), breakout L.A. Clippers, glamour couples like Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello, to off-screen and on-screen pals Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, it was the Men and Women of the year clearing the Ipad guestlists and making an unusual Sunset Boulevard entrance through back hedges in to the Chateau on Thursday night.
Few parties are actually better in person than the FOMO-inducing penumbras cast off by photos, columns like this, and scans through wireimage galleries. This was one of them.
Three billion is not the only thing Iovine earned this year (from Beats’ sale to Apple).
GQ also named him the “Icon of the Year”. Chris Pratt, Dave Chappelle, Steve Carell, Michael Sam, Woodley and Elgort each landed their own covers, part of GQ’s six pack of December covers for “Men of the Year”. Woodley got a pass as “our new favorite crush,” the mag said. All of them, plus Iovine, showed.
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Had Sam’s year ended as strong as it started, he would not even have been there. He would have been in Chicago playing for the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football. “I hope the Cowboys lost,” he told me. (Spoiler alert: They didn’t. 41-28 over the Bears). The Cowboys cut Sam from their practice squad in late October after six weeks on the team. He seemed to be doing just fine legitimately making lots of new (famous) friends.
Nelson and GQ Creative Director Jim Moore had no problems with their huddle either.
A steady stream of names (and a stylist or two) orbited towards them, from James Marsden and Chadwick Boseman, to two suited guys, who would seem unsuited for each other: Oscar contender Steve Carell and Sam “I love that song…and that other one” Smith. I’m putting both on the Men of 2015 list already. Those two perched dangerously close to the pool.
Woodley and Elgort took their dancing (to Bob Marley’s “Stir It Up” ) away from the water hazard. Meanwhile, everyone else was moving towards the liquid, in the form of Grey Goose cocktails with those ultra masculine chunky blocks of clear ice.
No sneakers here (well, except for perennially rubber-footed Clark Duke). People dressed up for this. It is Conde Naste. This is a fashion magazine.
Those in proper tailoring included Ashley Benson, “Jane the Virgin” Gina Rodriguez, Ty and Holly Burrell, Simon Helberg, Hailee Steinfeld, the renaissance man of 2014 Weird Al Yankovic, and the one non-controversial “Ferguson” in the media landscape – Jesse Tyler.
Dave Chapelle struck the politically salient pose of the moment with his “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” pose on the carpet. In 2014, the one-time Kaiser Soze of comedy reemerged in flashes, making this outgoing appearance noteworthy. One vetted fixture on the scene told me it is the first time he’s seen Chapelle go public at an event like this in 12 years.
As we’re now a week away from Golden Globe nominations, co-host Amy Poehler planted in one of the hedged passages with a three-piece-suited Nick Kroll at her 9 o’clock. Kroll was full of the scene, commanding circles of athletes, actors, and comics with equal ease.
Before the “riff-raff” (ha) arrived, Gucci threw a pre-dinner inside the Penthouse. Seats were reserved for Joe Manganiello, Sofia Vergara, Robbie Rogers, Boseman, and my pick for most likely to be featured in GQ in 2015: Scott Eastwood (above right). (He’s already landed in the UK version.)
The holiday ornament hued silver and gold Men of the Year covers are on newsstands now, so throw one in someone stylish’s stocking.
#TradeAlliteration.
