The instructions were simple: leave your pens, notebooks and social media devices at the hotel but do not under any circumstances forget your RFID. That would be the "radio frequency id" card, which looked like a coin encased in a clear-plastic credit card and transmitted all of your relevant information — time of arrival, whether you were allowed to bring a guest and, perhaps, credit history — to the organizers of the toughest ticket in town on Academy Awards night: The Vanity Fair Oscar party.
The RFID was your admittance to the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, which architect Basil Walter and a Vanity Fair special ops team had turned into an Art Deco fantasy world where the number of rich, famous and powerful people per square inch reaches mind boggling proportions, as it has for the last 17 of the last 18 years.
From left: Jessica Biel with beau Justin Timberlake; Liv Tyler with dad STeven Tyler (Mazur/VF11/WireImage)
Outside the hotel, a wall of photographers, cameramen and electronic journalists heralded every arrival. Inside, the Sunset Tower's pool had been covered over.
Over it a tent had been erected that was held aloft by 60 translucent weather balloons, each four-feet in diameter. (Fortunately, none of the taller guests attempted to play with the orbs, which could have had interesting consequences.)
The party had begun with a 5 p.m. dinner for 150 of handpicked guests, presided over by Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter and his wife Anna. The chosen few included "Lost" co-creator J.J. Abrams, Rolling Stone Mick Jagger and L'Ren Scott; comedy-film guru Judd Apatow and his actress wife Leslie Mann; Anderson Cooper and his boyfriend Benjamin Maisani; "Mad Men" actor Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt; designers Tom Ford and Diane von Furstenberg; and HuffPo founder Arianna Huffington.
BFFs Busy Philipps and Michelle Williams pucker up. (Vespa/VF11/WireImage)
But the party was just getting started. As dinner an the Academy Awards presentation ended, the stars and the moguls migrated to the Sunset Tower where Justin Bieber met Tom Hanks; Aerosmith frontman and "American Idol" judge Steven Tyler hung with his daughter Liv Tyler, Eva Mendes prompted double takes wherever she walked and where Taylor Swift and her friends kept tabs on her reported ex Jake Gyllenhaal. Like they say, Hollywood is high school with money.
Check out tomorrow's Gatecrasher for much more inside coverage of the Vanity Fair Oscar party.
Do blondes have more fun? From left: Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz; Taylor Swift and Emma Stone. (Strauss/WireImage; Goodenough/Everett)
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