With the Oscars just around the corner, awards-season revelry is kicking into high gear.
TheWrap has distilled the best of 30 high-profile celebrations for this week's intrepid partygoers.
Also read: 2012 Oscars: Complete List of Nominees
With predictions running in their favor, can anyone beat the Weinsteins (16 nominations, multiple soirees)?
Vanity Fair can out bubbly them: It has seven nights of “Campaign Hollywood” parties leading up to Sunday.
Also read: Steve Pond's Oscar Picks: 'The Artist' Will Win, but Should It?
There will be 1,450 pounds of Maine lobster and 5 shrimp budgeted for each of the 1,500 guests (vegan or not) at the Governors Ball Oscar night. Party planners have ordered 1,000 bottles of Moet & Chandon champagne for the first-stop bash.
Afterward, many a guest will head to Vanity Fair's bash, where staffers will put together real-time video reports.
“The battle plan is unbelievable,” Vanity Fair Vice President and Publisher Edward Menicheschi told TheWrap.
Read on to find out why cheering at the Mondrian is a spoiler alert, why Oscar weekend could upgrade you to the carpool lane year round, and why Elton John gave Steven Tyler a “plus two.”
TUESDAY
40th Anniversary of Sir Charles Chaplin’s Academy Award Black-Tie Dinner
Direct the car to: Chateau Marmont
On the list: Hosts Dolores and Carmen Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughters) and Jaeger-LeCoultre, Alexander Payne, Julia Ormond, Lawrence Bender, Rose McGowan
Logline: This is what Awards season is supposed to look like in the movies. Black tie, moguls, legends and their offspring.
Smart guest takeaway: This is a return visit for the Chaplin granddaughters, who as Weinstein friends hosted a 1920s-themed premiere screening of “The Artist,” replete with old-time cars, at the Academy headquarters in Beverly Hills a few days before Thanksgiving.
Vanity Fair's Launch of the Montblanc Princess Grace Collection
Direct the car to: (the all new) Hotel Bel-Air
Logline: Wendy Stark Morrissey hosts the tribute to Grace Kelly.
Smart guest takeaway: “We have a slice of an entertainment community constituency each night, but it is all different cuts,” Vanity Fair Vice President and Publisher Edward Menicheschi tells TheWrap. “By the end of the week, we’ve done a good job of speaking to different communities that make up this extraordinary industry,” he said.
WEDNESDAY
Colin and Livia Firth’s Oxfam America Dinner
Direct the car to: Chateau Marmont
Logline: In addition to Oxfam’s global relief goals, Ermenegildo Zegna and Livia Firth partnered to lobby other top designers to be eco-friendly while designing the “wear it once” gowns that permeate Awards Season. This is Vanity Fair’s Wednesday offering.
Smart guest takeaway: This is not a “show up and smile” hosting job. Last year’s Oscar king curated the guest list himself.
