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http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2007/nov/04/best-parties-ever/The best parties ever
12:00a.m. 4 November 2007
| Marie-Christine Sourris
Anyone with money can throw a big party, but to host a truly great one takes style, imagination and some serious connections. Marie-Christine Sourris crashes some of the most memorable shindigs of all time.
Diddy?s White Party
Now in its ninth year, this annual end-of-summer bash thrown by Sean ?Diddy? Combs is a hot ticket on the East Coast celeb circuit ? Bruce Willis even helicoptered in for it once.
But if you want to score an invite, be prepared to lighten up ? the hip-hop mogul strictly enforces an all-white dress code on his guests (of which there were close to 1000 this September).
After moving the soiree to St Tropez in recent years, it was brought back to Diddy?s East Hamptons residence (a ritzy, all-white mansion of course), complete with a white carpet.
?This party is up there with the top three that I?ve thrown,? Combs said of this year?s event. ?It?s a party that has legendary status ? it?s hard to throw a party that lives up to its legend.?
Weeding out the non-committed is one way to keep the legend alive: Billy Joel?s wife, Katie Lee, was apparently turned away at the entrance for wearing the wrong shade of cream.
Chalk it up to miscommunication: ?I was only dropping off guests before I went out to dinner!? she told the New York Daily News. ?They denied me from a party I wasn?t even going to.?
So what was the host himself wearing? White sneakers with silver detailing, white shirt and pants, and a gold medallion. Famous faces: Mariah Carey, Donna Karan, Tommy Lee, Star Jones (formerly of The View), Ashley Olsen, Lil? Kim and Busta Rhymes.
Elton John?s Tie And Tiara Ball
The tiny dancer?s annual Black and White Ball (held at his Old Windsor mansion) is more than enough to rival its namesake: Truman Capote?s infamous 1966 Black and White Ball at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, ?when the non-arrival of an invitation meant social extermination for the overlooked? (as one journalist describes it).
Renamed the White Tie and Tiara Ball, sponsored by Chopard, the annual event raises money for the Elton John Aids Foundation.
Of course, what?s a party without some serious karaoke? This year, Sir Elton (clad in a Yohji Yamamoto tailcoat emblazoned with Las Vegas badges) joined Dame Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones on stage for group renditions of Hey Big Spender and Delilah, backed by a 25-piece orchestra to a 500-strong audience.
Famous faces: The Duchess of York and Princess Beatrice, Dame Judi Dench, Elle McPherson, Little Britain star David Walliams, Boris Becker, Kirsten Dunst and Dita Von Teese.Vanity Fair Oscars After-Party
Forget the golden statues ? it?s the post-Oscars parties that get everyone so excited.
Once the official red carpet gets put away, about 50 more roll out around town; the most prestigious one from uber-sophisticated US magazine Vanity Fair.
Known as the creme de la creme of parties, it?s traditionally held at iconic West Hollywood venue Morton?s.
Year after year, A-list guests such as this year?s attendees Jennifer Aniston, Madonna, Nicole Kidman, John Travolta, Beyonce, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Natalie Portman, Hugh Jackman, Gwen Stefani, Sean Penn and Gwyneth Paltrow (the list goes on) gather for pre and post Oscars drinks.
One casualty of this year?s cutbacks (the list was limited to 500) was Paris Hilton. She?s been blacklisted by the magazine?s editor, Graydon Carter. Carter has reportedly said, ?Paris who? She will never attend one of the parties I host.? Ouch.
Times Square, New Year?s Eve
It?s one of those things that everyone wants to experience at least once in their lifetime: count in the new year and watch the ball drop in Times Square, New York City (while nearly two tons of confetti drops from the sky!).
Police cordon off street blocks from around 4pm in the afternoon, after which an estimated one million people cram into the triangle-shaped square (bordered by Broadway, 43rd Street and Seventh Avenue) to score a good viewing spot.
But be warned: once on the street, there?s no public toilets, no bags/backpacks allowed, and public drinking in NYC is forbidden. To get around this, book ahead for one of the Times Square hotels (there are more than 16,000 rooms in the neighbourhood) and restaurants that have a view of the ball being lowered, such as The Renaissance New York, The Marriott and TGI Fridays).
So why this location? 1904 marked the first-ever celebration of New Year?s Eve in Times Square, to commemorate the official opening of the new headquarters of The New York Times, known as Times Tower.
The building became the pinnacle of an unprecedented December 31 celebration, as the newspaper?s owner spared no expense creating the greatest party of all time. And so it was that Times Square instantly replaced Lower Manhattan?s Trinity Church as NYC?s favourite place to ring in the new year. In 1961, The New York Times team relocated and Times Tower became One Times Square.
Studio 54
Formerly a CBS radio and TV stage named Studio 52, the space was sold in 1974 when the network studio moved its programs around the corner. The building was subsequently bought, revamped into a nightclub and renamed after its street address (254 West 54th Street).
The iconic Studio 54 was born. Peruvian supermodel-turned-PR maven Carmen D?Alessio was brought on board to launch the hotspot (?I created Studio 54!? she told New York Magazine in 1997), putting it on the map for club owners Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell (played by Mike Myers in the movie adaptation).
Before long, she was throwing parties for all her famous friends ? like the historic soiree she threw for Bianca Jagger, who rode into the nightclub on a white horse.
Then there was the time she got Valentino to act as the ringleader of real circus animals, and the time Armani was ?feted with a drag-queen ballet?, also according to New York Magazine.
For nine tumultuous years, it was the preferred haunt of New York celebrities such as Elton John, Andy Warhol, Elizabeth Taylor, Truman Capote, Liza Minelli and fashion designer Halston.
Studio 54 became known for zealously guarding its velvet rope, with mile-long queues of wannabes outside, and a handpicked mix of glamorous celebrities and beautiful nobodies on the inside. After briefly reopening in 1994, the nightclub closed its doors forever; the building now houses the Roundabout Theatre Company.
A ?successor? Studio 54 nightclub has been situated in Las Vegas since 1997.
Oprah?s 50th
When the queen of TV rolls into a new half-century, you know the event will go down in history. Oprah Winfrey?s 50th birthday in 2004 lasted an entire weekend, kicking off with a Friday lunch with 50 of her closest girlfriends at the Bel Air Hotel in LA.
Later that evening, she hosted a dinner party at her $50 million ranch near Santa Barbara, followed by the main event: a blowout bash the next night, where she reportedly spent $25,000 to fly in Louis Roederer Cristal Ros? champagne. Squillions of celebs attended, including John Travolta, Halle Berry, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts and wrestler-turned-actor-turned-Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, to name just a few.
?A live, fawning tribute worthy of an Ottoman potentate?, is how the New York Times described the extravaganza. In between serenades from Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder, the hostess-with-the-mostess somehow found time to cut her massive 400-pound birthday cake (complete with sugar roses and edible, gold-trimmed, handpainted portraits of herself).
Rio Carnival
Carnival is celebrated in villages across Brazil, but nowhere does it quite like Rio de Janeiro, where around 10 million people celebrate with an explosion of dancing in the streets, fancy dress balls and parades.
The event runs for four days towards the end of February/ early March (40 days before Easter), and finishes the day before the fasting period of Lent begins.
It?s a final celebration of all the bodily pleasures good Catholics are supposed to abstain from during Lent ? the name translates as ?farewell to flesh?.
Not to be missed is the Samba School Competition in the Sambadrome on Marqus de Sapuca Avenue. If you?ve seen pictures of elaborate headpieces and glittering parades during Rio Carnival, chances are they were taken here.
Millions of dollars are spent each year by directors hoping to outdo each other with thousands of dancers and singers, fabulous costumes and colourful floats
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