What really happened inside the Vanity Fair party

LEO DiCaprio, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck and hundreds more stars partied the night away at the Vanity Fair bash. Here’s what our spy saw.

“Zero FOMO,” marvelled one Hollywood insider surveying the star-packed room at Vanity Fair’s annual Oscar bash.

Indeed, for Hollywood insiders who perpetually fear over Oscar weekend that there’s always a better party somewhere across town, the ultra exclusive VF party still reigns as the best and left no “fear of missing out” on some other shindig.

The night’s winners — including Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson, Mark Rylance and Alicia Vikander — hauled around their hardware and were mobbed by wellwishers as current VF cover girl Jennifer Garner spent most of the night sitting in a corner in conversation with J.J. Abrams, the creator of her former series Alias.

Garner, in a stunning Versace dress at the VF party in Beverly Hills, gave a bombshell interview about her ex, Ben Affleck — who was seen far across the party — a day before LA’s Oscars madness, however, the couple had reunited for the birthday of their son, Sam.

Isla Fisher — who’d helped her presenter husband Sacha Baron Cohen smuggle his Ali G costume into the Oscars earlier — chatted with her former Wedding Crashers co-star Vince Vaughn as she held a giant cheeseburger from an In-N-Out stand at the Basil Walter-designed party space.

Kate Hudson also hung out at the party. Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images/AFP

Sheryl Crow, Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher partying at the Vanity Fair bash. Picture: Kevin Mazur/VF16/WireImage

Jared Leto arrived at the bash with fashion’s designer-of-the-moment, Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele. “I’m his muse,” Leto explained to us as the pair walked in wearing similar looks.

Fresh from his triumphant Milan Fashion Week show, Michele was then seen running up to Texas socialite Lynn Wyatt at the VF bash, telling her of her outfit, “That’s one of my dresses!”

Later, when a tune by Wyatt’s BFF Elton John came on, Wyatt, 80, who was recently profiled in VF, exclaimed, “Let’s dance!” and began to groove better than we could ever hope to.

Hulking Patriots player Rob Gronkowski approached, yelling, “Vince! Vince!,” and Baron Cohen compared comic notes on the night with Larry David and Bill Maher.

Sylvester Stallone — who shockingly lost in the best supporting actor category to Rylance, and was at the party with wife Jennifer Flavin — was consoled by Antonio Banderas, who gave him a bear hug.

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Rylance, a well-respected veteran theatre actor who’s been known to read memorised poems as acceptance speeches at the Tonys, decided that approach wasn’t for the movie crowd.

“I had a poem packed in my suitcase,” explained the English actor, who won for Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, to guests at the VF party. “But I decided it was inappropriate.”

Scandal star Kerry Washington was nearby in one of the night’s more scandalous dresses, with a drooping back that made many wonder if she was having a wardrobe malfunction — she wasn’t. Washington was just one of many stars who’d changed outfits after the awards show.

Taylor Swift in a racy Alexandre Vauthier gown created the night’s biggest bottleneck as she moved around the VF party and was followed by a swarm all passing by to get a look.

Kate Upton was telling model friends, “We’re going to Guy’s later,” referring to the annual bash hosted by manager Guy Oseary and Madonna.

Brie Larson made an outfit change, and toted around her Oscar. Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images/AFP

Taylor Swift arrived with Lorde. Picture: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Brett Ratner — who executive-produced The Revenant with his RatPac partner James Packer — was seen limping after injuring his foot and winding up at the hospital over the weekend.

“It didn’t break, but it was sprained pretty bad,” Ratner told us. He even showed off his bandage under his tux. “I’m limpin’ around.” But the injury didn’t keep Ratner from hitting the party circuit.

At the Vanity Fair party, moguls were also some of the evening’s biggest stars.

Matt Damon and Ryan Seacrest seemed blown away to meet Apple CEO Tim Cook, and in one power powwow, Disney CEO Bob Iger chatted with Tom Freston and Vice co-founder Shane Smith.

WME heads Patrick Whitesell and Ari Emanuel made a beeline for Selena Gomez when he spotted her.

Other studio honchos included Fox chairman Jim Gianopulos and Paramount’s distribution and marketing head Megan Colligan.

US Attorney Preet Bharara was seen at a clubby booth and NFL owners Steve Tisch and Robert Kraft made the rounds.

Lady Gaga and Sir Elton John arrived together for the Vanity Fair post Oscars party. Picture: AFP/ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ

On one side of a large outdoor space, smoke billowed as rapper Wiz Khalifa puffed away, largely unnoticed by the movie crowd, and Jon Hamm stood alone on the other side, smoking and looking at his phone.

Chris Evans sat on a bench with his sister, who was his date to the awards.

Per Se’s Thomas Keller created the menu for 1,200 at the afterparty, which included 1,000 “Bouchon house-made hot dogs” and 600 handmade Mars bars.

At 2am., Keller was seen leaving in a white chef’s uniform.

Valets called out guests’ names as their cars arrived, with one screaming, “Demi and Wilmer! Demi and Wilmer!”

Also at the VF bash were Sean Combs, Gwen Stefani, Mad Max director George Miller, Chris Rock, Alessandra Ambrosio, Michael Fassbender, Kate Hudson, Rachel McAdams, Tim Allen, Jessica Alba, Elizabeth Banks, Joe Jonas, and the town’s old guard — including Don Rickles, Faye Dunaway and Suzanne Somers.

This article was originally published in the New York Post

Originally published as What really happened inside the Vanity Fair party