Affleck, Rihanna help GQ celebrate its Men of the Year
GQ magazine’s annual Men of the Year Party, which for the last few years has unfolded at the Chateau Marmont, has become one of most reliable places to spot -- and actually chat with -- some of the entertainment industry’s sharpest-dressed men and women, and Tuesday night proved no exception.
Among the well-heeled notables nibbling, imbibing and hob-nobbing in the tented Chateau garden with GQ’s editor-in-chief Jim Nelson and creative director Jim Moore were Krysten Ritter in a lacy black-and-white Dolce & Gabbana dress, her “Don’t Trust the B---- in Apt 23” castmate James Van Der Beek sporting a Knot Standard suit and Rag & Bone shirt and tie, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family”) and partner Justin Mikita sporting jaunty bow ties from Ferguson’s soon-to-launch Tie the Knot collection.
The quartet of stylish “New Girl” cast members that made last year’s bash so memorable were back in full force, and the three guys were among the magazine’s “men of the year” honorees: Lamorne Morris sporting a shawl collar Ted Baker dinner jacket and bow tie; Jake Johnson wearing a navy blue two-button, notch lapel Tommy Hilfiger suit; and Max Greenfield in a razor-sharp in a Black Fleece by Brooks Brothers ensemble.
Also in the house was their always dazzling co-star, Hannah Simone, who turned heads with an iridescent, curve-hugging sequin-embroidered cap sleeve dress from the spring 2013 Talbot Runhof collection.
Other 2012 Men of the Year honorees in the house (make that chateau) were Ben Affleck, Rihanna, Jamie Foxx, Seth MacFarlane and “Parks and Recreation” cast members Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones, Jim O’Heir, Retta and Aubrey Plaza.
GQ Photo Gallery: 2012 Men of the Year Party
At one point in the evening we inexplicably found ourselves on the patio of the Chateau engaged in a pitched trivia-question battle with the charming Armie Hammer (Gucci suit, Ermenegildo Zegna tie, custom George Esquivel shoes on his size 15 feet), his wife Elizabeth Chambers (in a Gaultier dress and carrying an Armani clutch), and Mehcad Brooks (“Necessary Roughness”), a duel we’ll have to consider a draw since Hammer couldn’t name the first U.S president born in a hospital, and we couldn’t name the only mammal that’s unable to jump.
On the way out, we also spotted actor, author and occasional Chateau resident John Hodgman (whom you probably know as the PC to Justin Long’s Mac in Apple’s long-running TV commercials) who told us he’d ended up at the party quite by accident, having come to town, he told us, to work on a project related to his most recent book “That Is All.”
“I’ve written for GQ in the past and I’ve always been invited,” he said, “but it’s always been here in L.A. When I checked in they said there wasn’t going to be any dinner service because of the GQ party so I thought I’d just come down.”
Despite the fact, Hodgman looked downright dapper thanks to wrists accessorized with a pair of gold and pearlescent cufflinks (“My millennium cufflinks,” he told us) and a mustache accessorized with a postage-stamp-sized soul patch beneath his lower lip. (“I consider the soul patch an apology for my mustache,” he said.)
As we stepped out into the windy Southern California night, we found ourselves wondering how GQ manages to continually raise the bar with its annual star-studded men of the year parties -- and chuckling over the fact that if the world does end next month as Hodgman humorously prophesizes in “That Is All,” they won’t have to worry about it.
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