Real talk? No shade—okay, maybe just a little—but if we had a choice between being invited to the Oscars and being invited to the legendary Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty, well...we’re disco-napping and will see y’all after the Best Picture is announced. And apparently, much of Hollywood feels the same way, since the silver carpet at the night’s most exclusive after-event is far more entertaining than the event itself.
Don’t believe me? Try to quell your FOMO as you look at the annual portrait taken by the film industry’s black elite (shoutout to Time’s Up founding member Shonda Rhimes for wearing a sash embroidered with “21" in tribute to the $21 million the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund has raised since its launch 60 days ago). Anita Hill and Auntie Maxine are chilling on the (left) side, because...why not? Hollywood (and congressional) politics may remain messy AF, but there is clearly light at the end of the tunnel—and it’s a blacklight!
We know you don’t really need to hear us wax poetic about this, so let’s get to the good stuff: the LEWKS. Yes, there were some randoms: Like Eminem, Marilyn Manson inexplicably resurfaced at the event, and Martha Stewart gave us more bare leg than we’ve ever seen her sport. Also, we don’t know what in the mermaid-pasties hell is going on with supermodel Joan Smalls’ outfit below. Nevertheless, enjoy our annual slideshow and get your vision board poppin’, because if Hair Love’s Matthew Cherry can win an Oscar off of a Kickstarter and our own Tonja Stidhum can manifest an invite to Essence’s Black Women in Hollywood brunch, we can do this!
