From Paul Poiret’s extravagant 1911 Paris atelier all-nighter to Madonna’s MTV sleepover and P Diddy’s best white party. Here are some of the world’s fashionable birthday parties of all time.Paul Poiret’s Thousand and Second Night, 1911
Pioneering designer Paul Poiret threw open the grounds of his Paris atelier to 300 guests. The dress code was “Oriental,” and guests who didn’t comply were turned away. It was the ur-fashion party.
Stephen Tennant’s 21st birthday, 1920
The original 20th-century party boy wore lipstick and leopard-print pyjamas just for spending the day in bed. So you know he and his squad went The Bauhaus Metal Party, 1929
No one did costume parties or inappropriate student-teacher relationships like the Bauhaus. The Metal Party was the school’s final and fiercest effort. Guests were invited to come dressed as diving bells, egg whisks or maybe a radioactive substance.
William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davis’ circus party, 1937
Hollywood actress Marion Davis was the Paris Hilton of her time and newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst was her Nick Carter. Together they hosted endless parties at their 118-room beach pad in Santa Monica. In 1937, they set up a circus on the grounds with a carousel that was so big they had to knock down a wall.
The “50 Most Beautiful People” at The Factory, 1965
Edie Sedgwick and 49 other beautiful people doing beautiful things at the original Factory at 231 East Forty-seventh Street.
HAM for his 21st birthday. Cecil Beaton was the official photographer.
The Bauhaus Metal Party, 1929
No one did costume parties or inappropriate student-teacher relationships like the Bauhaus. The Metal Party was the school’s final and fiercest effort. Guests were invited to come dressed as diving bells, egg whisks or maybe a radioactive substance.
William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davis’ circus party, 1937
Hollywood actress Marion Davis was the Paris Hilton of her time and newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst was her Nick Carter. Together they hosted endless parties at their 118-room beach pad in Santa Monica. In 1937, they set up a circus on the grounds with a carousel that was so big they had to knock down a wall.
The “Fifty Most Beautiful People” at The Factory, 1965
Edie Sedgwick and 49 other beautiful people doing beautiful things at the original Factory at 231 East Forty-seventh Street.
Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball, 1966
Truman Capote spent three months compiling the guest list in a black and white composition book, which he carried with him everywhere, adding and crossing off names.
Woodstock, 1969
Cons: torrential rain,”brown acid,” traffic. Pros: seeing nearly every band your parents ever told you mattered, being able to wear a headband when it was still cool, free love.
Rothschild Surrealist Ball, 1972
The plates were covered in fur, the bread rolls were dyed blue and the centrepieces included broken dolls and dead fish. But the masks were even weirder. Hostess Marie-Hélène de Rothschild wore a deer’s head with tears made from real diamonds. Salvador Dali and Audrey Hepburn were there.
Bianca Jagger’s 30th birthday, 1977
She didn’t actually ride into Studio 54 on a horse — she walked in with Mick Jagger — but a naked giant covered in gold glitter did lead her around on a white stallion later, which is still pretty baller.
Freddie Mercury’s Halloween party, 1978
It had everything: drag queens, contortionists, naked wrestling models and hermaphrodite dwarves with trays strapped to their heads. Pablo Escobar’s Halloween costume bash, held in Medellín the same night, looked like a children’s birthday party in comparison.
Yves Saint Laurent Opium launch, 1978
In his diary entry for September 20, 1978, Andy Warhol expresses his regret over “missing the big glamorous YSL Opium party in New York on the Chinese boat downtown.” Yves Saint Laurent had 2,000 white orchids imported from Hawaii for the occasion and there was an enormous gold Buddha.
Area’s “Gnarly” theme opening night, circa 1980
The downtown 80s nightlife den with some of the most notorious bathrooms in New York hosted rotating themed nights. The launch for its “Gnarly” theme “featured monster trucks and a skateboard ramp with live skateboards,” remembers the club’s resident DJ, Johnny Dynell.
The Stone Roses “Flower Show,” 1985
The seminal British group hired a warehouse behind Piccadilly Station in Manchester and called their gig the “Flower Show” to throw off the police — and the Madchester scene was born. Invitations were scraps of paper with a phone number you could call for directions.
Malcolm Forbes’ 70th birthday, 1989
The magazine baron flew 800 friends to Tangiers on three planes, including a Concorde. The guests yachted in shoulder pads and carried customized gold credit cards which served as passes for the weekend. Isn’t that what everyone did in the 80s?
The Castlemorton Common festival, May 1992
A counter-cultural musical riot organized by Spiral Tribe in the English countryside. It was the rave to end all raves (partly because 13 members of the group were arrested directly afterwards). — https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/the-35-most-fashionable-parties-of-all-time