RSVIP: Count Down to Oscars, Day One, The Costume Designers Guild Awards And More

by Jeffrey Slonim (RSS feed)
Feb 24th 2011 at 6:01AM

Oscar Week, day one: Deja vu. It had only been a matter of weeks since RSVIP, based in Manhattan, traveled to Los Angeles for the SAG Awards. And while snow had canceled my initial flight to the SAG Awards, yet again, at 4:00 a.m on February 21, the streets of Manhattan were freshly blanketed with the slippery white stuff.

Nonetheless, a brave cab driver agreed to head for JFK, and American Airlines was still flying. In fact, the flight landed at LAX in plenty of time for RSVIP to drive a rented Chevy HHR directly to the airport in Santa Monica to catch the Cartoon Network's Hall of Game Awards, taking place that afternoon at Barker Hanger.

Bleachers facing the Astroturf arrivals carpet were filled with shrieking tweens, and on the tail end of the NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles, the Hall of Game Awards, hosted by skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, included numerous famous athletes and child stars.

A low-key Drew Brees, left above, wearing dark blue jeans, mentioned to Luxist that he has two sons at home, "a 2-year-old and a 4-month-old." Greg Jennings of the Green Bay Packers wore a black ring, edged with diamonds, with Roman numerals on it. We asked if it was his prize from the Super Bowl. "This is my wedding ring," answered Jennings. "I don't even know if that ring is designed yet."

Terrell Owens, in ripped jeans, hopped on a battery powered scooter train. And, Jackson Ragow, the star of Cartoon Network's "Dude, What Would Happen," drove it recklessly around the carpet with a minicam attached to his helmet.

The Hall of Game Awards were the first award show of RSVIP's Oscar week and by far the most animated. For example, a Most Awesome Mascot contestant bounced on a trampoline in full costume to flip in the air and dunk a basketball. We won't see that at the Academy Awards.

"I'm from Florida," offered a shivering Venus Williams, right, in a late-afternoon breeze, in a tent backstage before going on camera to do a PSA about childhood obesity.

The next morning, with sun-drenched palm trees of West Hollywood on view out the window, RSVIP had the sneaking suspicion, not that it would make any difference, that the pretty woman snipping my hair at a boutique salon on Santa Monica might not be a woman at all.

The curves said "woman"; the hands . . . not a sure thing. But when she finished, RSVIP felt red carpet ready.

halle berry

At 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, February 22, at the Beverly Hilton, Kristin Davis arrived at the 13th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards in a behemoth white Oscar de la Renta ball gown with black polka dots and a black velvet ribbon at the waist. "I have to pee," she later mentioned to a handler.

There was no imagining getting in and out of that dress in time before Davis kicked off the awards.

During cocktails, we spotted Kathy Griffin and Bette Midler bonding and doing photos with Isaiah Mustafa, the hunk from the Old Spice commercial.

Lacoste sponsored the event, and plastic alligators on a stick decorated tables inside the Hilton ballroom (also home to the Golden Globes).

"This is the best party in town, Halle Berry, left, wearing a fuchsia gown by Elie Saab, announced at the podium.

It certainly would have been difficult to match the collection of stars assembled to honor famed costume designer Julie Weiss, given an award for Career Achievement in Film and Television.

ashton kutcher and demi moore

Ashton Kutcher, right, ended every story with a disarming "We love you, Julie!" His first tale had the rotund eccentric "getting nine bags through customs when only two were allowed." She refused to pay the excess shipping charges, and Kutcher explained that not only did the customs officer let the bags through, but he ended up "joining Julie for dinner. . . . 'We love you Julie'!"

Demi Moore, far right, added that Weiss had been kicked off one set, only to return disguised as a bag lady. . . . "We love you, Julie!" offered Kutcher on cue. Moore also claimed that grips and gaffers must watch the shirts on their backs and more, as Weiss has often been known to ask, "Can I borrow your trousers?"

During a film of Weiss's work, Kutcher held Moore from behind in the air-conditioned chill.

After apologizing for his ill-fitting tux shirt, Billy Bob Thornton, also there to laud Weiss, explained that he'd left his "creepy little Helmut Lang shirts at the cleaners."

He claimed that Weiss had asked him to "feel, smell, and spit on" the wardrobe she handed him during their first film. "And then she winked at me and said a lot of other sh#t I didn't understand."

"Brief is for underwear," Weiss started her own engaging speech. "You can't budget the imagination," she later mused, receiving warm smooches from Diane Lane, Robert Duvall, Moore, and Kutcher, whom she dressed for "No Strings Attached."

Fun event . . . great prime rib.

Tags: ashton kutcher, billy bob thornton, costume designers guild awards, demi moore, halle berry, rsvip, venus williams