“It started with Steven sending me images of the Viper Room in LA in the ’90s—Johnny Depp and Kate Moss, Keanu Reeves,” says stylist Patti Wilson. “Of course we had to make it more of a glamorous after-party but still keep it a bit dark and twisted.”
Steven, as the hyperreal portraits in this issue make clear, is the legendary photographer Steven Klein, who photographed a generation of rising stars for our 29th annual Hollywood cover. The portfolio was shot at LA’s Milk Studios in November. There were 10 guards for the jewelry and 36 racks of clothes, not to mention 300 pairs of shoes, which Jeremy Allen White’s young daughters played with happily as Daddy got styled. Selena Gomez and Ana de Armas met and formed a mutual admiration society. Keke Palmer, who would announce her pregnancy two weeks later on SNL, seemed to hug everyone she met, even in passing. Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 was the crowd favorite on set.
In a smaller studio nearby, the stars all happily demonstrated their favorite party tricks—Florence Pugh showed off her contortionist skills, and Regé-Jean Page broke and unbroke his nose—for videos that you can, and honestly must, watch below. It was a hell of an after-party.
