Inside Paper Magazine’s Beautiful People Party 2011

Paper Magazine held a party for its annual “Beautiful People” issue last night at the Standard in West Hollywood, and I was lucky enough to snag an invitation to the swanky event. Also attending were the lovely Phamtastic and Ashton, who have become two of my more reliable nightlife co-pilots in recent weeks. The three of us headed on out to the party in our most Beautiful People-y outfits, which in the case of me meant wearing a shirt missing three buttons. Thankfully, Phamtastic’s Asian roots meant that she could quickly and efficiently repair the situation, and while the people watching was highly enjoyable, it could barely hold a candle to the pure joy I had in watching Phamtastic toil with needle and thread on my shirt.

But I digress. The party was super fun, and there was a lovely smattering of low-level celebrities to keep it interesting. Plus, Keri Hilson performed. To quote Ina Garten: “How bad can THAT be?”

Pictures from the fête after the jump…

Sunset over the pool at The Standard, which looked all sorts of swanky in the dimming light.

Phamtastic modeling her outfit, which features one of those crazy “spirit hats” that have been popping up over the past year.

Ashton enjoys a complimentary beverage, courtesy of Svedka. The two specialty cocktails were the Hot Bot (mint, mandarin orange, Svedka vodka, and orange juice) and the Beautiful Bot (Svedka, lemon-lime soda, lemonade). The Hot Bot was better.

Plenty of cool colors and lights abound.

Ashton starts to get into the groove.

A joint moment of feral hat appreciation.

Our friend Jen soon joined us, thus helping us contribute to the “Beautiful People” theme.

Speaking of beautiful people, this is Roxanne. She was so striking that I had to take a picture with her. To my shock, she wasn’t a model or an actress but in fact a set designer. I was very surprised to hear of this development, but not nearly as surprised as the woman over my shoulder, who clearly is having her mind BLOWN by something.

Continued mugging.

By 9 PM, the party was packed.

Posing with DJ B.Hen.

Clearly, I’m overstimulated.

A lady pack.

It’s not long before I become aggressive with the spirit hat.

It’s a moment that has now been captured on Guest of a Guest. #proud

I don’t really know what was going on here.

In the end, I embraced my inner beast.

As Hollywood parties go, this one was a little light on the celebrities. Here’s the DJ from Ellen.

Not sure what this is all about.

This is exciting: Hope Dworacyzyk from Celebrity Apprentice. She seemed not totally with it, but she informed me that the women on the show were all sharks and that there’s a huge fight coming up that she gets caught in the middle of.

More crowd. The guy talking to the black girl in the blue top is Kevin Zegers (a.k.a. Damien from Gossip Girl). Meanwhile, the black gentleman in the lower-right is Kevin Hart. The famously diminutive actor spent most of the time standing on a two foot ledge. Hmmm…

At 9:45, Keri Hilson came out to sing some songs. Here’s her setlist, quietly taped to the ground in front of her mic, should she forget her songs, the venue, and/or her backup singers’ names.

And here we have Ms. Hilson herself. Her fashion choices were inspired.

Phamtastic geeking out. I may be mistaken, but it looks like Keri (we’re on a first name basis now) was quite aware of this photo being taken. Then again, how could she not be? We were two feet away. Literally.

Gettin’ sassy with the index finger during “Knocks You Down.”

Some feline gestures worthy of her leopard-skin blazer.

Interfacing with fans, etc.

Taking her final bow.

And lest I forget: an unflattering image from the Step & Repeat.

The End.