Inside Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty: How stars swapped their grown-up glamour for risqué looks and let their hair down after 96th Academy Awards ceremony

After months of facials, fittings, juice cleanses, make-up mishaps, hair preps, rambunctious Osempian jabs and heated debates with stressed-out stylists, you might imagine that when the curtain dropped on Sunday night, guests at the 96th Academy Awards were would have grabbed their goodie bags and left, happy to collapse in a heap on their beds.

However, that would have been a missed opportunity.

Because it is at the after-parties that the stars get a chance to shine with a different kind of brilliance than that required on the Oscars red carpet. And this year it was more obvious than ever.

To be successful, Oscar appearances require a very specific dress code — one that respects Hollywood traditions. Dresses tend to be long, elegant and classic, embellished with embroidery, pearls and sequins. Rarely are the fabrics simple prints: that would be considered to be for “daytime”.

For men, the classic black tuxedo is the perfect look.

That’s why the after-parties are so pleasant for many guests – and not just because of the free bar. Just as a bride might change from her wedding dress to an outfit more suitable for dancing at the reception, Hollywood’s A-listers shed their glamorous skin and slip into something more comfortable. Or, if not more comfortable, then certainly something more experimental and eye-catching.

Of all the post-show events, the Vanity Fair Oscar Party is by far the hottest ticket, and never more so than this year, when it celebrated its 30th year.

Billed by the magazine as ‘the city’s most opulent, decadent, impossible-to-crash’ soiree – a fantasy canteen of Hollywood’s megawatt stars smashing into each other at a bar’, it offered the perfect chance for guests to flex their fashion muscles.

Whether they were exhausted: With breath left in their bodies, they partied — invariably in dresses the Oscars wouldn’t see.

Leading the charge was Margot Robbie in a gold and beaded Thierry Mugler crossbody that would have been panned on the red carpet with inevitable cries of “Where’s your skirt?”

Worn with a brown satin shawl, the look, which came from Mugler’s Spring/Summer 1996 collection, was perfect for Vanity Fair.

In contrast, Robbie’s Oscars look was a long black sequined column dress by Versace – a somewhat more sober choice than expected, as she has spent the duration of her promotional activities for Barbie wearing variations of pink, all created by various top designers in homage to her character.

Sheer is a divisive trend that can be hit or miss on the red carpet: it tends to come into its own after dark, when any reveal becomes less revealing.

After choosing an elegant silver dress by Christian Dior haute couture for the Oscars, Charlize Theron switched to a sheer black dress, also by Dior, with a more casual halter neck top and sheer skirt.

Florence Pugh has long been a fan of pure and simple, but wisely avoided it at the Oscars. She also opted not to wear her usual Valentino – despite being the face of the brand – opting instead for a silver dress with a satin skirt and crystal-embellished bodice by lesser-known brand Del Core.

A bold dresser, she still couldn’t resist incorporating a ‘talking point’ – this time in the form of straps that seemed to float over her shoulders.

In the evening, Florence was back on her mission to liberate the nipple, wearing a sheer cream dress with strategically placed embroidery above the bust line, by Simone Rocha x Jean Paul Gaultier.

Emma Stone is another fan of pure and simple. As a brand ambassador for the house, it was a given that the Oscar-winning actress would be dressed in Louis Vuitton for the ceremony, and apart from a zip failure on stage, her pale mint dress with its exaggerated peplum waist was perfect. .

At the Vanity Fair party, she wore a less streamlined Vuitton dress that sparkled with silver embellishment, through which her bra was subtly visible. While its asymmetric hem might have stiffened at the Oscars, it worked well for a post-awards celebration.

But there were countless other ways to stand out than by wearing clean. After opting for a demure powder blue feather-trimmed dress by Armani Prive at the Oscars, actress Lupita Nyong’o looked to party in a sequin halter dress, also by Armani Prive.

Even her hair looked luscious, raised in halo-like sculpted coils. Anya Taylor-Joy was another contestant whose hair was the talk of the town. At the Oscars, her Christian Dior corset dress was styled with a simple center parting that didn’t compete with the gown’s intricate fish scale embroidery.

At the Vanity Fair after-party, her hair became the focus thanks to a bejeweled headpiece worn with a scoop-front black mini dress by South Korean couture label Miss Sohee.

For some, however, the after-party seemed more of an occasion to sober up than to dress up.

Emily Blunt’s soft peach lace Dolce & Gabbana dress was a far more traditional choice than the Schiaparelli dress she wore to the Oscars. Beaded at the crotch in the unmistakable shape of a pair of Y-fronts, the dress might have embodied Schiaparelli’s long affinity with surrealism, but some fashion watchers thought it was a joke too far for the Oscars.

Jennifer Lawrence was another guest who many felt got her dress codes mixed up with her polka dot Christian Dior dress being too casual for the red carpet.

By contrast, her white floral-embroidered Givenchy gown was a subtle, delicate choice for an after-party, its train certainly destined to be stepped on by a party-goer three champagnes to the wind. Maybe Lawrence, like everyone else, was too happy to care.

One thing is certain: the real winners in Hollywood today will be the dry cleaners.