One More Night in Hollywood: Inside the 30th Anniversary GQ Men of the Year 2025

Ironically, it was Gen-Z who had the most romantic takes on the theme of the night. Bieber wasn’t the only one who nailed a vintage reference: Sweeney glittered in a crushed velvet gown from 1995 by Versace (Gianni, that is); not to be outdone, red carpet co-host Quenlin Blackwell changed out of her archival Spring 1996 Mugler to join the party in a red velvet Tom Ford-era Gucci tuxedo made famous by Gwyneth Paltrow.

Tom Ford was the king of the ’90s runway, so it was fitting that current Tom Ford creative director (and 2025 GQ designer of the year) Haider Ackermann also ruled the evening. Ackermann held court in front of the DJ booth all night with a rotating cast of friends and admirers whom he dressed in his sensual eveningwear for the event, including Oscar Isaac, Sombr, Amelia Gray, Olivia Rodrigo, and Patrick Schwarzenegger, who flexed in his leather moto set, declaring “I feel kind of like my dad, Terminator style.”

“It’s not about dressing celebrities tonight,” Ackermann said. “There’s an elegance in everyone that I’m dressing, there’s a gesture, there’s a swag. And they make it their own. That’s what I love about it, because I hope I’m not dressing you, I hope that you feel just comfortable in my clothes and that you feel yourself.”

Ackermann was less concerned with nailing literal ’90s references. “Back in the ’90s I lost myself in the nightlife, so there’s not much I remember,” he joked.

Around 10:00 pm, Clipse gave the crowd a second wind it didn’t know it needed with a spirited performance of three singles from their Album of the Year Grammy-nominated project, Let God Sort Em Out, with “F.I.C.O.” ringing off inside the Chateau the hardest. But even a top-of-his-game King Push can get starstruck in a room like that. “I met SZA’s mom and dad, and I did not know SZA’s Dad is from Richmond, Virginia!” Pusha said. “That was cool.”

Eventually, everyone tumbled outside into the garden, the Gen-Z River Phoenixes crowding by the bar as a quizzical John C. Reilly, black bowler cap perched on his head, looked on.

“Man,” he said, “I thought the theme was 1890s!”

Additional reporting by Frazier Tharpe.