First, of course, Oscar fashion. But not the usual Oscar fashion. I figured everybody would be focusing on what the women will be wearing, and in the blogosphere you learn early on -- play to your strength. We're not going to outdo the mainstream media machine on who is wearing which gown. So here is a HuffPost exclusive on what the men will be wearing.
A word about my sources. The setting for this sleuthing was the pre-Oscar party given on Saturday by Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, in, by the way, the most beautiful Oscar setup in town -- oriental carpets on the grass, luscious pillows on the carpets, roaring fires in the garden, and children running around everywhere. My investigative cohort for this mission was Fashion Forensics Expert Ari Emanuel, Endeavor founding partner, inspiration for Entourage's Ari Gold, and, most important, blogger on the Huffington Post.
Ari (who, incidentally, will be wearing Brioni) took to his role as the poor man's Joan Rivers almost too well. At least he didn't pull an Isaac Mizrahi and run up and squeeze anybody's boob. Not that I saw. And here's what we found out:
Joaquin Phoenix: Armani made his tux and special shoes with faux leather because he's vegan. (So some cow is already a winner because of Joaquin.)
Jimmy Buffett: Black Prada suit with black Armani cashmere sweater and boots.
Universal chief Ron Meyer: Tux made by Giacomo Trabalza, with bow tie and white shirt ("I'm a square guy," he told me).
Jack Valenti: Tux made by Giacomo Trabalza, with bow tie and white shirt. I hope it's not the same one. How embarrassing.
George Clooney: His same old lucky Armani suit.
Graydon Carter: Turned-up trousers and a tux jacket by Anderson & Sheppard.
Tom Ford: Tux also made by Anderson & Sheppard. Still has not settled on whether to wear a bow tie or an open shirt with studs. Will definitely not be wearing a tie. Doesn't believe they go with tuxes. His boyfriend Richard Buckley will be wearing an old Gucci tux. "But next year," he told me, "I'll be wearing Tom Ford."
Ari Emanuel: Brioni. Definitely not open-neck.
Vanity Fair columnist Michael Wolff: Ignoring Tom Ford. Will be wearing an Armani tux with a long white tie.
Sony Pictures head Michael Lynton: a suit by British American in New York -- the same suit he got married in, his wife told me.
Patrick Whitesell (representing, among others, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, at Endeavor): Gucci with a faded purple tie.
Lawrence Bender (Good Will Hunting, Kill Bill: Armani, made for him for Good Will Hunting. With white satin tie.
Reagan biographer Bob Colacello: Dunhill.
New Line founder Bob Shaye: a five-year-old Armani with collar and no studs because, as Ari put it, "he's a stud."
Salman Rushdie: Gucci. Sans fatwa.
Sam Jackson, Jim Wiatt, Tom Freston, Keanu Reeves, Clint Eastwood, and Three 6 Mafia (of Hustle & Flow) will all be wearing Armani. So the only remaining question is, bow tie or tie... And if tie, black or white... And if black or white, wide or narrow...
And then there are the socks. As Barry Frediaji, Armani's entertainment-industry PR director (how's that for a title?) told me: "European men tend to wear over-the-calf socks and American men wear shorter socks."
And they say only women have tough decisions to make.
Cutting and Running
As everyone knows, the most exclusive place to be on Oscar night is your own couch. So here's what a few Diller luncheon attendees will not be wearing to the Oscars. Or, I should say, what they'll be wearing to the not-Oscars. Or, well, in any case:
Writer/producer/director JJ Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, Alias, Lost: "I'll be watching it in my blue pajama bottoms and one of my weird T-shirts. I wish my PJs were made by someone special but they're not. I have no slippers so if anybody wants to get me a present I'm slipperless." But please, no glass slippers -- they're hard to walk in.
Toby Emmerich, president of New Line Productions: Green cashmere Loro Piana dressing gown with nothing else except his red hair that complements the green of the dressing gown.
Warren Beatty: "Not sure if I'm going to the Vanity Fair dinner or staying at home with the kids, since Annette is working" (in Chekov's Cherry Orchard at the Mark Taper Forum).
Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel: Jeans and a T-shirt. "I did so much of that when I was at Warner Bros., now I'm leaving tonight to go to San Diego for a Monday Yahoo! conference."
Tux You! UPDATE: Bill Maher is wearing Dolce & Gabbana with a gorgeous striped shirt, Greek mask (tragedy and comedy) cufflinks, and a black (not bow) tie.