By: Jody Houser

On February 20^th and 21^st, GBK Productions hosted an Oscar gift suite at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.  Greeted by a sunlit patio with a bar featuring G Sake and the opportunity to receive sunless tan treatments from Infinity Sun in a private room upstairs – AnnaLynne McCord from the new “90210” was one of the ones to take advantage of this – the celebrities invited to the event were able to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather outside before heading in to fill up their enormous black duffels with goodies.

Inside the hotel, there were five rooms, each one dedicated to one of the five nominees for Best Picture.  Guests were greeted by a movie poster, as well as a display that served as a representation of the film (e.g. a bathtub full of books for The Reader). Each room had a select number of companies offering a wide range of products to the stars.  The company representatives generally seemed thrilled to meet the celebrities, though they certainly weren’t too star struck to gather endorsements and photos from the attending A-listers.

One of the most eye-catching displays of the entire event was that of Dara Ettinger.  Her line of Druzy Geode Rings, available in a rainbow of colors, drew the attention of gemstone and jewelry lovers.  Carved from stones and polished with a raw crystal face on top, these were certainly one of the most unique and lovely items at the event.  Dara told us that she was thrilled to speak with Paula Abdul – both Ms. Abdul and Adrian Brody seemed to be the two most popular stars at the gifting suite.

Nourat Glass Studio also had a beautiful display of handmade glass pieces, mostly in red to represent the red carpet.  Representing a small family business that has created pieces for prestigious clients such as President Clinton and the Pope, Ann Nourot was particularly pleased to meet some of Hollywood’s younger “starlets and…studlets,”  including Michael Rady from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Jamie Thomas King from “The Tudors.”

Not all of the companies presenting products at the event were about the glitz and glamour you’d expect from Hollywood.  Thinker Clothing, the only manufacturer of casual wear invited to the event, attracted plenty of attention with their designs catering to Science and Math aficionados.  Lisa C. Clark told us that “GBK Productions called me out of the blue.  They said they’d seen my brand, they loved it and they wanted me here.”  Thinker Clothing’s biggest claim to fame is that it is a main wardrobe staple of the “Big Bang Theory”’s lead character Sheldon (played by Jim Parsons).  The company’s goal is to “raise people’s curiosity about cool new fields that are affecting everyone on the planet” and attracted that attention of stars such as AnnaLynne McCord , who told Clark “I am such a Math geek.”  Not what you would expect to hear from a young starlet. 

Some of the products were more about the practical, although they still catered to the celebrity crowd.  Bust-ease bra inserts, for example, were designed by Kathleen Kirkwood to replace the “chicken cutlet silicone inserts” that both starlets and everyday women used to enhance their figures in decades past.  “We have some great celebrities, stylists, costume designers all came by and they’re really enthusiastic about this new alternative.”  Metropolis Technology offered a line of portable hair implements in attractive shades of white and robin’s egg blue – the design was the main selling point of the tools.  And there were several skin care companies offering selections of products.  Pur-Lisse, “based on Chinese herbal remedies and French skincare technology” was gifting a moisturizer and lip treatment set.

The focus of the gifting suite wasn’t the products that were being given out as much as the charities that had been invited to participate and raise awareness for their causes.  “What sets this gift suite apart from other gift suites is that GBK is committed to letting the stars choose the charity,” Ann Nourot of Nourot Glass Studio told us. “When they come in, they don’t have to keep their things – in fact, they’re encouraged to regift to the charity of their choice.  Each of these rooms that are based on one of the nominated films has within it a table that is devoted to a particular charity.  And so the stars are very interested in being socially conscious. And a lot of times, the star goes right to the charity table and they deal with that first.”

Several of the charities at the gift suite were based in Los Angeles, giving the visiting celebrities an opportunity to give back to their community. A representative from Homeless Not Toothless, a local organization dedicated to ensuring that low-income individuals (particularly children) receive the dental care they need, told us that they were very grateful to be at the event and for the celebrity attention they’d received.  “A lot of the celebrities … they love the idea of being involved somehow … concentrating it back here in L.A. where a lot of them are from.” Another local charity was Hollywood Dreams, founded last year “to support arts, music and character development programs for underprivileged kids in the L.A. area.” They also had a good reception from the stars: “Everybody’s been very very gracious yesterday and today and very interested in helping out and coming to our events and working with the kids directly … I could go on and on and on with names”. 

The charity that really seemed to draw attention; however, was World Team Foundation, founded in Thailand and dedicated to ending the human trafficking and slave trade there and around the world. Their representative said, “I’m incredibly impressed with these celebrities.  Every single one that’s come through here has given us their email addresses…Some have said we’ll donate and some have whipped out their checkbook right here.” Considering that “human trafficking is now the number one criminal activity in the entire world” it’s certainly a cause that needs more attention.

What did the celebs themselves think of the event? Joshua LeBar from “Entourage” wasn’t the least bit shy in declaring that the gifts were what had brought him to the gift suite.  He told us that during awards season, “You just sort of roll with the punches in this town and this is a fun part of it.” He was a big fan of the Senseo coffeemaker and the “Science Physics” shirt he picked up from Thinker Clothing. He was moved enough by the World Team Foundation presentation to speak at length about the charity.  “You can tell that their heart is really in what they’re doing … it’s almost too intense for the American public to deal with…they struck me the most.”

LeBar was also excited for the opportunity to speak with actress and comedienne Jennifer Coolidge. “She was a doll. I actually went out for a pilot today and she was saying, 'I don’t know how, darling, they’re gonna skip on you.'” For an up-and-comer in Hollywood, that might just be the greatest gift of all.