Jon Hamm: gentleman of the year
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A constellation of stars turned out for GQ magazine’s ‘Men of the Year’ bash at the Chateau Marmont on Tuesday night; Leonardo DiCaprio held court in the center of the garden while a be-hatted Lukas Haas ensconced himself on a nearby sofa. Near the bar, ‘Mad Men’ creator Matthew Weiner -- rocking a yellow paisley print ascot -- chatted animatedly (how else?) with ‘Family Guy’ empire-builder Seth McFarlane (himself kitted out in sharp-looking dark tone-on-tone suit, shirt and tie ensemble) while a very much not separated comedy couple Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman canoodled near back couches occupied by January Jones, Jon Hamm and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. Zac Efron showed up in a John Varvatos suit. Aaron Eckhart wore Ermenegildo Zegna.
The fashion contingent milled among the luminaries as well, including men’s wear designer Thom Browne, True Religion’s Jeff Lubell and Rock & Republic CEO Michael Ball -- who one effusive party-goer repeatedly told us was ‘the next Ralph Lauren.’
There were a few hard-to-place faces standing elbow-to-elbow with the Hollywood elite as well; guests of the hotel whose stays happened to coincide with the GQ shindig. Among them were a quartet of conventioneers bound for the L.A. Auto Show, and a middle-aged husband and wife from Berlin who had just arrived for a week’s vacation.
I met Christian and Lisa Kaemmerling, who had taken the trip for Lisa’s birthday, as the party was just beginning to percolate, after noticing Lisa watching the scene unfold with a copy of GQ with actor Jon Hamm on the cover clutched to her chest. ‘We’re huge fans,’ Christian confided to me. ‘We just finished with the first season. Do you know if it’s filmed in Panavision?’
A few minutes later, when I spied Hamm (whom we had profiled in the Image section a year ago) chatting with his agent on the other side of the garden, and mentioned that the vacationing Kaemmerlings were huge fans, he did the most non-Draperish thing you could imagine: He said ‘Well, I’d like to meet them,’ and followed me through the throng to where they sat, introduced himself and made a few minutes of chitchat (it sounded like they were actually conversing in German but I couldn’t tell for sure).
It was a classy and unexpected act of kindness from one of TV’s leading men that left the couple with a memorable story, and earns Hamm our vote for gentleman of the year.