Following Sunday’s 2015 Academy Awards, a curated assembly of actors, musicians, tech pioneers, comedians, cultural influencers, and athletes made their way to Beverly Hills for Vanity Fair’s 21st-annual Oscar party, the most exclusive event on Hollywood’s most anticipated evening. This year’s celebration took place inside a magnificent custom-designed space adjacent to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and City Hill.

To enter the soiree (and avoid the onslaught of rain), guests like Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne, J.K. Simmons, Benedict Cumberbatch, Miley Cyrus, Oprah, Michael Keaton, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, Sofia Vergara, and many more walked through a marble corridor, across a green-and-white-striped carpet (V.F.’s answer to that tawdry red floor covering), and into an elegant expanse lit by an 80-foot-long custom L.E.D. chandelier weighing 6,000 pounds. Underneath, Vogue editor Anna Wintour and daughter Bee Shaffer chatted with future Late Late Show host James Corden and Serena Williams. In a far corner, Jennifer Aniston, Amy Adams, Isla Fisher, Amanda Peet, and Vanity Fair executive West Coast editor Krista Smith convened for a chat. Gayle King greeted Emma Stone and her mother with huge bear hugs. Channing Tatum and wife Jenna Dewan Tatum danced into the room to “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours.” David Oyelowo snacked on an In-N-Out burger while Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul found himself to be so entranced with Thomas Keller’s fried chicken that he grabbed a bucket and began serving it to party goers himself. Robert Pattinson, unable to move through the crowd, jumped over an ottoman to meet a friend—all, impressively, without spilling his beer. And, in perhaps our favorite grouping of the evening, Benedict Cumberbatch spent part of the night deep in conversation with Joan and Jackie Collins over french fries.

But by far the greatest entrance of the party belonged to Beyoncé and Jay Z. The power couple appeared in matching white—Beyoncé in a figure-hugging dress accessorized with a glass of champagne, and Jay Z in a dinner jacket—and bee-lined through the elite crowd. Bey stopped to speak to Edward Norton and Piers Morgan before finding her ultimate destination—a banquette seat beside Jennifer Lopez. Jay Z, meanwhile, spoke with Lupita Nyong'o and gamely posed for a photo with her brother. One of the night’s winners worked up the courage to talk to Jay Z & Beyoncé after his date fed him these words as a pep talk: "Come on, you won an Oscar tonight." John Travolta, Kevin Hart, and Vin Diesel also later approached to pay homage to the power couple.

Elsewhere, a grinning Neil Patrick Harris told us he had a blast hosting the awards. Comedian Whitney Cummings tried on Sia’s unconventional hat and chatted with Sarah Silverman. Kerry Washington paid tribute to Tom Ford following the fashion designer’s show on Friday. And many more like Steve Carell, Bradley Cooper, Laura Dern, Francis Ford Coppola, Bennett Miller, Sam Taylor Johnson, and Wes Anderson circulated through the amber-lit event.

For the second year in a row, Mark Seliger and Instagram set up an instant portrait studio, where the photographer snapped impromptu stills of guests like Steve Martin, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton, Natalie Portman, and Rashida Jones. Nearby, Miles Teller spoke to Ava DuVernay. Justin Theroux chatted with Selena Gomez. John Legend and Chrissy Teigen dirty danced with Legend’s new Oscar. And a smattering of tech and social media figureheads like angel investor Ron Conway, Yelp C.E.O. Jeremy Stoppelman, Layer3 TV’s Eric Kuhn, and Buzzfeed founder Jonah Peretti radiated around the photo booth.

It is not only the carefully curated guest list or the elegant trappings of this Oscar party that separate it from other Academy Award soirees—it’s Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter’s reverence for old Hollywood. This year’s annual awards-night celebration kept with this reflective tradition, by intermingling both the buzziest up-and-coming actors like Ansel Elgort, Hailee Steinfeld, and Chloë Grace Moretz with Hollywood icons like Jane Fonda, Anjelica Huston, Shirley MacLaine, Martin Landau, and Robert Duvall. Cigarette girls in vintage-inspired designs passed out retro candy and Cracker Jack caramel popcorn. And each of the 150 dinner guests invited to view the ceremony while feasting on a sumptuous dinner from chef Thomas Keller were gifted a zippo lighter with a quote from Hollywood’s ancestral screen siren Mae West: “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”