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It is now 20 years since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences discontinued their official Oscars goodie bag. Modest by today’s standards, this bundle of presents was subject to a distinctly non-glamorous IRS crackdown regarding the taxation of its contents, which it viewed as non-cash compensation.
But no sooner had that been taken away than a flurry of beneficent gifting moguls swooped in to take their place. Hollywood this week has been gripped by a discreet yet intense gifting frenzy, as rooms in luxury hotels and spas are requisitioned as gifting suites for the A-listers upon whom hugely expensive items will be pressed in the hope that these starfluencers will mention them on their Instagram feed.
The town’s most prominent gifting supremo is Lash Fary, founder of Distinctive Assets, which showers expensive stuff on the worthy and unworthy alike at awards ceremonies such as the Grammys and the Oscars.
I call on him at a spa just off Sunset Boulevard, where the gifts are laid out on a table: A luxury T-shirt with an anti-ICE message. A state-of-the-art electric flosser. A fully customised prenup agreement from divorce lawyer James Sexton. An A4-sized envelope containing the details for a stay at a Costa Rica villa worth $30,000 and another in Ibiza worth $65,000. A glittery “hydro jug”. Five different cannabis brands (legal in LA, but can’t be shipped out of state).
“It’s just under $350,000-worth for all of the bag for each person,” says Fary, pointing to items of luxury luggage which, as well as being part of the swag, are used to deliver the items. One is tagged “Michael B Jordan”, another “Kate Hudson”.
Each of his “Everybody Wins” gift bags is delivered directly to the lucky talent; they don’t have to schlep to the spa. “They have to do nothing,” says Fary. “They just enjoy the spoils. Rose Byrne wanted hers shipped back to New York, so it’ll be waiting for her when she gets home to Brooklyn. Sometimes, they’ll want it dropped off under whatever alias they’re staying at the hotel. Last time Rachel McAdams was nominated, she happened to be in her business manager’s office taking a meeting when she saw it being rolled in and was like: ‘Is that my gift bag?’”
Actually it’s not quite everybody who wins. The bags are given to the 20 acting nominees, five directors on the shortlist, and host Conan O’Brien. Cinematographers, editors, screenwriters et al must do without.
They are under no obligation for reciprocal publicity, says Fary. “If they don’t post a single thing, that’s fine. I’ve been doing this long enough that we used to get a handwritten thank you note, which was lovely.”
The “best case scenario”, he says, lavish social media exposure. “When Viola Davis went on the trip to Hawaii that we gave her, she posted pictures on Instagram. The last year Amy Adams was nominated, she wore the T-shirt we had in her bag to the gym the next day.” Fary takes a moment to sing the praises of a few more of the recherché items in this year’s sack, including a pair of “Mineral Undies” (from $32) made of tree fibres and mineral zinc oxide: “Really lightweight and breathable! I’m wearing them right now!”
Like Fary, Nathalie Dubois of Dubois Pelin and Associates, has been in the gifting industry for two decades. “Celebrities have everything,” she says. “So you want to intrigue them. You want to surprise them.” Her stock in trade is traditional luxury brands, rather than as with Fary, smaller eclectic brands who pay him a fee for inclusion.
And in her case, you have to do so in-person. “We gifted diamond watches at one point,” she says. “We do big expensive things. We had Gucci and Fendi. We have Chloe sunglasses. We started with Chopard in 2005 when they weren’t that famous. We still have Lancôme.”
Celebrities must pick up their swag in-person; no delivery permitted. She rents five hotel suites and a garden in the upmarket suburb of Brentwood. “We choose that location strategically. It’s in the hills so we don’t have too many losers knocking at our door. You have to pay for parking, so they hesitate.”
Gifting crashers are fairly common, she says. “Oh my God. We’ve had people impersonating stars – they don’t get away with it. We have had sex workers at the door, passing themselves off as actors. We have had big groups arriving in sunglasses claiming to be in the cast of the ‘new season’ of an established show. We had one guy climbing the back wall into the garden.”
