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![The Diary: Gentleman’s Journal Christmas Party](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/82a190dede66a52eebf2a87592b37a0f01b7bd11-2560x1707.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=max&q=80&w=1280)
Photography: Dave Benett
“Now it’s time to party like it’s 1999,” once sang Prince. But at Gentleman’s Journal, we’re happy to settle for 2019. At our first proper bash ‘since all this began’, friends of the magazine, partners, contributors, talent, and errant socialites braved the crisp (read: Arctic) Chelsea weather for a party of proper proportions. (And, to be fair, the plummeting temperatures did at least add a little yuletide Frisson, not to mention some spectacular shearling.)
Guests — including Ed Westwick, Jonah Hauer-King, Aki Omoshaybi, Sam Fischer, Patrick Grant, Zak Abel, Antonino Russo, Jemima Cadbury, Alexandra Carello, Alistair Guy, Lady Violet Manners, Elliot Edusah, David Tollemache, Camilla Thorp and George Blandford — enjoyed Monkey 47 gin cocktails, Absolut elderflower collins, Whispering Angel, and Coates and Seely Champagne.
The food was quite spectacular, too (though what would you expect from a kitchen as accomplished as Stanley’s) — and included miniature beef tartare, steak salsa bowls, gnocchi squash, and a brilliant goats curd porridge. Everyone has a thoroughly good time — and all in all it was a poignant reminder of how much everyone has missed this sort of thing, and each other.
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/27c3344b1541396b0785871d3bb1b14a65ffeb20-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Jonah Hauer-King
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/ecbabcf2ede29d7e53a9701c810d7ee52125065c-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Ed Westwick
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/8fbd8d20b4204bc325915664f8a3d7c7da9fc11d-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Lady Violet Manners and Charles Granby
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/2cda8c9bc52484e74bd34ab07bd84731b95a0f33-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Patrick Grant
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/ed5968e8b21252776ec4a0f5c2b118112f6a36e7-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Zak Abel, Sarah Weingust and Adam Fussell
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/40ecf65f7eb9802886f9a99cc9996224707df924-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Luke Newberry
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/04a21b9477d32378d950abd969e65c5abdfc8ef7-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Maxi Carello, Freddie Briance, and David Tollemache
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/c4a4b38766a4105d963ae4577f3cb7a270b670cf-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Sam Fischer
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/4bf88dc63bdbc9314a6174a6532e7795005949b3-2560x1708.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&q=75&w=648)
Max Hurd and Hugh Laughton-Scott
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Jemima Cadbury and Alexandra Carello
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/056cd9136efaa69e78d6a66912642ffedcff86b5-1000x1500.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Harvey James
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/62605eb33283170df8a181416831bfa932ef8bc2-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Elliot Edusah
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/53be930c5e9d02cf19ebef6d0fcd910bf87a6b2c-1500x1000.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&q=75&w=648)
Zander Warren and Marina Hambro
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/5ceb5df38c0ca25cb96e54cd4ac77f1bac75b6c0-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Camilla Blandford and George Blandford
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/d78ee0852119e3df114868849e7b736ab0779368-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Aki Omoshaybi and Luke Newberry
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/e28b5b3daa6670551eca49a148a8de71ed2d78f9-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Antonino Russo
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/24bc06c1dbbb0195174cef5488c27dd91f712afe-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Alistair Guy
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/4816210b1d4ba0fc20a60a309c8bd9ec4a8e2f3f-1500x1000.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&q=75&w=648)
Benji Sewell, Henry Hales, Charles Hambro
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/17ec6033bafdc483a610b76a5241e4431ab48f48-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Aki Omoshaybi
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/2a61d1ac4de2e814a6923af33d9cb013850c779f-1708x2560.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Cyrill Ibrahim and Guillaume Florent
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