There was something a little different about the clientele at Mimi’s on Saturday night.
As the rain poured, the usual parade of suits and cocktail dresses were replaced by gaudy guests spilling out of Ubers in all sorts of bizarre costumes.
A grown man dressed as Sailor Moon, a couple as Mario and Princess Peach, and, most eye-catching of all, a striking blonde in Pamela Anderson‘s Baywatch look.
It was the kind of flashy, slightly chaotic gathering that more closely resembled a Schoolies Week costume party than the Met Gala. And who were the guests? TikTokers and socialites, for the most part.
And then, through the drizzle and the glamour, arrived the most famous guest of all.
Stepping out of a car under the cover of an umbrella, Lisa Wilkinson cut an understated figure in a pinstripe power suit, beige heels and oversized sunglasses – her outfit a stark contrast to the youthful fancy-dress revelry unfolding around her.
Stepping out of a car under the cover of an umbrella, Lisa Wilkinson was seen arriving at heiress Francesca Packer’s 30th birthday party at Mimi’s in Coogee on Saturday evening
Francesca Packer is pictured with her grandmother Roslyn at her birthday party
Wilkinson joined the likes of influencer Indy Clinton (left) at the glitzy event. Another scantily clad guest is pictured arriving in the rain (right)
Either she missed the memo or she didn’t bother with a costume.
It was a rather odd place to find the 64-year-old media doyenne, a former star of breakfast TV and pioneering magazine editor who had once been a fixture of all three commercial networks before reportedly ‘torching’ her bridges with the industry.
The occasion? Heiress Francesca Packer’s 30th birthday bash, a lavish affair mixing old-money pedigree with Gen-Z fame courtesy of a guest list including notable social media influencers.
Wilkinson, who famously rubbed shoulders with the crème de la crème of television – Karl Stefanovic, Liz Hayes, Sylvia Jeffreys – found herself on Saturday instead mingling with influencer Indy Clinton, her sister Bella Wolfgang, and Norwegian pop singer Adelén (that’s Adelén, not Adele, mind).
For Lisa, who once shone brightly at Nine, Ten and Seven, the event marked an intriguing moment for someone whose life and career appears to have hit a crossroads.
Once ubiquitous in prime time and breakfast, she hasn’t featured on TV since quitting Ten’s The Project in November 2022 – when she infamously signed off with a parting shot about the ‘toxicity’ in ‘some sections of the media.
Her journalism was also called into question during the Lehrmann civil trial, which found one of her Project stories had made unsubstantiated claims of a government cover-up following the rape of Brittany Higgins at Parliament House.
She hasn’t been starving, of course. While living in her multimillion-dollar Cremorne mansion with husband Peter FitzSimons and their adult children, she has been collecting a monthly pay cheque from Ten for doing basically nothing at all.
It was a rather odd place to find the 64-year-old media doyenne, a former star of breakfast TV and pioneering magazine editor who had once been a fixture of all three commercial networks
For Lisa, who once shone brightly at Nine, Ten and Seven, the event marked an intriguing moment for someone whose life and career appears to have hit a crossroads
But the days of her gardening leave are numbered.
With her contract due to expire by the end of the year, industry insiders are claiming she will struggle to find more work in commercial TV, and her future looks uncertain.
Her career prospects may well have been on her mind as she made glum entrance at Mimi’s. It was a more lively vibe inside where Indy – rocking a ’90s Pamela outfit – led the charge of 20-something influencers in scanty pop-culture-themed costumes.
Indy brought along her sister Bella Wolfgang Clinton. Other guests at the no-expense-spared bash included birthday girl Francesca’s boyfriend Robert Gates.
Those lucky enough to be invited indulged in caviar and champagne before taking to the dance floor, with the entire restaurant closed to the public for the soirée.
Francesca, dressed up as Wednesday Addams, also invited her nearest and dearest, including her grandmother Roslyn and mother Gretel. Her financier father Nick Barham and uncle James Packer did not appear to be in attendance.
Wilkinson’s career prospects may well have been on her mind as she made glum entrance at Mimi’s. It was a more lively vibe inside where Indy – rocking a ’90s Pamela outfit – led the charge of 20-something influencers in scanty pop-culture-themed costumes
Indy turned heads as she put on a leggy display in tight booty shorts and a cut-out swimsuit
Indy was seen posing alongside other guests in brightly coloured costumes
While Wilkinson may have stood out like a sore thumb on the dance floor, her attendance wasn’t actually that unusual given she has been in the Packer family’s inner circle for decades
While Wilkinson may have stood out like a sore thumb on the dance floor, her attendance wasn’t actually that unusual given she has been in the Packer family’s inner circle for decades. Indeed, she has known Francesca all her life and previously attended her headline-making 21st birthday bash at Luna Park in 2015.
Also a fancy dress party, Lisa memorably dressed up as a Qantas flight attendant as she joined the likes of Richard Wilkins and Natalie Barr at the $250,000 bash.
While opting for a more upmarket venue for her milestone 30th birthday, Francesca is clearly still a sucker for fancy dress – even if her costume code isn’t so rigorously enforced these days.
Saturday’s smaller-scale affair lacked the same list of TV talents as her party nine years ago, but Wilkinson still made the cut, likely due to her long-term association with the Packers.
She had famously kicked off her decades-long career as the secretary of the now-defunct teen magazine Dolly when she was 19 years old.
Just two years later, at 21, she became the editor-in-chief of the Kerry Packer-owned bimonthly magazine, and the youngest-ever editor of a national Australian magazine.
Bella Wolfgang Clinton also made sure to turn heads as she strutted her stuff in a skimpy strapless denim top and figure-hugging white shorts
Norwegian singer Adelén was also in tow, opting to dress up as Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman
A guest channelled Alicia Silverstone’s character Cher Horowitz from the ’90s movie Clueless
Two guests got the fancy-dress memo as they stepped out as Mario and Princess Peach
A man was disguised beneath a huge beard (left) while another channelled Sailor Moon (right)
Francesca (right), dressed up as Wednesday Addams, also invited her nearest and dearest, including her grandmother Roslyn (left) and mother Gretel
She famously discovered Nicole Kidman during her tenure at Dolly, featuring the budding actress on the cover for the first time at the age of 15.
After that flying start, Wilkinson was tapped by Kerry to take over as the editor of Cleo where she clashed with the media baron over her decision to scrap the mag’s iconic nude centrefold but nonetheless oversaw a successful 10-year run as editor-in-chief.
After getting her big break under Packer’s leadership, Lisa has remained a firm friend of the family, even after she moved away from print and launched her broadcast career in the 1990s when she became a Network Ten panellist.
Francesca’s boyfriend Robert Gates appeared to be dressed as Matthew McConaughey from the movie Dallas Buyers Club
The couple looked as loved-up as ever as Robert wrapped his arm around the birthday girl, who had dressed up as Wednesday Adams for her big night
Robert was all smiles as he mingled with guests at the fully booked out venue
The party went on into the early hours
Francesca helped escort her granddaughter outside at the end of the night
Photos shared online gave an insight into the fun-filled night out at Mimi’s. (Pictured: Bella Wolfgang Clinton, Adelén and Indy Clinton)
Guests enjoyed caviar and champagne early in the night, before things took a move lively turn
The throngs of socialites didn’t shy away from letting loose on the dance floor
It remains to be seen whether she will be able to fall back on her decades’ worth of media connections amid reports she has ‘torched’ her bridges in TV land.
Her broadcast career first showed signs of faltering in October 2017 when she left Channel Nine on bad terms.
She quit the network because bosses wouldn’t pay her the same as her Today co-host Karl Stefanovic then sailed into Channel Ten as new host of The Sunday Project.
Her move to Ten didn’t bring the ratings boost executives there may have been hoping for and The Project continued to struggle in prime time.
Despite never winning the ratings game, the gig still drew scrutiny for Wilkinson and she spoke openly of her dislike of being used as tabloid bait.
Then came the Brittany Higgins story.
Wilkinson presented a 2021 interview with former political staffer Higgins who alleged her colleague Bruce Lehrmann had raped her at Parliament House after a night out two years prior.
He wasn’t named in the broadcast but Lehrmann sued anyway.
The defamation trial went ahead after his criminal trial collapsed due to juror misconduct and, in the end, Justice Michael Lee found Lehrmann had, on the balance of probabilities, raped Higgins.
Still, it wasn’t a total victory for Ten, The Project or Wilkinson.
Justice Lee found The Project’s bombshell allegation that the rape had been covered up by the government and senior staff was baseless.
In a sideshow to the defamation trial, Wilkinson also sued Ten for more than $700,000 worth of legal fees after hiring her own defamation lawyer to defend her.
Wilkinson had chosen to seek her own legal counsel because Ten counsel Matthew Collins KC criticised her on Seven’s Sunrise the day after she delivered an ill-advised a speech at the Logie Awards that caused Lehrmann’s criminal trial to be delayed.
During the civil claim against the network, Lisa maintained her Logies speech was not solely responsible for postponing the 2022 rape trial, arguing she had taken ‘significant actions’ to ensure it was ‘legally responsible’.
Ultimately, in February this year, Lisa won her bid in the Federal Court to have Ten cover her year’s worth of legal fees, billing the network $1.8million.
A famous motto in TV is ‘never say never’. But with her barbed remarks, legal dramas and habit of burning bridges, it’s hard to imagine who would hire Wilkinson today.
With extra time on her hands, maybe we’ll be seeing her at more costume parties in 2025. She might even join TikTok.
