A bevy of ladies sporting "No Fur!" heart-shaped pins greeted guests at the "Cool vs. Cruel" party last night at the Bowery Hotel. Organized by The Humane Society of the United States, the event drew a solid fashion crowd, among them Agyness Deyn (who was billed as the night's DJ), Tallulah Harlech (below right,daughter of Lady Amanda Harlech) and downtown auteur-ette Arden Wohl (below, left). Not everyone heeded the anti-fur message to the T, however. Wohl, for one, showed up in leggings, a teal cableknit turtleneck ... and, slung across her arm, a tan vintage shearling coat. "That's okay, if it's vintage," a companion quickly reassured her.

Arden Wohl sans shearling; Tallulah Harlech strikes a pose

Meanwhile, the young Harlech--dressed in a black vintage Ossie Clark dress borrowed from her mom and Prada heels--discussed her acting aspirations. Having recently appeared in a silent film directed by Karl Lagerfeld (granted, the man is practically her uncle), she is now hoping to find a new project. "Point me to any directors!" she quipped as she eyed the room. Deyn (below), who was accompanied by fiance Albert Hammond Jr., was operating on a slightly lower voltage. At one point she took a break from her post at the turntables (it should be noted, most of the music seemed to be coming straight from her ipod) to make a rather pained photo-op on the red carpet. When asked to pose with fashion designer Charlotte Ronson she declined, saying she had to get back to her DJ post.

Agyness Deyn and Albert Hammond Jr., djaying

Other party attendees included Paul Marlow and Alex Galan (below) from men's line Loden Dager as well as Project Runway's first-ever winner Jay McCarroll, who was wearing a Mardi Gras-esque cacophony of necklaces, including a pendant of a scorpion suspended in resin. "I shouldn't be wearing it because it's a bug!" he shouted, basking in the flashbulbs' glow. Midway through the soiree, fashion photog Nigel Barker (best known as a judge on America's Next Top Model), spokesperson for the Protect Seals campaign for The Humane Society of the
United States, gave a speech about the cruelty of fur. Although most of the guests seemed more tuned in to the open bar, he did elicit some sympathetic nods. "It's not chic," sniffed a coiffed guest. It's just not chic."

Loden Dager designers Paul Marlow and Alex Galan

All photos Donald Bowers/WIREIMAGE.

Consumer confidence may be low, but a motley crew of actresses and junior fashionistas did their part for the economy last week, scarfing wagyu beef carpaccio and sipping Moet at the new Hugo Boss store in the Meatpacking District. Julia Restoin-Roitfield made an appearance, as did recent London transplant Peaches Geldof (flitting about in a very abbreviated jumpsuit), while sisters Theodora and Alexandra Richards manned the DJ booth.  

At the back of the store, Brooke Shields, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Mena Suvari formed a celebrity huddle. Suvari, clad in a jewel-toned blue Hugo Boss dress and elbow length fingerless gloves by designer Lauren Urstadt ("I'm like, from L.A., dude. I'm not used to the weather,") had her fiance, Simon Sestito, in tow. She said that they were leaving for Italy the next day to promote Suvari's latest flick, The Garden of Eden, which is based on a Hemingway novel. In the film, Suvari's character, Catherine, draws her husband into a destructive menage a trois on their honeymoon. "It's a very racy, sexual film," she intoned.

As Shields helped herself to the mini desserts she happily talked Halloween. Her husband, she explained, will be taking the kids trick-or-treating while she's on set. The Lipstick Jungle star was eager to promote her home ec-skills. "One costume I made, the other costume I didn't," she said, pouting a bit. She said that she personally sewed the costume for her older daughter, Rowan (who's going as a dalmation), but that her younger daughter, Grier, insisted on a store-bought pink poodle ensemble. "I told her, 'I can make it, I can make it!' And she goes, 'No, no, I want that!' I got totally shafted."

Photos by Lauren Fleishman  

Longchamp's 60th anniversary party attracted two generations of celebs--forty-something hotties and twenty-something drama queens. Julianne Moore, Brooke Shields, Susan Sarandon and a handful of the Gossip Girl cast sat sequestered in a makeshift VIP section of the balcony to avoid the crowd's crush. It was too much for Sarandon's tiny pup Rigby ("As in Eleanor," she clarified), who was quaking in the actress' oversized gold handbag. Sarandon's daughter, Eva Amurri, perched next to her, showing off her trendy lavender nail polish. "My new thing is I want to have bright colors on my nails all summer, because whenever I look at my hands it makes me happier," she said. Nearby, Diane Kruger, sporting wide-legged pants and a midriff baring top, sipped champagne and told me she'd just returned from filming her new flick, Run for Your Life, in Santa Fe. When I asked her whether anything amusing happened on set, she paused to think, then said, "You know, it's a really intense movie about organ tourism--so honestly, not so fun. Lots of crying."
The Gossip Girl posse, on the other hand, represented by Leighton Meester, Jessica Szohr and Nicole Fiscella, said they've been having a blast filming the second season around New York (they're currently on the third episode). Though no catfights broke out, it did seem like they were partly still in character: Meester, who plays icy Upper East Side princess Blair Waldorf, was decked out in Cartier jewels, a BCBG Max Azria dress and raved about her Dior spectator pumps, "my favorite thing in my closet." Szohr, who plays down-to-earth Brooklynite Vanessa Abrams, confessed: "To be totally honest, I'm in Forever 21 and these are Steve Madden."

While they play arch enemies on Gossip Girl, Meester and Abrams claim they are real-life pals. When Meester plugged her rock/pop album slated to come out at the end of this year, Abrams chimed in: "Ridiculously rad, is what it is. I'm like, hurry up, get it done already so I can listen to it!" More…

On Friday night in LA, Intermix on Robertson Boulevard provided good excuse for a little retail therapy when it played host to a very loud, very bright, very Hills stars-filled party called Rock and Shop 'Til You Drop, a charity event for VH1's Save the Music Foundation. L.A. fashionistas gulped Borba water and Han vodka-infused cocktails while perusing the racks and eyeing the glittering crowd. Lauren Conrad, clad in Elizabeth and James, created a flashbulb frenzy when she showed up on the red carpet with constant companion Lo Bosworth. (Don't worry, the duo met up with Audrina Partridge once inside.) Recent West Coast transplant Jamie-Lynn Sigler was also in attendance, dressed in a Calvin Klein tank paired with a Zac Posen high-waisted skirt. Sigler gushed to me about her upcoming role on Entourage (it's been reported that she'll be playing the love interest of one of the guys). "Everybody is so fun to work with, and we have such an amazing time on set," she said, while also giving a shout out to the store's selection of her favorite lines (Chloe tops her list). Not surprisingly, the Young Hollywood crowd mainly stuck to themselves. Kim Kardashian had her hands on her Blackberry in one corner while soon-to-explode teen sensation Selena Gomez hung on to her Wizards of Waverly Place co-star David Henrie all night.

Photos by Michael Simon and Clark Samuels for StarTraks 

Last Wednesday night, there were so many security guards at Rock and Republic's party at Beatrice Inn that it was only natural for partygoers to assume a major celebrity was en route. It turned out, however, that the strongmen were there for the jeans company's top execs, Andrea Bernholtz and Michael Ball, who apparently bring guards with them wherever they go.

Upstairs, LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy spun his favorite old-school disco anthems. Despite top billing on the invitation, he seemed itching to head off to his next gig, at Santos' Party House, a new club in Chinatown. He explained that he and the band's drummer, Pat Mahoney, are holding a biweekly party series there, called "Special Disco Version."

"I just hope that people get as excited as the place warrants," said Murphy as he flipped through his collection of vintage vinyl. "It's actually nightlife people putting it together, rather than money people."

DJing after him was downtown it-girl Harley Viera-Newton, who was hanging out with 21-year-old realtor-to-the-Olsens Jared Seligman (subject of a profile in W's May issue). As it turns out, Harley and Seligman are next door neighbors, and Seligman told us that Harley had just been signed to Elite model agency.

Eventually, a security guard-worthy celebrity actually did make an appearance. Around 11 pm, the recently rehabbed Kirsten Dunst showed up, slouching discreetly beneath a fedora.

Top left: DJ Harley Viera-Newton; top right: James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

Photos by Sasha Filimonov

Getting face time with a legend is always a treat. So is any event that takes one off the beaten track. And in fashion, the charming restaurant Melba's on West 114th Street is as off-the-track as it gets. So it was terrific to attend a small dinner there in honor of Ruby Dee—Ms. Dee to you and me—hosted by eBay's Constance White, designer Kevan Hall and Vogue's Andre Leon Talley, who showed up a tad late. The affair was low-key (Talley was as dressed down as you'll ever see him) yet indulgent in a fried chicken-and-sweet potato pie kind of way, with a smattering of Ms. Dee's family, friends and editors in attendance.
The guest of honor oozed patrician charm, holding court quietly and occasionally checking with her daughter Hasna Muhammad, seated to her right, to confirm little details of her own upcoming travels and work schedule. Muhammad, who was raised in New Rochelle where her mother still lives, noted that theirs' was not a pampered upbringing. "I shined shoes; I did windows," she said.
Before dessert, Ms. Dee's hosts presented her with gifts including a gorgeous pair of pearl and diamond earrings from Mikimoto and two large framed photos, one from her red-carpet Oscar moment, for which she wore Hall's red satin gown; the other, a black-and-white portrait of her much younger self. Of the latter, Ms. Dee said, "If you're lucky, you don't die looking like this." (Excessive modesty: in her mid-eighties, she's gorgeous.) As for her Oscar photo, Ms. Dee mused on whether she should retire the look or break it out again sometime, thus invoking the m.o. of a woman she clearly admires: "Mrs. Roosevelt—she used to wear a dress a lot."
That reference to the late great first lady wasn't the evening's only political aside. Each guest left with a goody bag that included a scented candle, the Assouline Mikimoto book and a no-frills, print-out invitation to the June 17th fete for Michelle Obama to be hosted by Talley along with Calvin Klein, Anna Wintour and Shelby Bryan, the terms spelled out clearly in the three-page missive. For $1,000 one can hit the reception at the Sikkema Jenkins & Co. gallery on West 22nd Street, while 10 grand buys an upgrade to the dinner chez Calvin Klein.

From the high-rises of Doha to the Paris home of David Sedaris, it's been a busy spring for Jim Reginato, W's Features Director and connected man-about-town.

Have you been to any good parties lately?
Last week I went to a party thrown by Jonathan Burnham celebrating my friend Bob Morris' new book, Assisted Loving: True Tales of Double Dating with my Dad, which is Bob's hilarious tale of trying to help his recently widowed 80-year-old dad find a girlfriend. It wasn't like the typical impersonal book party. It was at Jonathan's house, and there was a surprise performance: Jonathan sat down at the piano and accompanied Bob, who sang a song inspired by the book.
 
What's on your agenda for the week?
Wednesday I'm looking forward to hearing David Sedaris--I interviewed him for the June issue--read from his new book at Barnes & Noble on Union Square. But the highlight will surely be the next night when I'm going to see Eartha Kitt at Cafe Carlyle. Anybody who hasn't seen Miss Kitt live needs to go.

Where have you traveled recently?
I just got back from Doha, the capital of Qatar, for a story I'm doing there. Though I spent three days in Doha, it's hard to describe, since virtually the entire city is a construction zone. On every corner a 60-story building is going up. Meanwhile you can still visit camel markets and falcon breeders.

Are you reading anything great right now?
I just finished Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy, by Sarah Bradford. I love historical biographies and this offers an amazing glimpse inside the ultra-decadent Vatican of the late 15th-century.

Portrait by Mario Sorrenti.  

For someone whose work is so bold and statement-y, Nasimiyu Wekesa couldn't be happier, peppier or more bursting with love. The charming jewelry designer, a native of Kenya who has hung her hat in Marin County for the last 12 years, was in town yesterday for a trunk show and cocktail party at Urban Zen. There, draped across rough-hewn tables and sprinkled among the store's rich-hippie duds were Wekesa's wares—multi-strand beauties pieced together by hand from African trade and ceremonial beads. Though her sales have been largely word of mouth—and she rarely makes the trek to New York—Wekesa has a sizeable following in the area. In fact, several collectors were milling about the store just waiting for a chance to chat with the crafty lady. Also the founder of Born to Aid, a five-year-old foundation that aids needy children in the villages of the Bugoma district of western Kenya, Wekesa finds beading relaxing. "It's like therapy for me," she says.

More…

Spotted: The handiwork of the real-life designer behind Eleanor Waldorf's fictional TV frocks.

At the Pink Agenda spring gala, held at 24 Fifth Avenue last week, a dress designed by Abigail Lorick fetched $1000 during a silent auction. In addition to the Gossip Girl designer's minimalist sheath (above), other items up for grabs included an autographed Brett Favre jersey, a 10-person vacation package to Vermont and a Saks beauty basket. In total, the event raised in excess of $50,000, the proceeds earmarked for raising awareness about breast cancer.

After losing her mother to the disease, Marisa Renee Lee founded the Pink Agenda three years ago with her roommate and best friend Liana Guzmán. Since then, they've allied with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to host "the new generation of philanthropists" at a series of glam cocktail parties.

Abigail Lorick flanked by Pink Agenda co-founders Marisa Renee Lee and Liana Guzmán.

Toast to a cure with these girls on May 29th, when the Pink Agenda co-sponsors the Grand Re-Opening of the Hudson River's party barge The Frying Pan. That night, they'll be partnering with the Hudson River Peers, a group of advocates for the welfare and development of the Hudson River Park. For more information, visit fohrp.org.

Women's Health magazine hosted a "Down to Earth" fête at Eyebeam on Tuesday with the official mission of raising "eco-awareness"—evidently via partying. And the evening did have, in fact, a fairly down-to-earth feel: the scene on the green carpet ("green," not red, get it?) was relatively orderly as hosts Chloe Sevigny and model Jessica Stam showed up unfashionably right on time. The space was decked out with cutesy touches like wooden picnic tables, mini ice-cream cones and lemongrass cocktails served in orange halves.

Sevigny, whose latest project is the low-budget horror flick The Killing Room, was channeling a nerd-glam look in oversized glasses and a Proenza Schouler frock. She told me that the only thing actually frightening about shooting the film was the food on location in Shreveport, Louisiana. "We were working with this hairdresser and he was like 'I ordered crudites and I got fried vegetables!' she joked.

I also spotted socialite Byrdie Bell, who was sitting atop one of the picnic tables surrounded by a bevy of friends. Bell was sporting a cotton candy-colored jacket that looked suspiciously like fur—a bit of a faux pas at a green soiree—so I approached her to investigate. "This is from a costume shop in Connecticut," she said hastily, claiming her fur was definitely faux.