New York, October 19, 2009 – Donatella Versace sponsored the Whitney Gala for the second year in a row, and we absolutely swooned when she walked in with Jet Li as her date!  Is there a more fabulous couple?  Li explained that the two found common ground while working to aid victims of the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China.  “So this time we asked [hundreds of] children to draw a picture, and Versace put the pictures on bags and sells them, and the money comes back to Sichuan to help the children again,” LI explained.  “So we have a long relationship in helping people.”

But the fashion queen and movie king were but two of the A-list names at the gala.  Jennifer Hudson sang for a crowd that included Shakira, Gerard Butler, Mischa Barton, Chuck Close, Jeff Koons and Ellsworth Kelly.  A dance party followed the dinner - Taylor Momsen took a turn in the DJ booth – and as the evening wore on, the guest list swelled. 

Lindsay Lohan swooped in, and spent ten chaotic minutes marching back and forth across the museum lobby, trying to figure out where to check her coat and how to get downstairs to the party on the lower level.  Late in the evening, we realized that the mustachioed gentleman standing near us was none other than 007 himself, Daniel Craig. 

With Luisa Johns

New York, October 19, 2009 – Rag & Bone opened their third New York shop, at 119 Mercer Street in Soho, with a party on Monday.  The label’s designers Marcus Wainwright and David Neville hosted a gang of fashion types like GQ’s Jim Nelson and Jim Moore, as well as friends like Sienna Miller, who knows the guys from way back and has attended their runway shows.  Miller is staying in New York at this time, rehearsing for her Broadway run in After Miss Julie, which opens this week.

Photo: Caroline Torem Craig

New York, October 10, 2009 – Pedro Almodovar’s film Broken Embraces closed the New York Film Festival on Sunday, but Paper magazine celebrated a day in advance, feting the Spanish director and his star Penelope Cruz at a star-studded dinner Saturday evening at the new eatery Casa Lever. 

None other than Madonna popped in at the party, unannounced.  Fashion designers Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Cynthia Rowley, Catherine Malandrino, Jeremy Scott and ThreeAsFour’s Gabi, Ange and Adi joined Paper’s Kim Hastreiter and David Hershkovitz at the bash.  Debbie Harry, Beth Ditto, Joey Arias, Alison Pill, Jeffrey Deitch, Kenny Scharf and Albert Maysles all sang Happy Birthday to Paper mag’s beloved Mickey Boardman.

Photos: Caroline Torem Craig

New York, October 7, 2009 – The fall cultural season is heating up.  The American Ballet Theater opened its fall season on Wednesday with live performances followed by a dinner dance at Avery Fisher Hall. Longtime ABT suppoerters Veronica Webb and Iman served as honorary gala chairs, and along with New York’s social and power elite, a smattering of Hollywood types took in the ballet.   Actresses Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis and musician Rufus Wainwright attended, and 23-year-old Emmy Rossum went public with her romance with 45-year-old Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz. Go figure.

Photos: Caroline Torem Craig

New York, October 3, 2009 – Sundance favorite Precious has been making the film festival rounds, and perhaps there was some extra emotion at this week’s New York Film Festival screening – the story is set in New York City, which is hometown to director Lee Daniels and breakout star Gabourey Sidibe.  Many of the actors that Daniels cast, including Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz and Sherri Shepherd, call NYC home, too. 

Daniels told us that all the acclaim hasn’t sunk in.  “I still keep thinking that somebody’s going to wake me up and tell me that it’s not for real.  I think they’re going to wake me up and say it’s going to video.  Like, that’s been my luck,” the director said.

Boldface New Yorkers like Robert De Niro, Mary J. Blige, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi and Jane Fonda came out to get a first look at Precious, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. 

After the screening, everybody headed over to the Oak Room for a 42 Below-sponsored party.  Mariah sat happily with hubby Nick Cannon, and we spotted Queen Latifah late in the evening. 

Photos: Joy E. Scheller

Atlantic City, NJ, October 3, 2009 – Mario Lopez turns 36 this week, and he celebrated over the weekend at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa with a cake curiously topped with a photograph of the shirtless birthday boy flaunting his ripped abs.  Gives new meaning to the word “beefcake,” doesn’t it? 

During the festivities, the former Dancing with the Stars contestant kept his shirt on, so only his new lady friend, Courtney Mazza, got to see the famous six pack in the flesh.  She sang “Happy Birthday” to him during dinner at Izakaya, and later the twosome whispered and laughed together at club mur.mur.  Once DJ Samanth Ronson hit the turntables, the couple hit the dance floor. 

Toronto, Septbember 10-19, 2009 – While one of us was fully immersed in New York Fashion Week, another of the OAN team headed north for the Toronto International Film Festival, where the stars came out in force.  George Clooney, Matt Damon, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Keanu Reeves, Colin Firth, Penelope Cruz, Ewan McGregor and even The White Stripes were among the stars roaming the Canadian city. 

Highlights of the festival included Colin Farrell’s infamous meltdown when photographers yelled at his sister to get out of the way at the screening of his movie Triage.  “You don’t roar at a lady like that!” Farrell admonished, picking one photographer in particular and shaking a finger in his face. 

Our other favorite TIFF moment was when fans in full zombie regalia came out to honor Night of the Living Dead legend George A. Romero at the screening of his newest, Survival of the Dead. 

Even scarier than the zombies, however, was Drew Barrymore's two-toned hair color at the press conference for her directorial debut, Whip It.

As always, the TIFF is a pleasure for the working press, the press conferences are civilized, the red-carpets well run. 

New York, September 10-17 – We were totally immersed in Fashion Week, reporting for New York magazine.  And what a week it was, beginning with the circus-like fun of Anna Wintour’s brilliant Fashion’s Night Out, where we roamed Barney’s, Bergdorf’s and Saks for hours before popping in to Oscar de la Renta’s Madison Avenue boutique for his sing-along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler and Barbara Walters.  Genius.  Diane Von Furstenberg proclaimed FNO a national holiday!

We chatted with Kanye West’s elusive muse Amber Rose.  Tim Gunn told us what he thinks about Ungaro’s hiring of Linday Lohan in an advisory role.  We witnessed Marc Jacobs’s awe-inspiring show, and Lady Gaga’s excellent performance at his after party. 

Narciso Rodriguez had the lovely Jessica Alba and the hilarious Courtney Love in his front row, and late-late at his party at Rose Bar, we bumped into his pals Cindy Sherman and David Byrne. 

Even Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman was amazed that her partner, Keren Craig, made it to their presentation just two days after giving birth!

At Calvin Klein, the beautiful Eva Mendes sat next to Jamie Dornan, the male model with whom she made those racy, oily ads.  Thandie Newton and Rose Byrne also graced Calvin Klein, and we talked poop with The Beautiful Life stars Sara Paxton and Nico Tortorella at the after party. 

Tommy Hilfiger scored the star of the week with the lovely Taylor Swift in his front row just days after she was infamously victimized by Kanye West at the VMAs.  It is interesting that Fashion Week opened with FNO’s hopeful nod to retailers, and Hilfiger closed the week with a star-studded party to launch his new Fifth Avenue store.  Could recession-wracked retail be coming back to life?

Photos: Caroline Torem Craig