Michael Jackson was playing on high rotation Thursday night at the celebrity opening of SoHo's new Swarovski "Crystallized" store, which took place (every party planner's nightmare!) just hours after the King of Pop's shocking death.

However the "pop" of champagne did wonders to soothe the crowd, at the party hosted by "Gossip Girl's" Blake Lively and attended by Evan Rachel Wood, Chloe Sevigny and Lucy Liu.

The 5,000-foot new concept store at 499 Broadway seems like an amazing corporate extravagance in this battered economy. A glittering, two-story tall chandelier hangs in the stairwell of the serene, crystal-and-white interior which evokes a better, future era -- as if we'd all been transported in a Bedazzled Austrian time machine to the end of the recession.

The girls, of course, were the center of attention: Evan Rachel Wood is not yet 22 but radiates the vibe of a major film actress (as opposed to "movie star") like those little squiggly lines in the comic books that used to indicate when Spider-Man sensed danger. In person, she has a fearsomely steady gaze which lets the journalist know that if he asks a stupid question, she will reach down his throat, rip out his Adam's apple and tuck it into his top pocket like a folded handkerchief. Without blinking.

Blake Lively, meanwhile, has that effortless "It Girl" energy that makes her the center of attention of whatever room she's in. She's a bit like a Drew Barrymore 2.0, back from the shop a little taller, a little prettier and without those troublesome addiction issues. Would we flock to see her in "The Seagull?" I'm not sure that we would. But for the buoyant roles we know her in, her beauty and spirit have rightly made her a star.

Apart from the ladies, guests were fascinated by the hundreds of drawers containing different Swarovski crystal styles, that slide themselves shut like something glamorous and motorized in the dashboard of a new Mercedes. The idea of the "Crystallized" concept store is that you can chose an existing design, or make one of your own. This seems to place the brand somewhere between "Build-A-Bear" and Tiffany which, frankly, is probably not a bad place to be.