Events: On the Scene

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.

Zooey Deschanel goes Hawaiian tropic. Photo: Michael Buckner, Getty Images

At the Maui Film Festival actress and fashion icon Zooey Deschanel confessed to her island dress dilemma and winning her first award. With fiance Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie close by, Zooey accepted the honor with style, grace and true Hawaiian spirit.

"I didn't really know how to dress for this because I don't spend a lot of time at the beach. I was looking for things that looked beach-y. And this looked beach-y to me," she said donning a white Shoshanna frock and a plumeria lei.
(Not her usual awards ceremony accessory.)

Lady Gaga lit up the crowd (literally!) at the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto last night (June 21).

Mid-performance, the electro-pop singer was "arrested" by a crew of female dancers dressed as police officers, then excited the crowd when fiery pyrotechnics shot out of her bust.

With a backup dance crew in tough chic costumes featuring studs, chains and metal hardware, Gaga channeled that other pop diva, Madonna.

The 23-year-old singer performed a medley of "Love Game" and "Poker Face," clad in a studded bustier/high-cut bodysuit (still no pants!) and spiked knee-high boots.

Louis Vuitton presented a sunny Cruise collection yesterday - transporting rain-soaked editors from the dreary streets of New York to the fabulous French Riviera. Continuing with the house's coquette theme from Fall (read: mini proportions in rich fabrics, with a healthy does of Lacroix and YSL references), LV's flamboyant party girl was still in tact. This time, she traversed the Côte d'Azur in micro-shorts, tiny tweed suits, a black patent trench and fisherman's hat, rope jewelry, and slouchy sequin open-toe pirate boots.

Accessories are the backbone of the house, and pumps decorated with leather rosettes were particular stand outs. They also introduced a monogram-print nylon bag. Fashion is all about legs right now-long and bare-and LV's designer, Marc Jacobs, has taken hemlines to new heights. Skirts were so abbreviated, one editor commented that the luxury brand must be saving money on fabric. But the press office assured me that in the stores, there will longer versions, for a less brazen customer.

One main event isn't enough for the hard-core fashionistas that attended the CFDA gala on Monday night. Oh no, the festivities raged on at not one, not two, but three separate after-parties until the wee hours of the morning.

First up, and the most coveted invite (aside from the actual CFDA's, of course) was Calvin Klein's celebration on the High Line - the former railroad tracks along NYC's West side that has been made into a public park.

It marked the first time that an event was held at the recently opened space and there were plenty of celebs to help with the christening.

Edward Norton, Lake Bell (in Louis Vuitton), Gerard Butler, Zoe Saldana and of course designers Francisco Costa and Italo Zucchelli were all on hand to take advantage of the super long blue lit bar with hunky servers.

On Monday night, the Council of Fashion Designers of America celebrated its own with a lavish gala held at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in Manhattan. Among the sea of chic attendees was Nadja Swarovski whose namesake company underwrote the entire event. Here Swarovski offers her thoughts on the evening, and why she avoided the all exclusive after-parties.

What a magical evening! It was great to see how the CFDA Awards have emerged from a small, intimate setting to something on a much grander scale. And of course I love seeing the once young and emerging designers winning in the "adult" categories.

I'm so happy for Proenza Schouler! Their partnership with the Valentino Group really exposed their business to new possibilities and to factories and resources -- and now they've won the Accessories category. It's nice to see their hard work rewarded. I see the future of fashion as being about collaborations and partnerships.

Eschewing the traditional runway show in a staunchy midtown locale, editors invited to the Christian Dior resort show in NYC yesterday were sent a map to a quiet street in Tribeca.

Upon arriving, guests were escorted into a marble laden townhouse that was decorated with strategically placed mannequins throughout.

Once I saw the long pool in the second room, I was sure that it was a sleek new downtown hotel, but alas! "It's a private residence," said the pencil skirt-clad attendant. "On the market for $24 million." How fitting.

It was almost a baptism.

New York's fashion elite is not happy moving to Lincoln Center -- either for the twice-yearly fashion shows, or the annual Council of Fashion Designers of America awards, which christened the venue last night with its first appearance. So when storm clouds dumped on the red carpet like a Cathy Horyn review, many saw it as a grim omen.

In fact, it was a blessing. After a swift wash from the heavens ("cleaning the New York away," was how one veteran fashionista described it), the storm moved on and the Alice Tully Hall sparkled in the unexpected sunshine. Models wearing the clothes of nominated designers stood on a pyramid of stairs in the crisp air as guests filed in for champagne, making the lobby look like the world's best-dressed gay pride event (except with real women).

At last night's CFDA awards designers grabbed their muses of the moment and headed to Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in NYC for a lengthy ceremony hosted by comedienne Tracy Ullman.

Christening the new locale were sixty or so models aligned on the outdoor steps wearing the fall collections of the womenswear nominees: Marc Jacobs, Narciso Rodriguez and Rodarte.

Around the corner on 65th street, a sizable canopy served as the red carpet. "What is going on here?" asked one of the many gaping bystanders who had unearthed her camera phone and started snapping away. The answer was: a lot!

The ultra-stylish Mr. Kanye West hosted the 3rd annual Men.Style.com Women of Fashion Awards last night in NYC to celebrate the most elegant behind-the-scenes women in the industry (who also happen, in this case, to be gorgeous).

Designers (Rachel Roy, Charlotte Ronson, Minnie Mortimer Gahan), muses (Chloe Sevigny, Milla Jovovich, Erin Wasson), stylists, publicists and other glamorous go-getters were feted at the Palace Hotel (fittingly, the fictional home of the "Gossip Girl" crowd).

Truman Capote himself might have imagined the scene: A fresh spring night on the Upper East Side, society ladies in cocktail dresses, and an elegant townhouse with a gossipy provenance.

"This was Montgomery Clift's place, it's where he used to booze it up with Marilyn Monroe," one guest stage-whispered on the stunning second floor, decorated with fine art photography, enlarged party pictures of Old Hollywood celebrities, zebra-print carpet and just two or three original Andy Warhols. "In that corner, by the bar, is where he's supposed to have died."

Senior Fashion Editor Sarah Cristobal is on assignment this week in France to discover what goes into creating the world's top fragrances. Read her daily blogs as she travels to perfumeries in Paris and Grasse, and dutifully observes the ooh la la of French culture.

Our full day at IFF consisted of sniff tests in smelling booths, learning about the technical origins of Axe's chocolate-inspired fragrance Dark Temptation (ahem! ice-cream-party!) and touring the labs where the scent was created. Afterward we changed and made our way to dinner at La Fontaine Gaillon. In our sequestered upstairs dining room, champagne and wine flowed freely, a scrumptious dinner of fresh white asparagus, pan seared John Dory, and Thanksgiving-worthy buttered mashed potatoes were served. For dessert? Chocolate souffle and macaroons! (It makes no sense why French women are so perfectly skinny, but I digress.)

Just when we thought life couldn't get any more français, who do we run into but the restaurant's owner and accomplished actor Gerard Depardieu! He was finishing a meal with his family and we all took pleasure in learning that he dines there almost every evening. It took all my restraint not to yell, "I loved you in Green Card!" as he plunked down on his scooter and rode off into the night.

But the Depardieu spotting wasn't our only celebrity run-in of the evening...

Young Hollywood has been pretty obsessed with floral headbands for some time now -- Mischa Barton even started her own line! But nothing Mischa could even dream of would touch the amazingly arranged and over-the-top pieces shown at "Tulips and Pansies: The Headdress Affair," an annual event that joins top designers from the worlds of fashion and flowers to collaborate on headpieces made from living plants and flowers. The result? A runway show like none other.

This year's event took place on May 14th at The Edison Ballroom in New York City and benefited Village Care of New York (a non-profit that helps people living with HIV/AIDS). If you're as obsessed with this whimsical living art as we are (and really, how could you not be?), head over to AOL Home to see more fabulous (and watering-can worthy) creations.

Senior Fashion Editor Sarah Cristobal is on assignment this week in France to discover what goes into creating the world's top fragrances. Read her daily blogs as she travels to perfumeries in Paris and Grasse, and dutifully observes the ooh la la of French culture.

A lot has happened since my first dispatch. The IFF tour was amazing! Oh, the things one can learn about the origins of our favorite fragrances. Here are some interesting -- and rather surprising -- facts:

• I am not a one-fragrance kind of gal, but Balmain's Ambre Gris is one of the favorites in my arsenal of scents. In terms of fashion, the label is currently the chicest on the market, but who knew that
  

  Balmain's Ambre Gris, a.k.a. Eau de Sperm Whale?
  

  Balmain's latest odour (launched in 2008) is based on the rarefied excretions of the sperm whale? The mammal is a squid eater -- bones and all -- and when the skeleton is broken down in the whale's body it is eventually compacted to about the size of a football. By the time it is passed, the crush of bones is so light that it floats on the water. Apparently, oil extraction from this extremely pricey commodity smells horrid at first but eventually transforms into a sweet earthy musk. Tres chic!

• The two main perfumeries in France are IFF and Givaudan. Together they account for the creation of most of the world's fine scents. In order to win a bid on a scent, the perfumers (or "noses") are presented with a brief by an intermediary on behalf of a production and branding company such as Unilever or Coty, Inc. Teams of perfumers then compete both internally and against outside perfumers to come up with the scent that best represents the label or celebrity for which the brief was created. Whomever wins the brief takes all, and the rest are out of luck. Can you believe doing all of that legwork and then not getting paid? Insiders say that it's considered an extremely outdated model, even among top fragrance brass.