Harley Viera-Newton.

Hosts like ubiquitous party girl Hannah Bronfman, Mark Amadei and Maureen Nash lure the fashionably artsy crowd (think Kyle DeWoody, Arden Wohl and Bettina Prentice) to the Whitney Art Party tonight. There is an auction of contemporary pieces, but the PYTs are too busy preening for Billy Farrell’s cameras to bid, so if you want to see the work beforehand, log on to artsy.net prior to the bash, which features MaxMara as a sponsor and music by Brendan Fallis and Harley Viera-Newton.

Skylight at Moynihan Station, 360 West 33rd Street, (212) 671-5305, 9pm-1am, tickets $250-$500.

Arden Wohl

Not all art-collecting this month is going on in Miami: tonight brings the opening reception for the Young Collectors Exhibition, a diverse set of works intended for young (read: a level below Sotheby’s on desired price point) patrons. The whole show, put on by Leila Heller Gallery and WASP bible Town & Country, raises money for the Pollock-Krasner Foundation’s Hurricane Sandy relief fund, to aid those artists whose livelihoods were affected by the lower-Manhattan floodwaters ... Meanwhile, Uma Thurman, Eric Ripert and the perpetually headband-wearing Arden Wohl stop by the Tibet House benefit auction at Christie’s, for which Martin Scorsese (on a break from shooting that new Leo flick) serves as one of the honorary chairs.

Leila Heller Gallery, 568 West 25th Street, opening reception tonight at 6:30pm, exhibition remains open through January 12, information can be found at leilahellergallery.com; Tibet House benefit auction, Christie’s Auction House, 20 Rockefeller Plaza, 6:30pm, tickets can be obtained by calling 845-658-4150.

Connie Chung (Getty Images)

After getting us in touch with our inner child earlier in the week with her confidence-booster, head-banded socialite Arden Wohl’s treating us to a cupcake—or five! Tonight, she hosts a fund-raiser for Barack Obama with vegan cupcakes she baked herself at Little Cupcake Bakeshop. Hope they pair well with cocktails ... Meanwhile, Jean and Martin Shafiroff, among others, celebrate the city’s grown-up women at the New York Women’s Foundation 25th Anniversary Celebration, honoring a quarter-century of working to bring women out of poverty. Connie Chung serves as mistress of ceremonies and Tony-Award-winning playwright Sarah Jones performs; we doubt there’ll be any cupcakes for this serious-minded crew!

Little Cupcake, 30 Prince Street, 7pm, tickets and information can be found at littlecupcake.eventbrite.com; New York Women’s Foundation, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, 6:30pm, tickets and information can be found at nywf.org.

Arden Wohl (Getty Images)

With the so-called “War on Women” raging all this year, we’re left wanting to support the young ladies in our lives—while catching up with our closest social-circuit pals. Arden Wohl chairs the committee for tonight’s Girls Like Us benefit in support of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services along with fellow philanthropic types including model Karen Elson and (male) director Jesse Peretz. Hostess Jada Pinkett Smith, who knows a thing or two about raising self-confident young ladies—her daughter Willow is a brash and successful young recording artist—will keep things running smoothly as the likes of Natasha Lyonne and Stella Schnabel present readings about self-esteem.

El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue, 6:30pm, tickets and information can be obtained by calling (212) 92608089 x62.

“You can’t tell which paintings are mine, and which paintings are not? Do you know anything about art?” Mr. Schnabel, standing in the cabana parlor of the West Village mansion, asked The Observer. “That painting, that painting, all the paintings that are in that room, except for the Dan Colen over there and that Ron Gorchav. How old are you? That painting was made before you were born. That painting was made in nineteen-eighty.”

It was Monday night, and the Schnabel matriarch had cajoled her ex-husband and coop-flown children—Stella, Lola, Vito—to reconvene at the old house for a good cause. Julian was respectful enough to arrive in his pajamas. People asked him about the choice of food.

“Oh, the lamb,” Mr. Schnabel said to a woman holding a small platter with a bone-in appetizer, interrupting the conversation. “A little rare for me.”

He turned back at The Observer.

“You need to look. It’s more important what happens to you than what happens here. You don’t want to miss life while you’re reporting.”

Life, in this case, was a fund-raiser for World Bicycle Relief, a charity that purchases bikes for children in Africa. “Jacqueline is gathering her dearest friends with deep pockets …” the press release began. Life included iPhones that with a swiped credit card could facilitate donations. Life included exotic headdresses, Native American dream catchers, steak tartare and endless red and white wine. Life also included Naomi Campbell.

“House,” Ms. Campbell said when we asked her if she liked the apartment. “You mean house. It’s stunning.”

We were standing in the basement, snugly enclosed by a slim corridor that led to the kitchen. The head cook was making workhorses out of four sous-chefs and multiple assistants. There was plentiful lentil and parsley salad.

“I just graduated from culinary school,” said socialite Arden Wohl. The Observer asked if the food here passed muster.

“Are you talking about the chef?” asked designer Madeline Weinrib, who was talking with Ms. Wohl. “He’s amazing!”

Then Ms. Weinrib asked about Ms. Wohl’s boyfriend. He’s feeling under the weather. Stomach flu. It’s going around.

Stella Schnabel walked in with Ms. Wohl and had to make her way upstairs.

“I want to open the door,” Ms. Schnabel said to The Observer in the skintight scrum that was jigsawed together near the entryway. “It’s too hot in here.”

It was her 27th birthday.

In the basement it was perfectly kosher to light cigarettes and so guests did. Butts rested ignobly in discarded oyster shells.

The Observer bummed a light from a couple, Mane and Armand, both in fashion. Their smoke plumed and groped the original Warhol of Elvis Presley on a motorcycle, hanging unnoticed on the wall. They fawned over the wine and fetched The Observer another glass, which he had while smoking another cigarette with Theo Wenner, son of Rolling Stone editor Jann. They spoke of his childhood bonding with the Schnabels. 

“Where we headed?” said Peter Brant Sr., the Interview magazine owner and prolific art collector. He was speaking to Naomi Campbell. “Mr. Chow?”

The supermodel shrugged. A party sheepishly assembled by the back door. The Observer would also soon leave, to catch one of the last and vaunted LCD Soundsystem shows uptown, but before doing so, he spotted that matriarch and welcoming host, Ms. Jacqueline Schnabel. The West 11th abode has been her residence for 18 years. She stood radiant and calm, a mother abreast with her children and their father, none of whom actually claim the house as their home.

“You could adopt me as another son, and I could live upstairs,” The Observer suggested to Jacqueline Schnabel. He was half-kidding. His lease is soon to be up.

Ms. Schnabel smiled.

“Well,” she said, “there’s room now!”

nfreeman [at] observer.com | @nfreeman1234

The Art Production Fund, a nonprofit organization that presents art around New York, has been orchestrating the benefit, collecting and storing the donated works for the past week.

According to Yvonne Force Villareal, a co-founder of APF, artists Jasper Johns, Nate Lowman, Cecily Brown and John Currin have already dropped off works to be auctioned on Wednesday evening.

“It’s been a really beautiful, grass-roots effort for Tara, and it just shows what a great person she is that so many artists have come out and donated things,” Ms. Villareal told the Transom. “The golden rule applies: Do whatever you can to help someone and hope that everyone will do the same to help you.”

Jeffrey Deitch, who produced one of Ms. Subkoff’s Imitation of Christ shows—Ms. Subkoff sold the label in 2007 for a reported $2 million before it folded in 2008—is also among Ms. Subkoff’s circle of friends, a group that includes director Wes Anderson (a reported former beau), Paul Sevigny (who will DJ the party) and socialite Arden Wohl.

“It is about our community coming together to support a friend who we love and admire,” Mr. Deitch told the Transom. “This benefit for Tara is an example of how the New York art world is not just a business, but a real community where people support each other.

With New York magazine’s charmingly casual downtown party at the Spotted Pig canceled this year, and Entertainment Weekly’s uptown celebration at Elaine’s looking like it’s never coming back, the Accompanied Literary Society’s inaugural Oscar party was possibly the only open bar in town, attracting guests like designer Camilla Stærk and club owner Lyman Carter.

“I haven’t watched the Oscars in a long time, but I’m really enjoying it—I forgot how much I love it!” Ms. Smith told the Transom. “I love to look at the dresses. I went about four years ago and I got to see the dresses up close.”

As Sarah Jessica Parker came out onstage in Dior Haute Couture, Ms. Smith, wearing an off-the-shoulder black dress and a red turban, said, “Look at that dress!”

“The boobs!” burst out Mr. Greer.

“The boobs!” Ms. Smith echoed.

“This the first time I’m wearing a tuxedo on Oscar night,” said Mr. Greer. “Usually I throw an Oscar party and dress up as one of the nominated films. I was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon one year and I did Meryl Streep from The Hours another.”

This year, Mr. Greer was rooting against The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for a personal reason. In 2004, he published the widely praised novel The Confessions of Max Tivoli, about a man who curiously aged backward. After Benjamin Button was already in development, Paramount offered to purchase the rights to the novel—with no intention of making it—but Mr. Greer turned them down. (The film was based, mostly in name only except for the aging-backward plot device, on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story of the same name.)

“They didn’t steal anything, but it just would’ve been nice if in a single movie review they had mentioned that there’d already been a treatment of this,” said Mr. Greer. “But this is film, it’s not books. If they win, they’re not going to mention my book when they go up there. But of course they wouldn’t!”

Brooke Geahan, the leggy founder of the Accompanied Literary Society, who was teetering about in a dangly, low-cut gold minidress, was pleased at the amount of literature-based films nominated. 

“People need to understand that there are not great films without great books,” she said. If Ms. Geahan and her society raised enough money that evening, they were planning to give a grant to a novelist hoping to sell film rights to a book.

To raise the necessary funds, the guests were encouraged to play the blackjack tables lining the hallway. “We wanted to bring a little bit of Monte Cristo glamour to New York,” explained Ms. Geahan.

The socialite Arden Wohl was successfully betting at the blackjack tables with a stack of gold chips in front of her.

“What are the prizes again?” Ms. Wohl asked.

“Oh, there’s lots of great prizes—there’s a brunch, an Oscar de la Renta handbag, and gym or a yoga membership …” responded Ms. Geahan.

Ms. Wohl interrupted. “But is there, like, a trip somewhere?”

Oh, honey. Sometimes we want to escape New York, too.

ialeksander@observer.com

And Fashion Week, necessarily about seeing and being seen, was still delivering. At Ms. von Furstenberg’s show, Diane Sawyer and Charlie Rose, both dressed in two-piece black-and-white suits, seemed amused by the commotion. Two seats away, Diana Ross’ big hair was being lit up by the dozen or so camera flashes. Ms. Furstenberg’s husband, IAC chairman Barry Diller, strolled in and gave Ms. Ross a hug and Ms. Sawyer a kiss on the forehead, and waved at model Natalia Vodianova’s two flaxen-haired children seated directly across from him. Meanwhile, French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, stylist Rachel Zoe, actress Julia Stiles and model Heidi Klum were still filtering in and doing rounds of mandatory hellos. It was just like old times!

It’s likely that everyone was breathing a collective sigh of relief; after all, the prognosis had been grim in the days and months leading up to this edition of Fashion Week. The fashion dailies and blogs assured us that the shows would be subdued. Celebrities wouldn’t come. The clothing would be basic, safe, boring. (And McDonald’s coffee would be served in the tents! What a comedown!)

Instead, as Ms. von Furstenberg’s was, many of the designs sent down the runway were imaginative, colorful, precise and inspired. It’s true that the celebrity factor was downscaled. But the ones who came were, for a change, actual fans of the designers they came to support—not C-listers on the prowl for free press (or shwag—the number of gifting suites and gift bags stuffed with hair products and nail files was noticeably down). Not to mention that those McDonald’s lattes and cappuccinos that the Transom spotted Vogue’s Hamish Bowles standing in line for on Monday morning were surprisingly tasty!

On Thursday, Feb. 12, the day before the tents at Bryant Park officially opened, Bergdorf Goodman fashion director Linda Fargo was already feeling giddy as she skimmed her color-coded, plastic-sleeve-encased fashion week schedule. 

“Already today, we’ve snagged—well, I’m not going to tell you who or what—but we’ve already snagged someone very, very young, someone we’re very excited about,” she told the Transom at a private dinner thrown by Fashion Week Daily at La Goulue.

The youth were back! The young designers, whom everyone had predicted would be the first to flop, have exceeded expectations; they ignored advice to go “simple” and instead went with their gut—the economy be damned.

Jason Wu, the 26-year-old designer whose profile exploded after Michelle Obama wore his one-shouldered white dress to the inaugural balls, was one of the first to impress with his floor-sweeping midnight blue and ivory chiffon gowns on Friday, Feb. 13. (Rumor had it that Anna Wintour displayed a slight yet distinct smile in the front row.) The Egyptian-inspired jewelry was designed by CFDA accessory design winner Philip Crangi.

“It’s got this feeling of exuberance and glamour, but with a dark edge to it,” said Mr. Crangi of the heavy sun-ray necklaces. “And in scale, we wanted to make things bigger.”

After the first round of shows that day, Roberto Cavalli hosted a party at his Madison Avenue store for the release of Fighters and Flowers, a fashion photography book that he collaborated on with Vanity Fair fashion and style director Michael Roberts.

“Fashion is fashion,” Mr. Roberts told the Transom. “If there’s a slight tremor of a recession, it’s secondary because what’s most important to fashion people is the fashion world.”

Nearby, Vogue creative director Grace Coddington, who had just arrived from the Rag & Bone show, was talking about cats with Mr. Cavalli—they both own several.

“Fashion people live in a fantasy anyway,” said Ms. Coddington. “A new season is always refreshing so everyone is inherently going to be very optimistic. The shows are the fodder that I will feed off for the next six months. It doesn’t even matter if they’re good or bad. It’s a whole restart, begin, re-look.”

A few days later, on Monday, Feb. 16, A-list editors—Ms. Wintour, Harper’s Bazaar’s Glenda Bailey, Elle’s Robbie Myers and Marie Claire’s Joanna Coles and Nina Garcia—and White House social secretary Desiree Rogers watched hungrily as Carolina Herrera sent out rich fabrics, lace and corset gowns.

“I think fashion this season is an expression of personal vision rather than trying to fit into an idea of what’s going to sell at retail because obviously that model is falling apart,” said Elle’s Anne Slowey from the front row. “And that’s a great place to be in.”

She added: “I can’t help but remember what it was like when I moved here, in the early ’80s, and no one had any money. We were making outfits out of flower pots and garbage bins to go out to Area at night, but you saw some of the most expressive, wonderful things on the streets. They went for it, and I’m a big advocate of that—the crazier, the better.”

On Valentine’s Day, socialite favorite Elise Overland showed a presentation called Shimmer in which the models wore gold Alexander Calder jewelry and crowns. (Despite being the ultimate counter-recession accessory, crowns seemed to be a theme; at Mr. Wu’s show, models wore playful, tiaralike headpieces.)

“Crowns can look very majestic and tribal,” Ms. Overland told the Transom. “It’s more an attitude than a look. It’s badass and that’s how I wanted these girls to be—the sophisticated rock ’n’ roll badass, princesses.” (Now there’s a look for the gloomy days ahead!)

Mr. Overland’s collection also featured lamé-colored lambskin in shades of emerald, turquoise and gold—hardly the understated palette of a somber fall collection.

“I always think, ‘What would be my black that is not black?’ Right now, I think of green as a black,” she said. “I kind of went the other way of everything going on—I have glamour and craziness and that indulgence in fabrics and shimmer and glimmer.”

Ms. Overland’s presentation was more of a party than a formal showing of a collection. The models laughed, posed and danced while standing on an elevated white platform as guests, sipping sugary cocktails, socialized.

“I don’t think anyone here is concerned right now, right at this moment, about job losses,” said habitual partygoer and jewelry designer Waris Ahluwalia, who arrived with girlfriend Chiara Clemente and socialite Arden Wohl.

“I love economic crises,” he continued. “Well, no, wait, that’s not what I mean! I can already see The Observer headline: ‘Waris Loves an Economic Crisis.’ It is horrible, I understand that, of course. But when I say it’s fantastic, I mean for creativity. It’s a fantastic time for art.”

Nearby, socialite Fabiola Beracasa, who had attended Alexander Wang’s much discussed show earlier that day, was chatting with Ms. Overland. (Mr. Wang’s show at Roseland Ballroom on Saturday had pre-show tequila cocktails for the guests and takeout from Hooters backstage; Sarah Jessica Parker sat next to Ms. Wintour in the front row.)

“Alex Wang was amazing. It was a party, but also a show and with tequila!” said Ms. Beracasa. “Fashion is always going to be around, and people will always have to wear clothes. So let’s be honest about it. It’s a viable business and all of us somehow live off of it. It’s more than just fun.”

ialeksander@observer.com

On a screen, the actresses Azura Skye and Ms. Wohl’s longtime friend, Leelee Sobieski, were acting out scenes written and directed by Ms. Wohl. “You know, I read that they could inject Botox into your armpits to make you stop sweating,” uttered Ms. Skye, wearing undergarments, as she straddled Ms. Sobieski’s back, zipping her into a red Herve Leger dress. (Ms. Skye’s character is dressed up in three different types of hair accessories in the film and bears a curious resemblance to the director.)

In the dark, romantic fairy tale, the two women flirt, gaze at one another profoundly, fight, gaze some more, cry, gaze, cry, gaze. The whole thing concludes with a scene in which Ms. Sobieski may or may not have sex with Ms. Skye’s dead body. 

“It’s based upon my personal experiences. My harrowing and complicated relationships with the people closest to me,” Ms. Wohl told the Transom. She was garbed in slim black pants, a frilly satin blouse and her usual eccentric headband.

Ms. Wohl co-wrote the film with her friend Darsi Monaco, a pretty young blonde, who was wearing an understated black dress and a black bow in her hair.

“We usually just got together at coffee shops, restaurants and in our apartments late at night, just sort of rambling and letting the ideas fly around the room,” Ms. Monaco said of the two-year writing process. “We had a full-length script based on this, but then we decided we wanted to do something a little bit more experimental. Something more … strange.”

After the film concluded, Ms. Monaco instructed the Transom to head to the back room “to get blessed.” The film was intended as a sort of installation, and in the back, a woman with an Indian-style headdress and heavy makeup (applied by Ms. Wohl) was rubbing smelly essential oils on guests. Ms. Wohl was supervising the “blessings.”

“Come get blessed!” said Ms. Wohl, who was sitting in the corner of the floor as guests peered through the curtain.

Later, Ms. Wohl’s mother, Denise, jewelry designer Waris Ahluwalia, Chiara Clemente, Proenza Schouler’s Lazaro Hernandez and some of Ms. Wohl’s cousins crowded into the Soho Grand for the after-party.

Yvonne Force Villareal, the fur-wearing founder of the Art Production Fund, who has worked with artists like Vanessa Beecroft and Rudolf Stingel, was enthusiastic. “The installation is a great success!” she told Ms. Wohl. “I really love working with you. It was a special experience.”

Near the bar, a few of Denise’s friends were discussing what they had just seen.

“Was that supposed to be, what’s it called, narcolepsy?” asked an attractive blonde who appeared to be in her 40s, sipping a fruity cocktail.

“It’s actually necro­philia,” a young gentleman corrected her. “Narcolepsy is the sleeping disorder.”

“Ah, right,” replied the blonde. “But you know, I have to say, it was very well shot.”

ialeksander@observer.com

In 2006, Ms. Wohl released a debut film called Coven, which was a retelling of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel featuring a voice-over by the socialite's longtime friend, Leelee Sobieski. Ms. Wohl made the film during her last year at NYU film school and screened it at Art Basel Miami Beach. 

Ms. Wohl's latest short, co-written with her childhood friend Darsi Monaco, is about the codependent relationship between two women, Maisie and Galen, played by Ms. Sobieski and the actress Azura Skye, who recently had small roles on the TV shows The Mentalist, House and Ghost Whisperer. The film, listed on IMDb under the "fantasy" genre, is described by Ms. Wohl as a dark comedy and love story between friends whose relationship is complicated by their bond and power dynamics. 

“It’s autobiographical in some respects,” Ms. Wohl told Women's Wear Daily a few months ago.  “The film centers on Galen and the things — religion or sex or drugs or food — that make her feel human.” (Ms. Wohl also told WWD that the characters represent her relationships with her sister, ex-boyfriend, and best friend.)

The film opens on Sunday and runs through Feb. 28.