Agnes Gund (Getty Images)

We got goodies for some of those on our gift list at the Pier Antiques Show this past weekend, but those who deserve something a little more, well, contemporary have yet to be crossed off. That’s why we’re dropping in on the Independent Curators International benefit auction, where works by the likes of Olaf Breuning and Ellen Phelan are on the block (along with a stay in St. Barts and a weekend in Newport). The art of socializing will be well-represented as well, as philanthropist and art patron Agnes Gund presents an award to Russian magazine editrix Dasha Zhukova.

The Prince George Ballroom, 15 East 27th Street, honoree hour at 6:30pm, auction with cocktails, food and dancing at 7:30pm, tickets and information can be found at http://tinyurl.com/8dayNov19.

You may have seen it this weekend, when it was especially busy. They were at the Richard Hambleton afterparty at Indochine, the Carine Roitfeld party at Westway and various firehouses yesterday to commemorate 9/11.

If you’d like to peel the magazine's already infamous cover sticker yourself, the truck will be at the Standard Biergarten tonight, and the Richard Serra opening at Gagosian on Wednesday.

James Franco becomes an NYU professor next week. [NYP]

Dia plans two programs dedicated to the artist Franz Erhard Walther. [Art Daily]

Jewish Museum extends hours for its popular Matisse exhibit. [Art Knowledge News]

University of Virginia names New York curator Jennifer Farrell as curator of exhibitions. [Press Release]

Dasha Zhukova.

It's not typical of Fashion Week to have a magazine upstage the wonders on the runways, but that may be the case this year. Dasha Zhukova's explosive new art glossy Garage comes on the heels of her stewardship of Pop magazine, and when it drops in a few weeks you will hear chatter of it outside Lincoln Center. There might even be a launch party.

In The New York Times' Styles today, Eric Wilson takes a spin through the magazines pages. In case there wasn't enough hype, Mr. Wilson dubs Garage "one of the most intriguing magazines to come along in years."

And why is that? Perhaps it's the Alexander McQueen dress made of lettuce. Or the Prada dress that's strung-together citrus fruits, or the featured Moncler garment. That look is simply anchovies.

Though the main stir comes from one particular cover image. It is a photo by Hedi Slimane, whose stunning shots of Frances Bean Cobain recently blew up all over fashion blogs, of a crotch bare save for a tattoo. It's a butterfly designed by Damien Hirst, and to see it you have to peel off a sticker affixed to the cover, Velvet Underground & Nico-style (Warhol reference? Check).

And though there's no mention of her in the Times article, Page Six's item on Garage lists Tavi Gevinson, tween-aged fashionista extraordinaire, as one of the contributors. Your move, Jane Pratt.

There are two other covers that do not feature hardcore nudity, and one of them --starring model Lily Donaldson as a puppet in a dollhouse -- is below. It will probably the best magazine named Garage in history, and there have been plenty of them.

The magazine.

According to Artinfo.com, the heiress and girlfriend of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich will open a satellite of her Moscow Garage Center for Contemporary Culture on Abramovich's New Holland development, an 18-acre former military base near St. Petersberg for which he won a tender last week. The project's estimated date of completion? 2017. 

The Observer reported last week on Abramovich's recent purchase of the development and the rumor that the island might become home to a museum devoted to Abramovich's fast-growing art collection.

The original proposal for New Holland included plans for offices, galleries, apartments, a hotel. Looks like those galleries will have some high profile company!

The original Moscow GCCC earned insta-cred with its high-profile opening party in 2007, which featured a performance by Lady Gaga and boasted Jeff Koons, Larry Gagosian, and top-tier collectors Ronald Lauder and Steven A. Cohen as guests. Although there was speculation that Moscow's GCCC might close after its lease expired next year, Zhukova recently dispelled the rumors by releasing a 2011 schedule for the space. The program, according to Artinfo, includes a survey of New York art called "New York Minute" and a photography show called "Cuba and the Revolution."

Abramovich's spokesman John Mann declined to comment on the possibility of a museum or offer additional information on Zhukova's new GCCC branch.

Later that evening, after hopping around the packed Soho streets for Fashion's Night Out, we found ourselves in an even more aggressive mob scene: the line of people desperate to join us at the Pop magazine party at Don Hill's. Dubbed the party of the week before it even happened, the bash at the new venture from nightlife barons Nur Khan and Paul Sevigny attracted the evening's biggest names. As Iggy Pop rocked on the stage, Gwen Stefani sat perched on a ledge cradled by husband Gavin Rossdale; Mary-Kate Olsen stood on a bench to make up for her height; and Nicky Hilton chatted to the woman of the hour, Pop editor in chief Dasha Zhukova, girlfriend of one of the world's richest men, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Of course, Chloë Sevigny wouldn't miss out. She had on a T-shirt and jean skirt befitting the gritty Don Hill's feel, and told The Observer that her brother's place would be the city's new hot spot. "It's what it was like at the Beatrice, and it's probably been missing since the Beatrice," she said. (What she didn't say, of course, was that the Beatrice Inn was closed in 2008 for overcrowding and "inadequate means of egress"--problems that hopefully will not plague Don Hills.)

On Saturday night, at the after-party for Charlotte Ronson's spring collection, Ms. Ronson, wearing a fitted, frilly blue dress, told us she was feeling good after her show, and said the rest of her week will be filled with "meetings--hopefully positive ones!" Her twin sister, Samantha, explained the personal significance of her final musical selection from the show, Lisa Loeb's "Stay": "That was an ode to one of my sister's and my best friends from when we were kids. She died a few years ago, and that was like our song together." Rashida Jones, on the other hand, wasn't feeling chatty, but she was clearly thirsty, as we witnessed her pour a hefty amount of vodka straight from the bottle into a empty coconut-water carton.

More action at Alexander Wang's party. The young designer topped his gas station soiree from last year's Fashion Week with a full carnival, built from scratch in a parking lot at 18th Street and 10th Avenue. Dree Hemingway, Terry Richardson and Agyness Deyn all turned up for the pulled pork sandwiches and skee ball.

The wildly enthusiastic Mr. Wang talked to us for a few moments, but didn't have time to stay put. "Will you walk with me to the bar?" he said as we dodged the cameras and flashbulbs. "We need alcohol! We need alcohol! Sorry!"

We asked Mr. Wang, who had on a black T-shirt, black shorts and black sneakers, about the theme for his over-the-top party. "The carnival is the new performance. Everyone can be a performer now."

We asked him to elaborate. "I just want people to have fun," he said. "Just get drunk, have fun, have a good time."

Our fashion crawl came to a close on Sunday night at the Tommy Hilfiger 25th Anniversary after-party, where we got a little literary with Mad Men's Christina Hendricks. "I just finished The Way the Crow Flies, which I absolutely loved," she said. Next on her night stand is One Hundred Years of Solitude, which she's started three times but never made it past the first chapter. "I know it's going to be worth it if I just go for it. ... I know the payoff will be there," Ms. Hendricks said. We also ran into Kelly Osbourne, who told us she was looking forward to hearing the evening's musical performers, the Strokes, play for the first time in New York since 2006. "Before there was the Strokes, I really liked *NSYNC and, like, really big pop music. And then the Strokes came out and they are what made me change my taste, I guess you could say. In my generation, I think that happened with a lot of people."

Asked what his favorite moment of the party was, Mr. Hilfiger said, "Having all of my friends there, including Jennifer Lopez, Bradley Cooper, Rebecca Romijn, Jason Lewis, Lenny Kravitz, to celebrate with me, and the Strokes' performance. It was one of the best nights of my life."

editorial@observer.com

Sarah Jessica Parker made her grand entrance soon after, and made her way to the front row by way of a blockade of bodyguards. She ended up next to Barry Diller and just two over from Anderson Cooper — who, when we approached, put his hand on our shoulder and kindly declined to talk. 

Nicky Hilton was also wandering around for her seat, wearing a yellow-splotched dress that was a bit more vibrant than the all-black affair she wore at Don Hill's for the Pop magazine party, where she spent the night up on a bench with Dasha Zhukova. We asked what she thought of Iggy Pop's violent set, during which he damned all the pretty faces in the audience to hell. Nicky said she's a fan.

"It was very, very crowded, but it was fun," she told us. "He's a legend!"

The event ended with Ms. von Furstenberg eschewing the customary smile and wave from the designer that usually comes after the final procession of models, in favor of a full lap around the two-pronged runway. She did, though, make one stop on her way: a quick hello and laugh with Sarah, Barry and Anderson.

Too bad Iggy Pop doesn't give a fuck about your reason.

"I think we're all aware it's Fashion Week in New York City," Iggy growled to the mass of beautiful attendees. "Just remember, fashion people, your pretty face is going to hell."

That set the tone for what can only be described as a raucous bash at Paul Sevigny's just-opened and hotly anticipated new project, Don Hill's. The civilized Soho shop-hopping of earlier that night was like a far-off memory now that Iggy and the Stooges had plugged in.

The place had a very tough door. Even with an invite, The Observer had to fight doormen, a police squad and a crew of performers on stilts to get into the spot. Even Patrick McMullan had some trouble breaking through the fray to secure his entrance. But once inside, we had crawled into a graffiti-soaked, smokey, punked-out, porn-on-the-walls sin den where the actresses, pop icons and models had cast off the sterile runways in favor of bopping around to rock's original purveyor of violence, Iggy Pop. 

The Misshapes spun James Brown and other soul classics as roadies wheeled in gear and sound-checked, and everyone took full advantage of the open bar. As start time approached, Gwen Stefani sat perched on a ledge, cradled by hubby Gavin Rossdale — who, like most of the rockers of the last 40 years, owes his entire forgettable musical career with the band Bush to The Stooges. Terry Richardson was drinking a beer in those gray-rimmed glasses, his camera slung over his shoulder. Nicky Hilton sat up with Ms. Zukhova. There was the expected beard-wearing contingent and many of the girls were dressed as though they had come stright from uptown. 

We found artist Jeff Koons nursing a drink over toward the back, and asked him about Iggy's influence on his own art. 

"I've always loved his work," Mr. Koons told us. "I put an image on the top of a yacht, on Dakis Joannou's boat—it's called Guilty, it's a big yacht in the mediterraenean. There's an image of Iggy there, on top. I think Iggy's like a god, like a greek god. When people move you to that level they're like Apollo or Dionysus."

Photographer and downtown art favorite Ryan McGinley had on a zipper-heavy leather jacket and skinny black tie. We deadpanned to him about whether he was excited or not for the show.

"Hell yeah! What are you crazy?" he told us, adding that he's seen Iggy perform three times. 

Minutes later the man himself came onstage, launching into the title cut off Raw Power, the loudest album ever recorded. Then, as the guitarist hammered the spitfire riff to "Search and Destroy," we looked down to find Mary-Kate Olsen — or was it Ashley? Don Hill's is a dark and hazy place — right next to us, trying to crane her neck to see Iggy. Gwen Stefani, still perched on a bench and wearing that deep red lipstick, nodded along with some of the tunes and occasionally closed her eyes, swaying. At Iggy's insistence, an unruly moshpit broke out, giving him a chance to do some stage-diving and crowd-surfing. We saw McGinley right in the thick of it.

Oh, also, The Stooges were a revelation. Somehow all the decades of heavy drug use turned Iggy into a promethean marvel — he pranced, jumped, yelled, spat, and sounded not a inch out of his prime. The power of it all forced the crowd into full-on Doubting Thomas mode: they reached out their hands, because they had to touch him to believe he was real.

On the other end of Don Hill's, Paul Sevigny was standing atop the bar, not far from two girls stripped to their undewear who were also elevated and dancing. Eventually the bartenders started spraying water all over them, and Mark Hunter AKA the Cobrasnake — who was wearing the same "ironic" American Online cap he had rocked the night before at the Chanel Soho opening — was on hand to capture this wholesome moment for posterity. 

After the set ended many of the big names headed out, leaving a crowd that was mostly hip skinny kids dancing to Gang of Four (which is still pretty cool). Before we called it a night, we chatted up the lovely Chloë Sevigny, who will probably be hanging around her brother's new place quite a bit. 

"It feels kind of wild in here!" Chloë told us. "I was here last night as well and it just had a little sense of anarchy that I feel like New York is missing. I also think that it's really great because the crowd is really young and old, like, it's super mixed. It's what it was like at the Beatrice, and it's probably been missing since the Beatrice."

And so we can add Don Hill's to the long list of places deemed "The New Beatrice." But this time, with the backing of Paul, the endorsement of Chloë and a little help from Iggy Pop, we might be ready to choose a true successor. 

The auction combined collections from the estates of members of two prominent New York families--Rita K. Hillman, president of the Alex Hillman Family Foundation, and Alice Lawrence, the widow of Manhattan real estate developer Sylvan Lawrence. The two collections were expected to bring in an already low estimate of $104 million, but ended up bringing in a mere $47 million. 

“It’s all down to estimates, and people were frightened,” James Roundell, a London-based dealer, explained to the Times. 

But over in London, this week's expected sales of Impressionist and Modern works at Christie's and Sotheby's, while still considerably down from last year's prices, are expected to do somewhat better, according to Bloomberg. (Together, the two auctions are expected to bring in $144.6 million.)

“Markets that have older-style collectors as the dominant force are less subject to panic flight,” Mr. Roundell told Bloomberg this time around. “In some ways, the Impressionist market has stood still. It has remained solid.”  

“Good works will continue to sell,” London-based art adviser Tania Buckrell Pos, who caters to Russian clients, told Bloomberg. “These artists are tried and tested. In the contemporary market there are a lot of artists whose reputations aren’t proven.”

Hopefully, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and his designer girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova, will also put in an appearance. (Last year, Mr. Abramovich made headlines when he purchased a Degas for $26.5 million, a Francis Bacon triptych for $86.3 million, and a painting by Lucian Freud for $33.6 million.)  

As the Miami Beach Convention Center opened yesterday, Faye Dunaway as well as Julian Schnabel and his son Vito strolled around gazing at the discounted works of art, reported Bloomberg. Calvin Klein, for his part, offered this about the general mood: “It will be interesting to see how the attendance and sales are affected. So few people are interested in antiquities -- it’s more affordable.” 

New York Magazine's Vulture reports that on opening day, everyone was wondering when the Russians would show up with their money: "Art dealers are hoping billionaires Roman Abramovich and 'the Leonids,' co-owners of Phillips de Pury auction house, will hit town and start spending."

Meanwhile, according to BlackBook, caviar and champagne can still be found at the parties. Last night, Kelly Klein and Andre Balazs hosted a book signing at the Raleigh hotel for Ms. Klein’s new book, Horse, attended by Fabian Basabe, Allison Sarofim, Rachel Zoe, and Ivana Trump. 

At the Deitch Projects party that Jeffrey Deitch told us about a few months ago the band Gossip performed and judging from the photos on Patrick McMullan's website, it almost looks like Mr. Balazs and Ms. Zoe are dancing together. 

Audi threw a party with a performance by Grace Jones at Delano Hotel, drawing out a diverse crowd including Benicio del Toro, Kirsten Dunst, David LaChapelle and one of the Olsen, according to BlackBook. (Apparently it was not clear which Olsen it was.)

Over at the dinner hosted by Diego Marroquin, Allison Sarofim and Stuart Parr, Mr. Schnabel and Vito said hello to Terrance Koh. Also present: Mr. Abramovich's girlfriend, Russian socialite and gallery owner Dasha Zhukova, Larry Gagosian, Derek Blasberg, Lola Schnabel, and Glenn O'Brian.

According to the Miami Herald, Naomi Campbell and Lenny Kravitz turned up at David LaChapelle's exhibit titled Jesus is My Homeboy.