Richard Chai, Shu Pei, Liu Wen, Phillip Lim (Billy Farrell/BFAnyc.com)

The Observer was about halfway through our black rice and bok choy at the Asia Society’s Asia Week kick-off gala on Monday night when iGavel online auctioneer Lark Mason plucked our dessert spoon off the table and politely asked us to tell him about it.

Mr. Mason, a frequent appraiser on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow, was enlisting us to play along in mock version of the show.

We found the spoon while cleaning out our dead grandmother’s attic, we lied. We have a feeling it’s important.

Mr. Mason turned the spoon slowly in his hand.

“Manufactured in China, in the 1930s, for American export. She probably received it as a wedding gift,” he said matter-of-factly. “But I’m sure it has a lot of sentimental value.” 

With a brief-but-warm hand shake (he’s a two-hander), the Asian arts and antiques expert had demonstrated how he goes about disappointing the thousands of Middle American treasure-hunters he encounters on the beloved program.

But in July, Mr. Mason had the unusual privilege of informing a Vietnam veteran in Tulsa, Okla., that he was in possession of the single most valuable lot in the program’s history: a set of Chinese libation cups carved from Rhinoceros horns.

“Used in China in the 17th and 18th centuries,” he explained to The Observer, adding that men gave them as gifts because they were believed to have magical properties.

The collection happens to be on the block at Sotheby’s tomorrow, just one of a slew of Asian-related auctions happening across the city.

We dared to ask how much.

“Between $800,000 and $1.2 million,” came the answer.

Drums fired off behind our heads, and a Chinese dragon dance began to weave through the room.

These are heady times for the Asian art community, as Chinese collectors topple auction records and Asian and Asian-American artists charm critics. Monday night the Asia Society and its supporters were basking in the glow.

Society president Vishakha Desai told us that in addition to honorary chair Michael Joo, she was proud of Sarah Sze, whose work is on display at the Asia Society until March 25.

“She has just been voted the most important artist by the International Critics Association and she’s going to represent the U.S. Pavillion at the Venice Biennale,” bragged Ms. Desai. “And we have her show!”

The Chinese-American artist happens to be married to an Indian-American Pulitzer winner, Emperor of All Maladies author Siddhartha Mukherjee. And the runner-up for that AICA prize? Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

Have we, like the headlines say, entered an Asian century?

“The truth is, it’s a U.S.-Asia century,” Ms. Desai, dressed in a deep green sari, said. “The importance is as much to focus on Asia as the partnerships between Asians and Americans.”

And it’s not just about the booming art market.

“What we’re trying to move toward right now is the collaboration between Asian artists,” gala co-chair Stephanie Foster told us. “We have Asian fashion designers here, and Asian designers doing the tables.”

“It’s amazing that New York can encapsulate all that,” added Sotheby’s vice chairman of Asian Art Henry Howard-Sneyd. “This is one of the few places in the world you can do this.”

So we still have the competitive edge in parties, in other words.

By the time Donna D’Cruz donned her blinding, red Swarovski crystal-encrusted headphones and hit the DJ booth, the Asia Society’s young supporters, like Miami boutique owner Laure Heriard-Dubreil and her boyfriend, artist Aaron Young, had ditched the pineapple mousse cake and migrated toward the center table where fashion’s Asian-American all-stars held court.

“We all get clumped together,” said Korean-American designer Richard Chai, wearing a tuxedo and thick, plug earrings. “We’re all individuals doing different things, but with support for each other.”

“We get that a lot,” said Phillip Lim. “Hopefully over time it’s not about being Asian, it’s just the work.”

His date, Liu Wen, wore a white pantsuit with a demure high neckline and latex belt from his fall collection.

“You always have to balance sensuality with elegance and a little bit of fetish,” he explained.

Anna Sui made an early appearance, accompanied by model Jessica Stam. Elsewhere, first-generation supermodel Pat Cleveland pushed a raw, blended version of the salad course around her plate while couturier Maggie Norris, puffed on an electronic cigarette.

Vietnamese-Canadian photo blogger Tommy Ton could hardly believe his luck, that he’d been seated in between occasional subjects, Ms. Wen and Shu Pei, who wore pieces from Mr. Chai’s fall and summer collections, and his occasional boss, Style.com editor Dirk Standen.

“Susan Standen, his wife, invited me at the Lanvin show,” he told us. “I’m their guest.”

For Mr. Standen, the night had just begun. After the party he was headed back to the office, where the second issue of Style.com/print was closing.

Mr. Standen said he thought grouping Asian designers together was somewhat arbitrary, but, he observed, they were all in good company.

“These guys are positioned to take over the world,” he said.

kstoeffel@observer.com

Ms. Gyllenhaal was approached by a tabloid reporter who asked her if her little daughter, 2-year-old Ramona, likes rummaging through her closet.

"I'm sorry, who are you interviewing me for?" Ms. Gyllenhaal asked. The Transom couldn't quite make out the answer, but then overheard: "Oh, you know, I'm sorry. The ones with the paparazzi pictures I just try to avoid," she said, starting to move away. "I know it's not your fault."

Ms. Gyllenhaal told the Transom that she would not be attending Fashion Week because her daughter is starting school, but wanted to be here for Mr. van Noten. "I'm a huge fan of Dries' clothes. I love them. I wear them all the time. I think he's my favorite. I felt like he's given me so many beautiful clothes and designed things for me and I really wanted to give something back to him."

They're not lunch buddies or anything. "I don't think we've ever actually met! We always talk on the phone," she said.

Nearby, the designer Phillip Lim was making the rounds. Mr. Lim is doing a men's and a women's show this year. "Being here is surreal right now. I just gussied myself up and ran from the fittings," he said. 

The Transom wondered what he thought of the state of Fashion Week, a topic that has gotten much attention from designers and CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg.

"You have to have Fashion Week because [otherwise] there is no reason for us. You would be taking away the lifeline," said Mr. Lim. "As far as shipments, I think the constant rush is a bit much. It should go back to being closer to the seasons."

And what about Fashion Week becoming too consumer- and celebrity-oriented?

"I think it depends on your mindset. If you want to have a party, have a party, but just prioritize and compartmentalize," he replied. 

The supermodel Iman, who was hosting a raffle with Barneys' [and Observer columnist] Simon Doonan, said she was not attending shows at all this year, but she would be stopping by Rachel Roy, Stella McCartney, Dior and Barneys for Fashion's Night Out. We asked whether she thought models look different nowadays.

"No! I'm a huge fan of today's young models like Raquel Zimmerman and Chanel Iman and Coco Rocha," she replied. "Everyone always says, 'They don't make models like they used to,' but I have no idea what they're talking about!"

When Ms. Gyllenhaal went up to present the award, she got shy. "I am a little nervous about being here today because I am not officially a part of the fashion world, but I like clothes a lot," she began. She proceeded to tell a story about the time she asked Mr. van Noten to design her wedding dress in May for her wedding in Italy to actor Peter Sarsgaard. She described exactly what she wanted over the phone. But when the frock arrived a week before the wedding: "This is nothing like what I was picturing!" she thought. And not in a good way.

But a week later, when Ms. Gyllenhaal took Mr. van Noten's creation out of the box again and put it on, she changed her mind. "It's like he knows better than I do what is beautiful and sexy on me!"

“I think ruffles are girly and playful,” said Ms. Hearn.

Except that the new ruffle is quite serious business. Bold and stiff, often folded like an accordion, it’s nothing like the floppy, Little House on the Prairie–ish furbelows of yore.

Phillip Lim, a designer known for his clean-cut structuring and modernizing of basic ideas, filled his fall 2009 runway with ruffles. He opened his show with a crisp light blue overcoat with rigid ruffles streaming along both flaps of the jacket from top to bottom. And he didn’t stop there, showing blouses with elevated ruffles along the sleeves and overly dramatized ruffles down the front—very Christopher Columbus. Mr. Lim turned down an interview request made by The Observer, leading us to speculate wildly: perhaps he is imagining women on a new path of voyage and discovery?

Some, when they think of ruffles, immediately flash on Mozart and Bach and other famous dead white men. Maybe Queen Elizabeth. The design dates back to the 15th century, but while it originated with men in a peacock-like phase of their evolution, the design in more recent years has been consistently associated with femininity.

However, the “new” ruffle being used by a diverse group of designers is far from the flirty, frilly one that we picture on our grandmothers. This arguably improved ruffle is much more structured and rigid—the prototypical city woman’s armor. No longer are ruffles simply embellishments: They now make a statement, and it’s a strong one. “It gives the wearer a sense of empowerment, something you won’t get from the traditional, flirty, romantic ruffle,” said Jenna Andreola Lonstein, a designer for Anlo.

Anlo, which began as a denim line, is branching into other kinds of sportswear, most notably different types of silk tops covered in—you guessed it—ruffles.

In the August issue of Vogue magazine, the concept was categorized as cool and classic “origami.” The pieces displayed, by Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan, were extremely unyielding and severe—but in a good way.

Ms. Karan’s strapless burgundy dress had flat ruffles layered on top of one another on both the top and bottom of the bustier; Mr. Jacobs’ deep blue top had a fitted body with a sharp “new” ruffle jetting out of the top.

Meanwhile, the iconic Valentino uses ruffles consistently, but he really went overboard with his fall 2009 collection, sending more than one black dress made entirely out of ruffles down the runway, a sort of last triumphant explosion before his retirement, perhaps.

It’s not just high-end designers who are taking this trim to new heights. Topshop was carrying a short-sleeved dress adorned with the new ruffle for $80 and a gray sweater with ruffles across the entire body and sleeves for $90. Nearby, H&M has a long-sleeved button-up shirt with ruffles along the buttons for $40.

And J. Crew, the classic American brand favored on more than one important occasion by first lady Michelle Obama, is showing a fall line featuring the new ruffle from head to toe, as if to lend us all a sense of pomp and ceremony as we gird ourselves for fall. “The dramatic ruffle detail gives a woman a sense of femininity, but it is more modern—it’s the evolution of a more romantic feel and a movement toward architecture,” said Tom Mora, vice president of women’s sales for J. Crew. “It has a much more sharp, crisp feel.”

editorial@observer.com

Event producer Tom Palmer, a friend of the hosts—he has produced Mr. Lim's fashion show for the past four years—was given less than a week to orchestrate the bash.

"They wanted it to be a celebration of having lived in the time of an influential and an inspiring person. That was the only creative direction they gave me as far as the spirit of the party," Mr. Palmer told the Transom by phone the morning after the party.  "It was meant to be something that would make Michael proud."

Mr. Palmer worked for free, with some resources donated by the hosts' friends and acquaintances. "Phillip really liked the idea of a smoke machine," he said. "He thought it would be a very Michael Jackson thing to have."

About 300 hundred guests were expected; upward of 500 showed up throughout the course of the evening, including designer Carlos Mota and Richard Chai; socialites Genevieve Jones, Bee Shaffer, Derek Blasberg and singer Lissy Trullie; plus "lots of fashion assistants," reported one guest, "which is always fun." (Another attendee thought he spotted socialite Allison Sarofim in the crowd. Volunteer DJs played "Thriller" and "Beat It" and "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough," while the accompanying videos were projected on the wall.

Mr. Palmer wore black loafers, a black jacket with zippers, and a white T-shirt. "I did my best to have that bad look," he said. Mr. Lim was also outfitted in a ripped white T-shirt, loafers and sequined white socks. Ms. Brooks wore a black fedora and a vintage '80s jacket, which Mr. Palmer guessed was probably Oscar de la Renta. 

"The spirit was exactly what we had hoped. It was just a simple celebration in that nothing was being shilled," the planner said. "Everyone who was there danced, and it got a little hot and it got a little sweaty, but everyone just let go of their egos and embraced it. Even the wallflowers that come to so many of these parties and usually just sit and watch got into it."

Anyone with especially enviable moves?

"There were a lot of earnest attempts," Mr. Palmer said. "And there was some spontaneous moonwalking."

"I am such a big a fan," he blurted out in the direction of Miami-based interior designer Barbara Hulanicki. (Ms. Hulanicki is better known for opening the Biba boutique in the 1960s in London's Kensington neighborhood, where Anna Wintour landed her first fashion job and Mick Jagger came to hang out.)

Ms. Hulanicki, with her her peroxide blond bob offset by large, black-framed sunglasses, graciously smiled in return. "Oh!" she said, for lack of a better thing to say in these situations. 

"I would love for you to come to my show," Mr. Lim gushed, talking over the other people at the table. "My collection is actually loosely inspired by your work. I would be so honored if you came. I'll send you an invite, okay?"

Ms. Hulanicki smiled and turned to the Daily Transom. 

"Is that Phillip Lim?" she whispered. We nodded. "Oh, he's great. I just saw some of his pieces at Barneys just this week."

Mr. Lim and Ms. Hulanicki were both presenters at the luncheon, where Christian Cota took home the Women's Ready to Wear Rising Star award, Sergio Davil took the Men's Apparel award, and Hollander & Lexer boutique won the Retail category. (The real celebrity of the day seemed to be designer Jason Wu, who, despite being just a guest, was fielding congratulations before, during, and after the ceremony for his Inauguration Day coup of having Michelle Obama wear his dress to all 10 Inaugural Balls.)

The award proceedings had the usual awkwardness of a mid-day ceremony. Margaret Hayes, the president of the Fashion Group, got off to a rocky start when she had trouble pronouncing the keynote address speaker Tory Burch's name. "Tory Byorch ... Tory Birch ... Ms. Burch!"

Then Paul Morelli had similar trouble when announcing the Fine Jewelry nominees, pronouncing Ivanka Trump's name "E-ven-ka Trump" several times to mischievous snickers in the audience. 

Ms. Lim, who was scheduled to go last to announce the winner in the women's ready to wear category, was studiously reading over his lines. 

"Public speaking is always terrifying for me," said Mr. Lim. "At least I have a script. I try to listen to music and I try to think of every other thing besides what I actually have to do. I was actually listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs earlier. Karen O is so good."

And how has he been getting ready for his show in a few weeks?

"Listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs!" exclaimed Mr. Lim. "We're taking it in stride. It's tough economic times and I think we all have to inspire. We can't walk away from the situation. It is what it is. There is no shame in your game. You should step up and swing that bat as hard as you can."

The Daily Transom wondered what the designer thought about Mrs. Obama possibly showing up at New York Fashion Week. 

"I hope she does!" said Mr. Lim. "It would certainly do some tremendous things for the industry and she seems like she's rooting for the underdogs. If she showed, I'd have to listen to lots of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But I think I would be so stressed backstage it wouldn't even matter who's out there."

After leaving as Pucci's creative director and announcing that he'd be designing a line for H&M, Matthew Williamson said that he will also launch a menswear collection in January 2010. [WWD]

Giorgio Armani is amazed that some of his wealthy female costumers have canceled orders from his couture line, Prive. "It wasn't about not having the money," the designer said. "It's a psychological issue. Nobody's shopping. The recession is in full force and everybody in our sector is going to feel it, from Zara to Cartier." [Vogue UK] 

Holly Dunlap's Hollywould line, which has been looking for a buyer since October, has closed its store on Elizabeth Street after hosting a clearance sale and may have already gone out of business. A spokeswoman said, “We are still in the process of exploring a range of strategic alternatives for the Hollywould business.” [WWD] 

Phillip Lim has launched a collection of... dogwear. The line, dedicated to his French bulldog Oliver, will carry $150 cashmere dog sweaters in gray, navy stripes and bubblegum, sized extra small to large. [Vogue UK] 

To avoud PETA's attacks, many wore faux fur at Art Basel Miami Beach this year. [NY Times] 

The young designers of Proenza Schouler approached Mr. Rodriguez. "Did you see Michelle Obama in his dress?" cried Lazaro Hernandez. "Really major!"

"They have a fabulous new bag line," deflected Mr. Rodriguez. Mr. Hernandez asked if Mr. Rodriguez was designing the inaugural gown. "It would be nice to think so," he said modestly. Mr. Hernandez said it may be hard to get Ms. Obama in Proenza Schouler, because "she's probably going to be wearing Narciso every day!"

The actress Juliette Lewis was sipping a cocktail in a silver sequined Phillip Lim jumpsuit. "Omigod cue the music, I love this song, MGMT, it's this band... Anyway, I am finishing a record, a solo record, so it'll just be me. Oh, you probably don't know," she said. "I've been doing music for the last five years. You have to check it out on the internet!" (Her band is called Juliette and the Licks, and its former members include Hole's Patty Schemel and the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl).

"I'm about to start another movie that Mark Ruffalo's directing, he's one of my favorite actors," she continued. "It's going to be yummy and independent, and James Franco is in it. I didn't act for like three years because I was just touring the world [with the band]."

Ms. Lewis had arrived at this fashionable gathering via Mr. Lim, a new friend. "He invited me, I'm his guest, and I'm wearing his clothes. It's a new love affair, between him and me," she said. Mr. Lim was not up for an award, so they were supporting his friend, whose name had escaped her. She swatted at Mr. Lim, standing nearby in a suit and red boutonniere. "Who's your friend we're rooting for?" (Richard Chai, he said). "Richard Chai!" she said. Mr. Lim indicated they should circle the room.

Nearby, Coyote Ugly actress Piper Perabo was overheard grilling her date, designer Peter Som: "There is an important question I need to ask. Are you single?" she said.

"Yes," said Mr. Som.

"I am too," said Ms. Perabo, somewhat discontentedly.

Eventually the crowd moved towards dinner: Vogue editor Anna Wintour, CFDA president Diane Von Furstenberg, Harvey Weinstein and designer wife Georgina Chapman, actress Rose Byrne, tennis player Maria Sharapova, Gossip Girl's Blake Lively and Penn Badgley, Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa, designer couple Damon Dash and Rachel Roy (stepping out in the midst of tabloid flutter about their alleged bankruptcy) and André Leon Talley in an oversized black pea coat which said: "THE NEW AMERICAN DREAM" in gold on the back.

Charlize Theron introduced the evening's keynote speaker, Dior designer John Galliano.

"You should get that," she said, when someone's cell phone rang during her speech.

She explained that Mr. Galliano was born in Gibraltar, son of a homemaker and a plumber-"not Joe the Plumber."

Mr. Galliano himself wore a black top hat covered in daisies and a black vest over black bejeweled pants. He was shaking from nervousness as he recounted, via TelePrompter, his rise in the fashion industry. "My first collection was called ‘Afghanistan repudiates Western ideals,'" he said, to laughter. "Prophetic."

Mr. Galliano and Ms. Theron announced the evening's winner, 24-year-old Alexander Wang, who would take home $200,000. The ebullient, black-clad designer mounted the stage and kissed both the presenters. "I can't believe I just kissed John Galliano!" he swooned into the microphone. Ms. Theron tapped him on the shoulder. "Oh! And Charlize Theron! To think that five years ago I was reading about this event in a magazine in my dorm room."

It was also, owing either to the unseasonably warm weather or the attendance of Conde Nast’s entire payroll, approximately 92 degrees in the Promenade (not quite as bad as last season’s Rodarte show in a West Chelsea loft, which devolved into a very well-dressed steamroom, but tonight’s sea of flapping programs did cause momentary déjà vu).

As good an indicator as any that this show was a big deal was the Vogue contingent, which was robust—Sally (Singer), Anna (Wintour), Hamish (Bowles), Virginia (Smith), Grace (Coddington)—and that was just the front row.

Mr. Lim’s clothing was vaguely Western-inspired, featuring a couple fuzzy cowboy hats and loud, gold necklaces which occasionally—were we interpreting this right?—seemed shaped like bolo ties. Midway through, things got a bit more fancy: a string of gold party dresses in Louis XIV-looking fabrics contrasting with modern details like sheer sleeves. The show ended with several satin frocks in muted tones, which, artfully bunched around the collar or at the waist, could best be put in the “granny chic” category.

And the coats! One might’ve envisioned wearing them home ... if it weren’t 65 degrees out.

Near-pathological tardiness aside, the designer, 44, still sets the standard for American ready-to-wear, the way Donna Karan did in the 1990’s and Calvin Klein in the 1980’s. While Ms. Karan stood for the career woman and Mr. Klein for sex, Mr. Jacobs has always been about the youth market, managing an unprecedented blend of runaway commercial success and subversive indie credibility. (Who else could attract both Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Posh Spice to his front row?) He has made his name on the idea that cool young women, like his oft-cited muse Sofia Coppola, would pay a lot of money to look like themselves—artsy and intellectual, with an understated, rather than overt, sexuality—rather than an idealized, aspirational version of femininity. And—so far at least—he has never stooped to hawking his wares at Target, Kohl’s or H&M.

As Mr. Jacobs has attained international success, a new generation of threadsters is following in his wake, drawing inspiration from young, hip tastemakers (i.e., their friends); blurring the lines between casual and formal wear; using nostalgic and nerdy cultural references; and invoking a healthy sense of irony. The “next” Marc Jacobses—because he is the standard now in American fashion, much as Michael Jordan was once the standard in American basketball—make very different clothes but are united by a similar sense of their customer as a gal who gets it; as a girl who mixes and matches, buys expensive pieces to wear alongside throwaway T-shirts, who has a downtown sensibility and an unforced girliness and never looks to be trying hard. Herein, a few mini-Marcs on the rise.

Label/Designer Alexander Wang, 24

Making his Marc: Mr. Wang interned for Mr. Jacobs before dropping out of Parsons as a sophomore to start his own line. The older man is “somebody that I’ll always look up to,” he said. “The way he brought high, low and street to runway influenced what I believed in.”

Show: Saturday, Feb. 2, 5 p.m., 540 West 21st Street. (Showing off-site: totally MJ!) Following his breakout show at the downtown Bumble & Bumble last fall, which was as notable for its definitively casual, cool-girl aesthetic as for the fact that seemingly half the invited guests were turned away by the fire marshal, Mr. Wang this time scouted a larger space. It’s a “big empty warehouse,” he said. “It’s very industrial and raw. We’re building a scaffolding structure around the runway. … I wanted to do something where the girls looked like they were walking in the streets at 4 in the morning, not on this perfect little pretty runway.”

Sofias: Model Erin Wasson styled his last show—which featured messy-haired mannequins in cuffed denim shorts, T-shirts and unstructured jackets—after he met her in the elevator of his Lower East Side apartment building, and she’s back on board this time. Friends like Danielle Steel’s daughters the Traina sisters, Keith Richards’ daughter Alexandra, and skinny actress Mischa Barton attended his sweaty rock ’n’ roll after-party in the fall.

The vision thing: “Hoodies over dresses, really blurring that line between day wear and evening wear, not focusing on what was appropriate,” Mr. Wang said. “I started thinking about rebels and graffiti artists and bad boys and punk and applying it to something that was much more refined and rich. Not necessarily a long gown or party dress … Woolly, amazing trousers with a top can be evening wear.“

Label/Designer Chris Benz, 25

Making his Marc: Another former Jacobs intern and J. Crew dress designer, Mr. Benz catapulted into the wider fashion consciousness this past fall with a heady, brightly colored spring collection based on the high-concept idea of an idle starlet in a Hollywood Hills mansion, all dressed up with nowhere to go. “Super-chic, but so cool at the same time!” exulted Beth Buccini of the high-end SoHo boutique Kirna Zabete.

Show: Monday, Feb. 4, 5 p.m., at the old-fashioned literary haunt Lotos Club, 5 East 66th Street. Inspired by “the weird old French ladies” Mr. Benz saw on a fall trip to Paris. Specifically: “How they layered-up slips with wool tights, 50’s jackets, funny rumpled hats from the back of their closet,” he said. “I was thinking about this sort of character as a younger girl.”

Sofias: Mr. Benz’s good friends Elettra Rosellini Wiedemann, Lancome model and daughter of actress Isabella, and Eva Amurri, daughter of actress Susan Sarandon.

The vision thing: “That mix of casual and formal is really the modern way to dress,” said Mr. Benz, who paired floor-length cotton frocks with Christian Louboutin flats for his spring collection. “There is definitely a play between that and a careful ‘matchiness,’ which I also find modern. Like grown-up ‘Grrranimals’ or something.”

Label/Designer Phillip Lim, 34

Making his Marc: The current darling of the Council of Fashion Designers, which doles out the industry’s most coveted honors, Mr. Lim got a 2007 award for Emerging Talent in Women’s Wear and two nominations for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. He opened his first store in SoHo this past summer with a socialite-studded party, and has helped drive the dress craze of recent years.

Show: Wednesday, Feb. 6, Bryant Park, Promenade, 5 p.m.

Sofias: Uptown socialites to downtown artists (oh, and Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf, of course). “The question is, who isn’t wearing Phillip Lim,” said Bergdorf Goodman senior women’s fashion director Roopal Patel.

The vision thing: Mr. Lim invokes Mr. Jacobs at his most wearable and accessible: flattering dresses, creative headgear, great jackets. “It just keeps getting better!” excitedly e-mailed Jennifer Mankins, owner of the Brooklyn-based boutique Bird, who has been buying Mr. Lim’s “3.1” line (named for the age he was when he started it) since 2005. “Each piece is sophisticated, beautiful, intricately detailed and strikes the perfect balance between trendy and timeless. There is also a pervasive element of humor, whimsy and ease in the collection that resonates with my youthful customers. Of all the developing talent out there today, I feel he really deserves the attention he gets.”

Label/Designers Rag & Bone, by Marcus Wainwright, 32, and David Neville, 31

Making their Marc: Also CFDA darlings, these British transplants staged a celeb-studded show last fall at Cipriani featuring actress Kate Bosworth, the former Sienna boy-toy Jamie Burke, Courtney Love and the rapper Nick Cannon in the front row. While Messrs. Wainwrig
ht and Neville started in men’s wear, they’ve expanded to “clothes for girls that guys think girls look good in,” Mr. Wainwright, focusing on casual basics and English tailoring.

Show: Friday, Feb. 1 , Cipriani, 110 East 42nd Street. “The rough inspiration is Blade Runner,” said Mr. Wainwright. “I don’t know that a lot of other people have come up with that idea. … We just love that very dated idea of what the future might be like. The clothes are very 40’s, some with a lot of hair and makeup. … As designers, we borrow strongly from the past while trying to remain contemporary. … It’s dark, gloomy. It’s moody.”

Sofias: “It’s not something we do for Paris Hilton,” Mr. Wainwright said, striking an off-Marc note. (Mr. Jacobs seems to adore slightly tainted celebs like Winona Ryder and Posh Spice.) “Something we maybe do for Kate Bosworth. She doesn’t try hard to look great, but because of that she does look great.” Mr. Neville, meanwhile, is married to the well-known makeup artist Gucci Westman. “We both have American wives, and we wanted to make clothes for them,” Mr. Wainwright said.

The vision thing: “We try and have sweatshirts, and we also have cashmere sweaters. … We used to have trouble finding other brands we resonated with,” Mr. Wainwright said. “But now that’s getting easier. We’re all trying in some way to be the next Marc.”