Bergdorf Goodman's Linda Fargo, in frothy Vera Wang, lamented having to miss the two shows for the event. "I feel terribly guilty because I'm missing two shows tonight; Tahari and Proenza Schouler. I sent them all apologies ahead of time, and I tried to schedule getting into the showroom to make up for it." Ms. Fargo explained that she felt she deserved a break after a Fashion Week that averaged 12 destinations a day. Also, "they're our neighbors. Van Cleef is almost a part of Bergdorfs! And we don't get to treat our senses to this kind of thing very often. I know I will be very spoiled by this."

Wearing very sparkly diamond earrings, Piper Perabo looked much more like an Upper East Side socialite than the Coyote Ugly bartendress that made her famous. Currently shooting the sci-fi thriller, Looper, with Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ms. Perabo told The Observer she was excited for her scenes with Mr. Willis, which begin shooting next week.

Richard Meier coyly deferred answering whether he liked Frank Gehry's new residential tower in the Financial District, smiling shrewdly, "I haven't seen it." He also told The Observer that he designed a very architectural, gold necklace for his daughter for her recent nuptials.

Flashbulbs erupted and guests murmured in awe as Cate Blanchett ascended the steps of the former Carnegie Mansion in a jet-black taffeta Balenciaga column. Asked if she had chosen a dress for the next week's Academy Awards, where she will be a presenter, Ms. Blanchett said, "No, I haven't!" A glimmer in her eye. "I literally just flew in from Sydney."

Arriving at the event without a coat, Chelsea Clinton must have inured herself to the cold while visiting ski bum hubby Marc Mezvinsky in Jackson Hole. The couple continued to battle rumors that Mr. Mezvinsky's flight to Jackson Hole spelled the seven-month itch for the young couple, who posed arm in arm.

Former supermodel Carolyn Murphy arrived on the arm of designer du jour Jason Wu. The model, who recently relocated to New York City, told The Observer, "I'm working on a book for parents about bibliotherapy--storytelling."

Ms. Murphy assured The Observer that her 10-year-old is not allowed to have a cell phone and instead borrows her nanny's phone for texting.

Mr. Wu told The Observer he felt underdressed for the event. "I feel like I should be wearing some jewels!" Asked which jewel exhibited he would steal if given the chance, Mr. Wu beamed without skipping a beat, "I have the prettiest one," slipping his arm around Ms. Murphy's waist (which was about shoulder height for the diminutive designer).

Fiery fashionista Julie Macklowe lamented the 9 a.m. Yigal Azrouel show that morning. "Ugh, I was at the Buck Cherry last night, and then I had Yigal at the crack of dawn, and my kid, of course, standing on my bed at like 5 a.m.!"

Downtown jewelry designing darling Waris Ahluwalia also felt underdressed for the event, whose dress code designated "black tie and bejeweled."

"I didn't come bejeweled. I wore black tie, but no jewels. I thought about wearing some of my new pieces," said Mr. Ahluwalia, who had his debut Fashion Week presentation at the Museum of Art and Design the day before. "But I don't really wear my own jewelry."

When asked which piece from the exhibit she would swipe, society stalwart Muffie Potter Aston, didn't hesitate: "Marlene Dietrich's bracelet," lingering on the words like a heroine addict chasing a fix. "A big cuff from the '40s that's done as only those big '40s bracelets were done, with the big diamonds on top and the rubies--spectacular!" She also confided that she has thought about launching her own jewelry line now that her daughters had been accepted into kindergarten at Spence and assured The Observer, "I have been approached."

The black-tied-and-bejeweled guests were slowly ushered into Bronson van Wyck's silk dinner tent for the Jean-Georges Vongrichten five-course dinner.

Ms. Blanchett, the clear guest of honor, was seated at the central table next to Van Cleef & Arpel's chief, Nicholas Bos, and flanked by Jason Wu on her left. At a neighboring table, Mr. Meier's dinner partner was Ms. Aston. The nearly 1,000 guests listened attentively, spooning their Meyer lemon gelée and caviar while Smithsonian director Wayne Klough thanked the audience for joining him at the opening of the Van Cleef & Arpels exhibit. Smirks passed like a contagious pathogen around the room as Mr. Klough pronounced the French house's name "Arples," like Ms. Marple. Half of the guests filtered out before the Sparkling Key Lime pie arrived, streaming past the hanging mobiles of dyed feather butterflies suspended from the tent ceiling.

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."