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It's been a busy week on the fashion circuit, with galas, store openings, and designer dinners. Last night it was the Young Friends of ACRIA's turn to get its party on. The soiree, hosted in the cavernous hall of the Highline Stages, has always been "the fun young peoples' event," explained event chair Jason Wu from his seat between Adriana Lima and Jaime King. But it's also something more. "You really stop to think: What does it mean to do something for somebody else?" Wu noted. "This is where the conversation starts."

Since getting involved with the HIV and AIDS research and care nonprofit ("The first event I did with them was on a rooftop where we didn't have any heat: We only served cold foods and I thought it was a chic thing!" remembered Wu), the designer has taken his commitment to the next level. He curated this year's fashion photography auction, which kept guests sneaking out of the dinner to bid on images by Steven Meisel, Herb Ritts, and more. "I'm on my fourth glass of wine and I'm still running in and out to kind of bid on the Rick Owens, so we'll see!" Bryan Grey Yambao told Style.com from his seat at the central table. "Maybe I'll get something—but it's so hard to compete! For example, Jaime King—Jaime is, like, really on it. She keeps on going out…"

"The people who are sitting here, they're going to be the next influences in the world," mused Wu as the auction came to a close. "And I feel very honored to be able to get everybody together. And on a selfish level, it is a fun party! You know? Who doesn't love that."

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Net-a-Porter celebrated Victoria Beckham with a Bowery Hotel dinner last night. Tennessee Thomas deejayed the cocktail hour (make that hours—Beckham arrived very fashionably late) and recalled early memories of VB: "Well, Victoria had all the best lines in Spice World. She was all about sophistication, which was hugely influential on me. A young girl has got to learn it from somewhere, so why not the Spice Girls?" NAP founder Natalie Massenet shared a story from her days at Tatler, when she styled a couture shoot at the Ritz with a young Victoria Adams. The pop star had never been shot without her fellow bandmates. (She had also just gone on a date with some footballer by the name of David Beckham.) "I don't think in that room at the Ritz, Victoria ever knew that one day she would be honored as one of the best designers in the U.K., but she is very, very driven. There are so many people here tonight whose careers have grown and changed over the years—hopefully everyone realizes how far their dreams have taken them." When Beckham finally made her toast to the room, servers passed out shots of tequila with lime wedges. "We have to not behave ourselves," she said. "We have to drink a lot and dance a lot this evening—and maybe I'll get back on the microphone."

Meanwhile, guests including Leandra Medine, Dree Hemingway, and Chloe Norgaard joined Clare Waight Keller in raising a glass to Chloé's divine new digs on Madison Avenue. The renovation earned a rave from Maggie Gyllenhaal, too, earlier spotted test-driving a pair of the line's oversize summer shades. "I've been wearing a lot of Chloé lately. I've been very drawn to it because it's both very easygoing and refined at the same time—which I can't always achieve, but which is what I'm always going for!"

Style was a talking point of Alber Elbaz's speech at the FIT Gala. The Lanvin designer introduced one of the evening's three award winners, Bergdorf Goodman's Linda Fargo. "We're living in a world all about machinery and high tech, but fashion remains a human industry, because all we are is a bunch of seamstresses—dreams, a yard of fabric, a needle, and a thread. And in this world, you, Linda, remain different, unique, and very loyal. How rare is that?"

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There's a sculpture garden on Elizabeth Street that New Yorkers pass every day, nearly an acre in size yet relatively sleepy compared with the bustling streets of its surrounding neighborhood. The doors are usually locked, but not last night. Stella McCartney brought the space to life with her annual garden party. In addition to models wearing her new Resort collection (more on that here), there were statue performers, a live band, and a food truck dispensing root beer floats, lavender margaritas, and Veuve Clicquot.

A range of McCartney's high-profile pals attended— Maggie Gyllenhaal, Amber Heard, Lorne Michaels, and Peter Beard included. "Stella just has the best taste," Liv Tyler said. "The good thing about these parties is that she lets me bring home some of the decor. I go home with piñatas, balloons, whatever…my son, Milo, loves it."

Models were scattered throughout the garden, some on a giant chessboard, others dancing and blowing bubbles. It was all in the spirit of McCartney's new collection. "Fashion is supposed to be about having a good time," the designer told Style.com. "So often fashion constrains women and makes them feel like rubbish. For me, the Stella woman is about celebration, feeling alive and free and colorful. I want the girls to have fun, the boys to have fun—in fact, I want to have fun. Don't you?"

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"Passion project" is how Gucci's creative director, Frida Giannini, referred to the Italian fashion powerhouse's much-anticipated makeup collection launching in September—an enterprise four years in the making. The Carlyle Hotel served as the backdrop for the big reveal last night, with one room wrapped in LCD screens playing the Charlotte Casiraghi-fronted ad campaign. Post-video, a brief blackout preceded the main attraction: a brightly lit glass case filled with logo-covered lipsticks and eyeshadow palettes.

Solange Knowles, Anja Rubik, and Pat McGrath came out to celebrate the launch, which included a performance by the Aussie sister act Say Lou Lou. "I'm a mascara freak, so I'm excited to try theirs," said actress Kate Mara, also in the crowd. Giannini also qualifies: "From your eyes you can really exude your confidence and sexuality—you can be very provocative, you can be very feminine, you can be very tough," she said. Asked if there was one beauty move a Gucci girl would never make, she added, "I don't think so. The Gucci woman always takes a risk."

Meanwhile, in the Waverly Inn's back garden, friends, editors, and fans gathered to celebrate Giuseppe Zanotti's twenty years in the biz. "I'm not a young designer anymore," laughed Zanotti while passing out baci to his guests. "I felt like a student for a long time. Now I feel like the professor." But after the designer reminisced about presenting his early collections at the Plaza Hotel two decades ago, the maestro of saucy footwear insisted he's not settling down. "I love a new challenge. Shoes are an enormous universe, and with energy and passion, you can always discover new things," he said. As for the next twenty years? "I want to do shoes that have emotion," he told us. "And I want to do something new for the foot that feels even more sexy!"

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"It's rainy outside, but it's sunny in here," Frida Giannini said at the Gucci Fifth Avenue boutique last night. The party crowd braved humid summer rain to toast the one-year anniversary of the Sound of Change, a concert fundraiser that kick-started Chime for Change, a charity founded by Giannini, Beyoncé Knowles, and Salma Hayek Pinault. Although Hayek Pinault couldn't attend (she's filming a movie), Gucci faces Blake Lively and James Franco stopped by in support. And the mood at the party was just as Giannini said: sunny. In its first year, the organization has sponsored more than three hundred philanthropic projects aimed at empowering women in more than eighty countries.

Although it's not every day Gucci's creative director is stateside, Giannini told Style.com that she always finds inspiration on the streets of New York: "I love it here. I love to walk around in the Village and also Central Park. Watching the people is great here because there is such a mix you don't see anywhere else."

Speaking of people-watching, all eyes were on Beyoncé when she arrived wearing a white Gucci jumpsuit and, as CFDA-nominated jewelry designer Jennifer Fisher pointed out, not a single piece of jewelry. Said Fisher: "Sometimes not accessorizing is just as good as accessorizing. The hair, that skin…she looks flawless." The party reached its peak when Beyoncé announced a personal donation of $500,000 to the organization, and her sister, Solange Knowles, who hasn't been seen publicly with Bey since the Met Gala, took to the deejay booth.

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The celebrating didn't stop for International Award winner Raf Simons when the CFDAs wrapped last night. Dior CEO Sidney Toledano hosted a party in the designer's honor at the Ladurée shop on West Broadway, and the sprawling Parisian-style café had Simons and co. experiencing some French joie de vivre. We spied Keri Russell and Karlie Kloss ogling the macaron case, Russell telling Kloss, "I mean, they are just so good, how can you not?"

A host of CFDA winners, nominees, and past honorees turned out, including Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow of Public School, who told us that despite their Menswear Designer of the Year win tonight there will be no day off. "School will not be canceled tomorrow," Chow said. "Public School is definitely in session. Winning just makes us want to work that much harder." Swarovski Menswear Award winner Tim Coppens, for his part, was almost awestruck. "It's huge for me to even be nominated, but when you win—I mean, whoa, I won a prize—it's really something special. And to be here tonight with all the other winners, it's like I'm really part of something; it's so vindicating."

After midnight, many guests bid adieu to Ladurée and headed to the Top of the Standard for a party that was busy until well after 3 a.m. Prabal Gurung, Joan Smalls, and Olivier Theyskens were in the crowd. Pamela Love told Style.com she was actually happy not to be nominated, to have no crazy nerves. "I'm just happy to get dressed up." She spent the evening dancing with her friend, Swarovski Accessories Designer of the Year Irene Neuwirth.

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