New York, February 2 – With the New York fall fashion shows starting in two days, you picture fashion designers running around with mouthfuls of pins that fall out when they scream, draping fabrics on cowering models, right? So we were shocked to see Zac Posen, Kenneth Cole and Michael Kors all polished and happy at Sotheby’s for a benefit for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) and AIDS Community Research Initiative (ACRIA). Donna Karan arrived in a wheelchair, and then transferred onto crutches. She blamed her injured leg on skiing accident, "But I had a good time”, she added with a grimace.

The benefit was to honor the late photographer Herb Ritts, whose black and white photos were displayed. Jon Bon Jovi performed, and the crowd included Richard Gere, Ellen Barkin and Ron Perelman, Naomi Campbell, Anne Hathaway, Elton John, Julianne Moore and Bart Freundlich and other celebrities.