Fashion's Night Out - photo: courtesy of wireimage.com

I started first doing homework with my daughter and then preparing dinner for her and then it was time for mommy to get ready for a shopping night out. My friend and makeup artist Sam Fine met me at home and hooked me up with a good face and I put on an Alexander McQueen jacket with leggings and over-the-knee boots! I found in my storage a 1980’s Thierry Mugler over the knee boots… very S&M! That is why I never give away my accessories because they never go out of fashion or at least the trends keep on coming back. Accessories are those extras that keep on giving.

We started with Barneys as the idea was we will hit one mega department store and we chose this… it was a complete mayhem but in a good way…. people were actually shopping! I saw boys actually buying girls jackets… talk about androgynous! Then we were off to Dolce and Gabbana to pay a visit to my friend Megan who is the pr but then realized when we got to the store that she was at D&G in Soho so we ran back in the car and we were off to Dior and on our way there we passed Bergdorf Goodman and there were lines outside… my goodness, you would think they were giving clothes away and the streets looked like a fashion show. Fashion turn to the right… Fashion turn to the left… Fa Fa Fa Fa Fashion…… everyone was dressed to the hilt… killers!

Dior was a little bit civilized but every hip hop artists and wanabees were in there and I am sure paying full retail. My friend the photographer Arthur Elgort set up a make shift studio and we took pictures together… let me give you a bit of history here… Arthur was the first photographer who shot me for a magazine and it was for Vogue on my third day in New York way back in 1975! We laughed about that! Dorothy, we are not in 1975 anymore.

Sam insisted we stop by Prada on our way to Soho and so we did and we just missed the book signing of Grace Coddington, Creative Director of Vogue … don’t miss her great “acting” performance in The September Issue documentary that is in theaters now.

I was getting pooped and, girl, my bunions were killing me but we had one more stop at my dear friend Rachel Roy’s pop up store you definitely have to check out her new line Rachel Rachel Roy (very affordable and very downtown chic) exclusively at Macy’s.

Well, Spring Street in New York is a mess even on a good day and tonight it was a lot of a mess. It took us forever to get there but it was worth it as she was shocked to see me that I made the effort and said that she owes me till eternity… You are my witness in case she forgets that promise! It was worth it but was way overcrowded. Lots of beautiful black girls including Estelle ( she is collaborating with Rachel on a jewelry line) who was ensconced in a corner but I never made it to her as I was famished so we were off to Indochine where we met up with Tyson Beckford and his beautiful Australian girlfriend, my closest friend Bethann Hardison, Eric Sartore of Betsey Johnson and a sleuth of rotating friends. Tonight was a huge success and I only wished that they had made the whole week Fashion’s Week Out and allocated one day to Madison Avenue stores, next to 5th Avenue stores day because I felt we lost a lot of time in traffic traveling from one end to the other.

Came home very late, barely got out of my clothes and committed a beauty sin that I haven’t done since my Studio 54 days…I went to bed without taking my makeup off! Bad, bad very bad girl. I am sure to regret this! Pray for me!

With the beautifully elegant Rachel Roy

RACHEL ROY I hosted a cocktail reception for my dear friend Rachel Roy’s Spring 07 Collection at Saks Fifth Avenue NY. Rachel is such a wonderful wife to Damon Dash and a great mom to her daughter Ava but most of you probably know her wonderful designs. Rachel’s designs are ageless and timeless… Elegant, classy and refined. This is how the modern woman should dress to work as well as play and not in those hoochie crap that is passed as “ghetto fab” because i know ghetto fab looks better than what is sold out there. Rachel’s designs are feminine and fashionable and that is sexy! check out www.rachelroy.com

With designer Valentino

THE BLACK BALL GALA Nov 9th was our main annual fundraiser, The Black Ball, at the Hammerstein Ballroom and both Alicia Keys and i co-hosted this year. “I can’t wait,” said actress Anne Hathaway, in anticipation of a rare live set by my husband David. “I think he’s so sexy, but i shouldn’t say that too loudly, since I’m sitting at Iman’ table!” Honey, you can say it!! We had one hell of a turn out from Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes ( a week before their wedding!” Damon Dash, Rachel Roy, Russell Simmons. Kimora Lee Simmons, Ed Norton, Jeffrey Wright and our MC Wanda Sykes. Rousing performances by Angelique Kidjo, Damian Marley but the highlight of the evening was the duet of Changes of Bowie with Alicia Keys, it brought the house down. To find out more about how to help www.keepachildalive.org

With Rachel Roy and Faye Wattleton, President Advancement of Women

CENTER FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN Imagine how i was pleasantly surprised to find out that i and Jane Fonda, no less, were chosen to be awarded this year with the honor of “Changing the landscape for women”. I was more than honored to be in the same category as someone like Jane Fonda and she was beyond gracious. I had a few of my dear friends and of course my husband to accept this award. From my dearest friend Bethann Hardison, Thelma Goden of the Museum of Harlem, writer Salman Rushdie and his wife actress Padma Lakshmi, designer Rachel Roy and her husband hip-hop mogul Damon Dash. Rachel Roy was gracious to present the award and i will cherish this forever. for more info on this organization visit www.advancewomen.org

With Grace Hightower DeNiro, Damon Dash and Rachel Roy

PRADA SKIRTS Miuccia Prada rolled out the red carpet for a thousand or so of her closest New York friends when she unveiled her “Waist Down” exhibit at the company’s Epicenter in Soho. The exhibition comprised over 100 skirts spread throughout the bi-level – illuminated in the elevators, swishing on the store’s north wall, super sized and hanging from the ceiling, and spinning via household ceiling fans. Between greeting me, Richard Gere and Lindsay Lohan Miuccia said “I love skirts” and honey ” I love Prada skirts.”