"I was worried that there were going to be empty seats, but I think it's a good turnout," said a modest Nicole Miller at a party to commemorate her 25 years in the business on Tuesday night. In fact, Chinatown Brasserie was packed with a crowd of well-wishers from all walks of New York life, including André Balazs, Jay McInerney, Ross Bleckner, Zac Posen, and Jane Krakowski. Particularly well represented was the catwalk contingent, with Sara Ziff, Beri Smither, Patricia Velasquez, Michele Hicks, and Cindy Crawford all in attendance. "Nicole's campaign was one of the first I ever did," reminisced their fellow supe Shalom Harlow about the 1992 Steven Meisel shoot. "She was using recycled soda bottles to make fleeces even then, before Patagonia, I think, and I was really into that."

The environment proved to be the evening's hot topic. Miller's longtime pal Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., spoke at length about the cause and his Riverkeeper environmental organization, but not before revealing how he and the designer cemented their friendship. "We were going to a wedding in Shelter Island, and Nicole lives right by the ferry," he said. "We met and I think we skipped the wedding and went water-skiing instead." Following dessert, departing guests were given a goody bag in keeping with the party's theme—a seedling Colorado blue spruce or Austrian pine tree of their own to plant.

— Sarah Cristobal