Bowie's Ballroom Dance
"I can't wait," said Anne Hathaway, in anticipation of a rare live set by David Bowie at Thursday night's Black Ball gala. "I think he's so sexy, but I shouldn't say that too loudly, since I'm sitting at Iman's table."

While other Bowie groupies, including Damon Dash, Helena Christensen, and Ahn Duong, bided their time inside the Hammerstein Ballroom, they heard moving tales of the work done by the benefit's cause, Keep a Child Alive, a charity that provides medical supplies to Africa's AIDS-afflicted youth. A video travelogue of gala co-host Alicia Keys' encounters with AIDS orphans—three of whom she later brought out onstage—moved many to tears. Soon after that, Keys, Angélique Kidjo, and Damian Marley brought the crowd to its feet with rousing musical performances, including Keys' solo rendition of Janis Joplin's Take Another Little Piece of My Heart. The audience then formed a mini mosh pit as Bowie took the stage to sing Wild Is the Wind.

"What an evening!" declared Russell Simmons, summing up the giddy mood after Bowie brought the house down with his finale, a duet of Changes with Keys. "I feel so inspired."

Super Stores
Meanwhile, Anna Wintour of Vogue, Shelby Bryan, Bernard and Hélène Arnault, Peter Marino, and Pharrell Williams gathered to toast Olafur Eliasson's "Eye See You" project at Louis Vuitton's Fifth Avenue flagship. "We have a history working with artists, but the pace has really accelerated since Marc Jacobs came on board," noted company chairman and CEO Yves Carcelle. Thirty of Eliasson's "eye" lamps will be displayed in the company's Christmas windows, and last night they were on offer for $33,333 each. Proceeds go to 121Ethiopia.org, a relief charity established by the artist and his wife.

Downtown, another international retailer with a popular Stateside following, Sir Paul Smith, celebrated the opening of his new store. Rafts of hipsters and Brit expats—including Hamish Bowles, Jamie Oliver, and Smith's ad men, Alan Aboud and Sandro Sodano of Aboud Sodano—were on hand to congratulate the designer. "We always wanted to open a really big store here," said Smith, who has had the view from his country house in Nottinghamshire painted trompe l'oeil-style in the store's back room.

Bidding Wars
On Wednesday, the annual RxArt Ball drew collectors to Splashlight Studios to bid on works by Terry Richardson, James Nares, and Will Cotton, among others.

"Of course, I'm competitive about bidding," said Cynthia Rowley as she scrambled for a pen to register her bid for a Dana Schutz oil painting. "I'm a shark!" Ready to savage rivals, Rowley stood guard by her intended acquisition. Next to her was an equally focused Lisa Anastos, who kept competitors at bay by posing for photographs in front of her planned purchase, an E.V. Day installation of a pearl-studded rubber boar's tongue complete with dripping resin saliva.

Not surprisingly, both were ultimately triumphant. As she high-fived Rowley, Anastos declared, "I get to take home my tongue!"

— Jessica Ramakrishnan (Black Ball and RxArt Ball) and Laird Borrelli (Louis Vuitton and Paul Smith)