Enticingly billed as "Cocktails and Covergirls," Thursday night's party at Saks Fifth Avenue united top-tier designers with Elite models (the agency co-hosted) in the store's new fifth-floor retail space. With New York fashion week madness around the corner, the likes of Ali Stephens, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Rag & Bone boys David Neville and Marcus Wainwright got a final chance to convene over white wine before the, um, spit hits the proverbial flan.

The question of the moment, of course, is what a recession NYFW will look like. Not as bad as you might think, according to some. A return to basics could spell opportunities for back-to-the-landers like Organic's John Patrick. "My work, it's about fiber, it's about sheep, it's about wool, it's about spinning," he explained. "So I decided, let's show in the basement of a church and do it like a bake sale." Coca Rocha took a break from dancing to offer the model's perspective. Did she expect to be a little less busy this season? "I don't know, I just got back from [two months in] Australia this morning," she said. But the candid Canadian added that she hoped budget cuts wouldn't force models to give up runway-stomping for passive pedestal work. "I mean, our job already is so little—we don't have to do anything. So I prefer to walk, at least. I feel guilty getting paid to stand there!"

— Darrell Hartman