"Just someone who embodies their own style, embraces it. Very powerful. They wear the clothes, the clothes don't wear them." Thus did Kanye West sum up what it takes to be a "Woman of Fashion." The hip-hop star, along with Men.Style.com's editors, was at the New York Palace hotel to co-host our brother site's third annual celebration of the ones who, as the invite put it, "make the world more glamorous."

"We're the women behind the scenes of fashion," offered two-time honoree (and Rogan publicist) Berrin Noorata. "I'm the worker bee in the back." Her supervisor bee, Rogan Gregory, gave her a winner's welcome in the hotel's buzzing courtyard and an approving once-over. "Are you wearing Rogan, by chance? Oh, imagine that!"

Gregory happened to have been on the judging panel, along with attendees Philip Crangi, Paul Sevigny, Sean Avery, and Olivier Zahm, the latter of whom was tasked with photographing this year's crop of fashion's fairest during the party. A few smirking commenters predicted that the Purple editor, who is known for his appreciation of the female form, would be taking his time snapping them in the Towers Suite. He did, naturally, with the result that the 53rd floor became the party within the party. Fresh batches of Champagne were brought in while perennial winner Eugenia Gonzalez Ruiz-Olloqui ("I'm three for three!"), Harley Viera-Newton (accompanied by her mother and sister), Charlotte Ronson (swapping out her Chuck Taylors for a pair of heels), and about 20 other sparkling, fidgeting, stylish filles awaited their close-up.

Leigh Lezark, who's been snapped by Zahm at many a Paris party, had a better idea than most what she was in for. Her pal likes to push the envelope, she said. "But I push back. As one must."

— Darrell Hartman