"Claude [Morais] is street-y and Brian [Wolk] is more interested in the ladylike," said sometime Ruffian muse Sabine Heller. "The magic is the mix of the two." Heller joined the designers at a cocktail party hosted by John Demsey in his U.E.S. town house to celebrate the publication of a new Assouline book on the young label that features photography by Jamie Isaia and an introduction by Style.com's own Nicole Phelps. Ruffian: Inside Out examines every step of the making of two collections."There's a lot of angst in the process," explained pal Antonia Thompson, "but the result is astounding."

The turnout for the Ruffian boys wasn't shabby, either. Against a backdrop of Beatles portraits and a huge print of Andy Warhol kissing Liza Minnelli, downtown comedian Murray Hill and photographer Douglas Friedman mingled with such society stalwarts as Cornelia Guest, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Blaine Trump, Lauren duPont, and Fabiola Beracasa. "This is the most women wearing Ruffian in one room I have ever seen!" Wolk exclaimed. The designers seemed almost as excited to see their old creations as their devoted friends."That one's called the one-winged dove," Wolk said, pointing to a one-shouldered ruffled number before describing Phelps' flirty ensemble—a distressed denim jacket from Spring and ruffled skirt from Fall—as "new Cyndi Lauper." Girls just want to have fun, after all.

— Laird Borrelli-Persson