It's one thing to receive an award (or not—the emotion in the room was running so high that no one actually handed over the statuette). But to be compared to Azzedine Alaïa, Madeleine Vionnet, Claire McCardell, and Charles James in one breath, as Isabel Toledo was at the Artistry of Fashion Award benefit luncheon at the Rainbow Room on Wednesday, well, that's really something. The audience that gathered to celebrate the Cuban-born designer (and by extension her husband, Ruben) wasn't too shabby, either. We spotted Helmut Lang, Matthew and Cari Modine, Michael Vollbracht, Narciso Rodriguez, and Jake Shears.

Joey Arias, whom emcee Simon Doonan described as the "long-lost illegitimate son/daughter of the Toledos," kicked off the ceremony with a customized rendition of Billie Holiday's "You've Changed." And though a slideshow of Isabel's life and career featured images of the designer with both Laura Bush and Michelle Obama, no one, neither Republican nor Democrat, could've upstaged the black-clad designer as she took to the podium. Toledo spoke movingly of Diana Vreeland, who showed her "the importance of being able to shape our history [through clothes]," and when she finished her speech by saying, "I've never thanked Ruben in public—and I can't," there weren't many dry eyes in the house.

— Laird Borrelli-Persson