The space was jammed, but when it came to early bidding at Tuesday night's RxArt annual fundraising fête, the numbers were much like our economy: sluggish. Even Terry Richardson's self-portrait with Barack Obama—a meeting of icons if ever there was one—had just a single bid. Had Obama mania peaked? Too early to tell, insisted Vogue's Sarah Brown, pointing out that "as more people hit the bar, we'll be in business." She was right. Toward the end of the night, not only was Terry/Barack getting expensive, many of the other pieces—including Kehinde Wiley's Samuel Adams and Aurel Schmidt's Drag—were, too. In all, a tidy six-figure sum was raised for RxArt, an organization that places artwork in the patient, procedure, and exam rooms of health care facilities. Not everyone could be a winner, though. Proenza Schouler's Lazaro Hernandez, who co-hosted with Jack McCollough, got riled up when someone outbid him. "Some girl just swooped in behind me and basically stole my favorite piece," he said. "It's a good thing this is for charity. Or she'd be in trouble."

Milk, Gus Van Sant's new biopic of Harvey Milk, the country's first openly gay big-time politician, touched a nerve among the star-studded crowd (which included cast members Sean Penn, James Franco, and Emile Hirsch) at last night's Cinema Society and Details screening. After the closing credits, Narciso Rodriguez could be found drying his eyes—"weeping," he explained between dabs. Also gushing on the way out was Marc Jacobs. "Amazing!" he said.

Following hot on the heels of California's controversial Proposition 8, the movie (which is set in the 1970's) felt timelier than ever. "The theme of the film is to speak your mind, to not be afraid—or even if you're afraid, speak it anyway," said Josh Brolin, who plays Milk's assassin. The actor, who seems to be everywhere these days, defended his villainous turn. "I was the meanie. But I think it's an integral part of the story."

After pulling themselves together, guests headed up to the Bowery Hotel for the after-party. The mood lightened, the dance floor saw some action, and Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black even told us to keep an eye out for mainstream gay comedies. "I've heard that there are some in the pipeline, actually—with big stars," he confided. No surprise, really, he added. "I mean, gay people are funny!"

The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund celebrated its fifth anniversary at Skylight Studios on Monday night at a moment when its five- and six-figure prizes mean more to fledgling designers than ever. Fittingly, work—and plenty of it—was the theme of the evening. Without it, Narciso Rodriguez said at the cocktail hour, he never would have gotten to the point where Michelle Obama wore his dress to the election-night rally in Chicago. "Resilience helps, too," he noted. And after dinner in a keynote speech that touched upon everything from his Central Saint Martins graduation collection to the support of Anna Wintour and the "American fashion bible, Vogue" to his first meeting with LVMH's Bernard Arnault, John Galliano—in top hat, vest, and pearly pants—admonished, "If you want easy, don't pick fashion." The crowd must have contained plenty of workaholics, because they were quickly on their feet to applaud him.

After his standing O, Charlize Theron joined Galliano on stage to reveal the evening's winners. Vena Cava's Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock, who were finalists for the second year in a row, and the milliner Albertus Swanepoel took the $50,000 runners-up prizes. "He's the guy working in the background making things happen for other people," said Lazaro Hernandez, who has successfully collaborated with Swanepoel on Proenza Schouler collections. "I'm so happy it happened for him, he really deserves it." The fund's top prize, $200,000 and a year's worth of mentoring, went to Alexander Wang. "Four years ago I was reading about this award in my dorm room in a magazine," said the 24-year-old, smiling through his tears. As his date, Alice Dellal, dragged him outside for a cigarette, Wang said he thought he deserved a night off. And why not? Fun and youthful exuberance are as much a part of fashion as hard work, or as Wang put it: "I'm going to call up all my friends, order a pizza, and go dance my ass off."

Alex Rodriguez, Sean Combs, and Terrence Howard were all in Miami Beach this weekend, which can mean only one thing: No, Madonna wasn't playing in concert; Victoria's Secret staged its annual fashion show at the city's newly renovated Fontainebleau hotel. The festivities kicked off on Friday night with a lavish reopening party. (The Dow may be down, but the thong index is apparently holding.) Presumably, Martha Stewart turned up to examine architect Jeffrey Beers' renovation, but Gwyneth Paltrow, Chloë Sevigny, and Kate Hudson? Perhaps they were drawn by the hotel's past as a celebrity magnet. (Think Rat Pack. Think Goldfinger.) On Saturday night, Usher performed while Heidi Klum, Karolina Kurkova, and Adriana Lima took to the runway in their bedazzled lingerie and wings. Afterward, the Angels put on little cocktail dresses and posed for yet more cameras on, naturally, a pink carpet. If the post office lost your invitation, the show airs on December 3 on CBS.

Recent auction results may suggest that the art bubble has burst, but at least the bubbly's still flowing. The Guggenheim laid on plenty of Champagne for the downtown art types who slogged their way up to 89th Street on a wet Thursday night to discover who won the $100,000 Hugo Boss Prize. "After a few of these, you forget the hem of your dress is wet and that your hair's a mess," said gallerist Melissa Bent. The free-flowing booze kept most of the party guests on the museum's main floor. That, and the lack of art on display. Although the work of the finalists, including that of the winner, Palestinian-American artist Emily Jacir, was projected on a screen in the middle of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, the institution's famous spiral walkways were bare. Also hidden from the masses was Julianne Moore, who spent her brief visit sequestered behind a shimmery VIP curtain and three big guards. Smuggling a glass of Champagne out into the rain, legendary supermodel Pat Cleveland was much more chatty. "I love being here at night and being able to drink out of something that's not in a brown bag," she said. "That's how it used to be back when everyone lived up here. We used to drink at the Guggenheim all the time, right out of paper bags."