On Tuesday night, Giorgio Armani and The Cinema Society hosted a screening of the gender-bender period piece Albert Nobbs, starring Glenn Close and Mia Wasikowska. Director Rodrigo Garcia described the work as "the film of his life": what followed was a strong contender for the night of our year. In the lobby of the MoMA, Glenn Close got down on her knees to praise a puff-coated Lauren Bacall. A promising start. And it seems icons do not travel alone; a roving glance was rewarded richly and repeatedly: Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, Angela Bassett, Lou Reed, Francesco Clemente, Sinead O'Connor, Steven Spielberg, The Scissor Sisters and Courtney Love were among those enjoying Grey Goose cocktails in the black-and-gleam Fifth Avenue restaurant, along with young stars like Elizabeth Olsen and Zoe Kravitz. Indeed, there was a treat for every cable-channel-demographic: Lance Bass trading laughs with Tony Danza; Padma Lakshmi smoldering in some corner, as is her wont; Close and John Leguizamo deep in conversation; Alan Alda being Alan Alda. The night, in fragments: a barefooted O'Connor (introduced by a glowing Armani-Prive-suited Close) performed an original song from the film. Ajak, also dressed in Armani, discovered on a cigarette break that she was wearing the same outfit as the front-window mannequin. "Who wore it best?" asked super-agent Ivan Bart, snapping a shot with his phone and sending it viral. A young woman came dangerously close to stealing Francesco Clemente's scarf. Angela McCluskey closed out the night with an intimate and haunting serenade; Wangechi Mutu looked on, rapt. After the party was the after-party: Double Seven followed by The Electric Room, where Paul Haggis held court. A shirtless Ed Westwick emerged from the dark corners. He took a young woman by her waist. "You're gorgeous," he slurred. Moments later he lay Christ-style on the ground, obliterated.