hamish bowles

Renée Zellweger walked the red carpet for the first time in five months at the Fashion Group International Night of Stars in NYC last night. Renée wore a fitted dress by Carolina Herrera, who was honored at the event. Kelly Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos, attended, as did Viola Davis, in Max Mara, and Sarah Jessica Parker. SJP chose a striped look by honoree L'Wren Scott and hung out with designer Prabal Gurung inside the party. It was her second bash of the week after also stepping out for the star-studded launch of Maison Martin Margiela for H&M on Tuesday.

>> Joseph Altuzarra, Iris Apfel, and Pamela Love were among those who joined hosts Jenna Lyons and Hamish Bowles at an intimate dinner Wednesday evening in honor of last year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund recipients and nominees.

Held in the private dining room at Locanda Verde, the dinner was also attended by Lily Kwong, Derek Lam, Mickey Drexler, Michelle Cushnie, and Carlie Ochs, who nibbled on grilled wild branzino and fonduta ravioli while fellow guests — and newlyweds — Tom and Rachel Chandler Guinness tended to the evening's soundtrack.

"You all deserve to win but there just wasn't enough room," Lyons said, addressing the Fund's runners-up and nominees, as she gave the welcome toast. "You should all be incredibly proud to be here."

A peek at the evening's festivities, in the slideshow.

Unlike any other awards night, the Met's Costume Institute Gala is the night where stars and fashion lovers are encouraged to be as bold as possible. Last night, ladies and gents alike gave us plenty to buzz at, and reminded us that fashion should always be good fun. From Vogue editors' bold splashes of color and print to Beyoncé's walking troubles and Karolina's leggings, it was clear that fashion ruled. Click the slideshow to see the most outrageous and amazing looks from the Met Gala 2011.

>> Three days after the royal wedding comes another one of this year's big events — the Costume Institute Gala. In preparation, Vogue just launched an iPad app this morning dedicated to the spectacle, which features five years of behind-the-scenes footage, a preview of this year's Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty retrospective — with peeks into the museum’s storage vaults — and a personal tribute to McQueen by Anna Wintour.

As the May 2 gala gets closer, the app — which costs 99 cents — will be updated with a video of event designer Raul Avila disclosing this year's decor details, and then after the bash, it will update again with a video covering the party and its featured celebrity performances.

Hamish Bowles, who provides an introduction on the app, says that the details of the event only come together the night before, when the workers are let into the Metropolitan Museum of Art to work through the evening: “It’s like an amazingly industrious ant colony, all with their part to play. So it has to be so scrupulously planned and orchestrated, because they have this finite window of opportunity in which to make the magic happen. The work is really phenomenal. The app gives you some sense of that."

Bowles also admits that even though he's attended the event for several years, he still gets butterflies: “I mean, it’s intimidating. The whole process of thinking of what you’re going to wear when all eyes are going to be on everyone. As soon as I know the theme, I have ideas rumbling away [on what to wear], but sometimes, it can be surprisingly eleventh hour.” And when asked whether his friends pester him about tickets to the event, he replies: "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

>> There was no shortage of attendees last Thursday at the Spotted Pig in Manhattan, gathered in honor of Sally Singer's recent appointment as editor of T magazine. Singer was reportedly bashful about being the guest of honor as designers, friends, and Vogue cohorts all gathered to say their congratulations — among them Anna Wintour, who was one of the first to arrive — and Marco Zanini, creative director of Rochas, who flew in just for the event. Singer, who will debut her first issue for T on Dec. 5 (her first fashion issue doesn't come until February), is apparently done with hiring — she stated at the party that her staff of 40 at the magazine is set.

>> Vogue's Meredith Melling Burke isn't the only fashion fixture to make a cameo on the season four premiere of Gossip Girl.  The show, airing Monday, Sept. 13, also features Karlie Kloss playing herself at a Fashion's Night Out meeting — and she even has a line.  In the fictional version of FNO (which is featured in the first two Gossip Girl episodes of the season, the second airing Sept. 27), Lily Van Der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford) and Eleanor Waldorf (Margaret Colin) are on the planning committee.  Although no pictures of Kloss or Melling Burke on set have popped up, there are a few of Hamish Bowles, who filmed with Rutherford for the second episode of the season, below.