Pumping It Up At The FIT Gala

[Photos by JIMI CELESTE for PMc]

If the shoe fits, you should probably still not wear it. That is, if the shoe in question is one of the ones featured at the FIT Benefit Gala at Cipriani 42nd street. Those boots, or rather, pumps, were not made for walking, and were instead encased, studded, and beautifully ornamented. Each one was made to represent different areas around New York such as Harlem, Central Park, The New York Public Library, etc. While you couldn’t try them on for size, you could vote for your favorite design.

I gave mine to the one entitled Wall Street – I figured it could use all the help it can get. All of the shoes were made by talented students at FIT, who received congratulations from Mayor Bloomberg and Saks CEO Steve Sadove. You can visit Saks 5th Avenue to see the winning shoe on display in the window.

So who else was at the gala whose shoes you could walk a mile in? Well, probably nobody, unless someone had very well broken in Louboutins. There was an excellent, flashbulb worthy crowd, though. I ran into the lovely Alexandra Alexis with that dollop of arm candy, Adrien Field, docilely following alongside – perhaps she’s won him back from Mary Rambin?

Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water (and if you’re not already giving to it, or at least aware that it’s the charity du jour, you must have missed the boat) was also in attendance, floating about amidst the sea of champagne and lobster salad. Carolina Herrera and Jason Wu also turned up, looking impeccable as always. However, I was most thrilled to see into the legendary Bill Cunningham of the New York Times. He seemed more delighted to marvel over the artistry that went into the shoes than nearly anyone else at the party. Altogether, it was the kind of delightful evening that could heel even the most fashionably jaded sole.

Carolina Herrera, Steve Sadove, Joyce Brown