Jimmy Choo's Stiletto Soirée

(LOS ANGELES) Hollywood felt very First Wives Club last week with a party and a lunch that drew the city's style--not to mention party--starved fashion plates out in droves.

On Friday, Lisa Kudrow and Debra Messing were both left standing outside of Jimmy Choo's Rodeo Drive store opening party while Hollywood's most ubiquitous, and least favorite guests--the fire marshals--insisted that some guests leave so that the VIPs could enter. "Oh, well, it's a sign of a good party, right?" Messing asked Kudrow, to which the latter laughed, with a shrug of her shoulders, "I don't go out that much."

Minutes later, they were whisked inside the 1,500-square-foot store, which replaces the brand's former outpost on Canon Drive. "I've seen a lotta heels in my time," laughed Messing, "but wow, I want every heel in the place."

The champagne-fueled soirée, which benefited the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Women's Cancer Research Fund, was hosted by one of the charity's founders, Jamie Tisch, and gal pal Angie Harmon. "How crazy is this?" Tisch exclaimed of her one-shoulder Dior dress upon spotting Tamara Mellon arrive clad in the exact same dress, albeit in black. "It was totally unplanned, but it's actually kind of cute.  I feel like we're Salt-N-Pepa!"

Harmon was almost too excited by her Jimmy Choo patent open-toe heels to pay attention to any potential fashion faux pas. "You can look at every single pair of shoes in this store, and I did, and every single pair is wearable by everyone: a 20-year-old, a 35-year-old, or a 70-year-old!" The Women's Murder Club star, however, won't have to wear much of anything in the May issue of Allure. "I did the nude issue!" she blurted out. "I thought I could handle it, but then I got out on that set with Michael Thompson and I suddenly realized that I'm nude! I pray it looks okay."

Half of Tinseltown showed up, every one of them admitting to being a shoe fetishist--and wanting to celebrate Golden Globes weekend, with or without the big ceremony. Monique Lhuillier, Loree Rodkin, Crystal Lourd (who accented her black ensemble with bright pink Choos), Alexandra von Furstenberg, Rachel Zoe, Irena Medavoy, Lauren Conrad, Elizabeth Wiatt, and even Harvey Weinstein made appearances. "It's not like there are any film events tonight!" the movie mogul laughed to Jimmy Choo CEO Joshua Schulman. "Besides, Tamara is a friend."

And the high-heel scion does indeed have a lot of friends. Holding court at the very back of the store, she greeted dozens of guests with British accents, including ex-husband Matthew Mellon, with glee. "We've got three times as much space as our old Beverly Hills store," she said, "so I am feeling very celebratory." Along with her Dior dress and sky-high Choos, she accessorized with an amazing diamond snake cuff. "A friend made it for me in London," she said, sticking her wrist out. "The snake's tongue is made of rubies."

The town's fashion-savvy took advantage of the occasion to wear their best cocktail numbers: Brooke Davenport in silver Kaufman Franco and Vanessa Getty, in a grey Vivienne Westwood number, who was on the prowl for skyscraper six-inch heels. "I have a six-foot-seven husband," she justified as she sipped as glass of bubbly tagged with orange Veuve Clicquot ribbons. "I'm a sick Jimmy Choo fan," added Gabrielle Union. "I need a doctor to get me off this habit. I'm wearing a $15 vintage dress, but I cannot stop buying shoes!"

A number of guests attended a private dinner for Mellon at the home of Wendi Murdoch following the in-store festivities, while Gelila Puck invited a number of her pals to her husband's restaurant, Cut, across the street at the Beverly Wilshire. "After all these shoes, I need a drink," she sighed.

The day before, an equally impressive, and fashion-forward, group of women turned out at Craft for a Glamour-hosted luncheon marking the 10th anniversary of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues and V-Day, the global movement that has raised $50 million to date in the fight to end violence against women and girls.

Civic-minded starlets like Kerry Washington, Rosario Dawson, Ali Larter, Gina Gershon, Marion Cotillard, and Amber Tamblyn were supported by the likes of Val Kilmer, Dylan McDermott, Paula Wagner, and the cast of The L Word, while hubby-to-be Cash Warren kept his newly pregnant fiancée Jessica Alba close at bay while she and several of the actresses spoke candidly while honoring the women of New Orleans and the Gulf South.

"I hope my dress won't pop while I'm up here," said Alba, who made her stage debut as she recited "My Short Skirt," a monologue from Ensler's award-winning play. "And if it does, you're all women, and I think you'll understand it. When you're pregnant, your breasts are engorged and your stomach is getting bigger...and your ass, too, that's getting bigger by the second!"
MERLE GINSBERG