Pretty Paper People

(NEW YORK) While "fabulous" is a word most of the fashion flock toss around with ease and frequency, Paper's Kim Hastreiter has moved past the overused term--particularly when it came to describing her magazine's 11th-annual Beautiful People party, held at the Hiro ballroom Wednesday night. "It's viral," she described, laughing, of the gathering, which was presented by H&M. "When this started we were 70 people at an East Village restaurant. And tonight we had 1,300 rsvps!"

According to Paper's other co-editor and co-founder David Hershkovitz, qualifiers go beyond vanity. "They can't all be cute and related to royalty," he pointed out. Indeed, what Vanity Fair's coveted Best Dressed List is to the upper crust and royalty, attaining status as an "BP" in Paper is perhaps more coveted, as Hastreiter pointed out, because "three years after landing on our list, they explode." Cue Joanna Newsom, a budding 26-year-old harpist, pianist, singer, and songwriter who scored this year's cover. Among those that turned out to hear her sing were Björk and Matthew Barney, an impressive pair to say the least. "I can't sing with feedback," Newsom pleaded with the raucous crowd as she took to the stage. Forging on undeterred, she belted out several songs, responding at one point to an attendee's inquiry as to the origin of her accent. "Northern Californian," she laughed.

Among the beautiful ones who turned out were Selita Ebanks, Ben Chang, Halston's Matthew Marchak, Jess Atkins, The James Gang, and Marco Perego, joining Threeasfour's Adi, Gabe, and Ange, Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick, Charlie Shaffer, Andrew Andrew, V's Jacob Brown, Screaming Mimi's Laura Wills, and Project Runway's Jack Mackenroth. Björk darted in and out throughout the night. "Do you think we could get a waiter? I'm hungry," she said. "I'm sure you could," Kenny Scharf teased. Past inductee Donna D'Cruz sent her regrets from Seattle, where she was deejaying at a Microsoft party (she also happily reported that she's spinning at Ivana Trump's upcoming wedding).

And while beauty may be skin deep, having proper ID is another issue altogether--something Vogue contributor and stylist Kathryn Neale, one of this year's Beautiful People, learned the hard way when she was initially denied entrance at the door until her husband, Sam Shaffer, came to the rescue.

"She's in the magazine," he said, flipping to her black-and-white page. "She's a beautiful person!"
JIM SHI