Partyhopper

Carrie Underwood topped the charts this week by selling more than 500,000 copies of her new Carnival Ride CD—no "sophomore slump" for her! The singer is featured in the story about New York Fashion Week that I edited for our upcoming December issue and you can also see exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from Carrie’s "So Small" video shoot in In Style’s current November issue. “We went for all-out glamour without changing her too much,” Carrie’s hairstylist and makeup artist said of her look in the clip. “It’s just Carrie looking like the star that she is.” 

-- James Patrick Herman

James and Carrie Underwood at this year's Sony/BMG Grammy's party
Photo: Mark A. Neston

Joely Fisher turned 40 yesterday and because she's a fellow Scorpio, I'm sure that she would not be offended to read that I think she looks hotter than ever! I can only imagine the super-fun birthday bash (and massive goody bag) that I missed because if there's one thing that Joely loves more than acting, it's party planning. "I have friends who have planned parties for the Academy Awards, and they tell me: 'If that acting thing doesn't pan out, you could do this for a living,"€ Joely once joked to me about her entertaining skills.

James and Joely Fisher

I don't  think that I need to send Joely a gift because she's already got three great things that money can't buy, even in Hollywood: A successful TV show, fabulous friends and family and a very happy marriage—she and Christopher Duddy celebrated their tenth anniversary in Vallarta Nayarit, Mexico, on New Year's Eve and I was thrilled that I could be there for to join in the fun, the fireworks and, best of all, the dolphin bonding.

-- James Patrick Herman

Photos: Mark A. Neston

I jumped at the chance to party like it was my birthday with 50 Cent at the bash for his new book, 50 X 50. It was actually a surprisingly low-key affair: An intimate dinner of lobster satay, Peking duck, Beijing chicken and—my personal favorite—crispy beef at chic eatery Philippe. The rapper turned writer made his entrance in head-to-toe G-Unit topped with a black cap studded with his given name: Curtis.

50 kicked back in a corner banquette, then walked from table to table, greeting each one of his glamorous guests, including Margeaux Watson from EW, Danyel Smith from Vibe, Nekesa Moody from AP and the coolest party photographer in town, Johnny Nunez. I took a break from my lychee martini so that I could congratulate Curtis on his success, and I asked him how it feels to be a published author. He smiled, threw an arm around my shoulder and evoked the late great James Brown when he said, "I feel good!"

-- James Patrick Herman

Photos: Johnny Nunez

Ciara, that sexy Scorpio, is really excited about turning 22 today. In fact, she’s so excited that she plans on celebrating her birthday not once, not twice, but seven times in places like New York City (tonight at Nikki Beach, tomorrow at Runway), D.C., Atlanta, Miami and the Bahamas.

Photo: Mark Young

And she’ll be looking hot at every stop thanks to stylist June Ambrose, so I have a feeling that Ciara is going to pass on the birthday cake. (When I took this photo with her at Clive Davis’ legendary pre-Grammys blowout, she was wearing a clingy Herve Leger number that looked like it was painted on.) As someone who loves seeing party pictures, I hope that Ciara starts a new celebrity trend!

-- James Patrick Herman

Have you heard Mya’s new song, "My Bra"? No, it's not an ode to Victoria's Secret. It's actually Mya's charitable donation to Lifetime's Stop Breast Cancer For Life public awareness campaign and hopefully it's a sign that we'll soon be hearing more new music from the Grammy-winnning "Ghetto Superstar" singer, "Lady Marmalade" revivalist and Chicago costar!

You can download "My Bra" from iTunes, of course, but you also may have heard it on the recent Lifetime movie Matters of Life & Dating, which costarred Ricki Lake and Holly Robinson Peete. Like Mya, Holly is overdue for a comeback: I was so excited when I heard that she was filming the pilot of an American version of my favorite U.K. guilty pleasure, Footballers' Wives. Sure, the NFL may have been less than excited—to put it mildly—but I, for one, would welcome a soapy drama that is not set in a hospital or private practice. Footballer’s wives have a lot more fun than doctors, right? What do you think?

-- James Patrick Herman

I felt like I had wandered onto the set of Gossip Girl when I made my entrance at the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 2007 Studio blowout—many of the gorgeous guests could’ve passed for extras shooting a party scene with GG star Blake Lively. “It’s so young and vibrant,” fashion and fragrance muse Margherita Missoni said of the crowd, which also included Lauren Bush, Jake Paltrow (Gwyneth’s director brother) and MisShapes DJ Leigh Lezark. The event honored artist Chuck Close’s “Shades of Gray” exhibit and a gigantic portrait of Kate Moss hung like a glamour icon above the main staircase. Down below, Chuck was holding court on the dance floor as his enamored admirers gathered around him and Lezark spun Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll.”

            
Margherita MIssoni and Chuck Close
Photo: Patrick McMullan

I was also glad to see one of my favorite bicoastal power couples: Jason Pomeranc, a.k.a. “the hip hotelier” who owns the Hollywood Roosevelt and 60 Thompson, and Ali Wise, a PR maven for Dolce & Gabbana. Jason was telling me all about his latest hotspot, the Thompson Beverly Hills—a boutique property with a distinctly New York vibe despite its 90210 zip code, thanks to chic black interiors and art curated by fashion photographer Steven Klein. The hotel doesn’t open until November 6th, so I won’t be able to check in this weekend when I fly to L.A. for Marc Jacobs’ party at MOCA, but I still plan on doing a drive-by and checking it out!

-- James Patrick Herman

In real life, Marcia Cross is the mother of adorable twins, but on Desperate Housewives, this guy plays her son. And even though there’s only one of him, he’s still quite a handful for Bree. But Shawn Pyfrom is a well-behaved young actor, so don’t be fooled by his wild child TV character or by that Las Vegas sign in his hand (especially since it’s mine). Sure, he may enjoy the occasional night out at Les Deux, but he knows how to avoid TMZ—and, for that matter, The Hills. Shawn told me about going to Heidi’s birthday party and how he narrowly escaped the MTV cameras, which seemed to be everywhere. “Dude, you don’t want to end up on The Hills!” a friend of Shawn’s wisely advised him. I’m assuming that his friend is not named Justin-Bobby.

Shawn swung by my office to talk about more than just L.C.’s arch-enemy, of course. We also chatted about the new season of those angst-ridden suburban neighbors on Wisteria Lane and how he spends his downtime from his hit TV show—going on MySpace, like everyone else I know in L.A. Shawn claims that he has less than 40 friends on MySpace, which I find a little hard to believe. But he made a lot of new friends—and fans—here at InStyle.

-- James Patrick Herman

Ginger Brang and Me

Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

I may have missed New York Fashion Week because of the Toronto International Film Festival, but thanks to Hugo Boss, I enjoyed all of the highlights of a hot show last night—the sexy clothes, the drop-dead gorgeous models and, of course, the A-List celebrities in the front row. In fact, stunning Julianne Moore was sitting right in front of me—and next to Hal Rubenstein and Cindy Weber-Cleary, In Style’s fabulous Fashion Directors.

Cindy Weber-Cleary and Hal Rubenstein

Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

"It looks so beautiful--I love it!" Kristen Davis raved about Julianne’s return to her redheaded roots (she briefly went blonde for a film role). A photographer appeared and begged to take their picture together. "Okay, but I'm going to get in trouble," Kristen joked before briefly posing with Julianne, then bolting back to take her seat on the other side of the catwalk, where she was perched next to actresses Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kate Winslet (like Julianne, they were dressed head to toe in Boss Black). When the lights went down and the blonde models began strutting down the runway, Maggie and Kate whispered their reviews of the revealing looks to one another.

Photo: Patrick McMullan

A different type of show got underway after the fashion action ended: Suddenly waitresses dressed in French maid uniforms wheeled out carts containing carbs (!) and champagne flutes filled to the rim with bubbly. The crowd then poured themselves into a room that resembled a post-modern jazz club, where waiters served small plates of Chilean sea bass and the Moet flowed freely all night long. Think: Dim lighting, black walls, leather furniture--it was a sexy, smoky scene illuminated only by strips of neon lavendar lights on the ceiling. On a small stage, that fashionista Woody Allen and his band played jazz as everybody’s favorite DJs, The MisShapes, prepared for their late-night set.

Me and Leigh Lezark

Photo: Patrick McMullan

"I'm obsessed with the new Radiohead album, but I'm not sure that I can follow Woody with that kind of music," the MisShapes’ Leigh Lezark told me. I was impressed with Leigh’s rock star lifestyle—she had just flown in from L.A. and she was fighting off her jet-lag with a glass of champagne, so clearly she’s not afraid to drink and deejay. Nearby, I bumped into one of my favorite photographers, Patrick McMullan. (Like Leigh, Patrick has a new book out called Glamour Girls, so if you’re looking for cool holiday gifts, well, look no further than these two stylish tomes.) "I have to constantly keep moving—I’m like a shark," joked Patrick, who then introduced me to actress Olivia Palermo. "I'm a big fan of your magazine," said Olivia, who is also a part-time model. “I just did a shoot with my friend Lydia Hearst for Heatherette,” she added. “It was wild! I had lightning bolts painted on my face." And to prove it, she showed me the David Bowie-inspired results on her Blackberry. Fashion rocks!

-- James Patrick Herman

Spice Girls wannabes rejoice! Pre-order sales of their greatest hits CD went on sale starting October 17th at midnight—but for 24 hours only. So don’t spend too much time rejoicing; hurry up and log onto Victoriassecret.com if you want to be among the first to hear their two brand new songs as well as three remixes and over a dozen hits from their November 13th release. Wow, who knew they had so many hits?

The recently reunited pop group may have snubbed record stores, but they aren’t about to turn their backs on the leading retailer of sexy lingerie; their CD is going to be available exclusively at Victoria’s Secret! If you miss the tight deadline and fail to score tickets to one of their concerts in the U.S., you can still see the Spice Girls live—along with Kanye West and Seal—on this year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, airing December 4th on CBS.

Who is your favorite Spice Girl?

-- James Patrick Herman

I’ve become quite the connoisseur of parties, but whenever I go to a bash hosted by Colin Cowie, I realize that I still have a lot to learn. Colin always goes all out, whether the event happens to be a ’70s-themed blowout in the Bahamas or an intimate dinner at his super-cool, 007-inspired home. In fact, you could say that Colin wrote the book on party planning—literally! It’s called Colin Cowie Chic and you can read an excerpt from it in our new November issue.

Stuart Brownstein, Blake Mycoskie, and Colin Cowie

Most recently, I attended a lovely dinner at Colin’s home along with an eclectic mix of fun people: There was a legendary magazine editor, a documentary filmmaker, one of the premier interior designer/architects in Turkey and Blake Mycoskie, the philanthropic, photogenic man behind Toms Shoes (for every pair of shoes that Blake sells, he donates a free pair to underprivileged kids in Argentina). To be honest, I was sleep-deprived from having just returned from the Toronto International Film Festival and Colin handed me one of his typically delicious (and very strong) specialty cocktails as soon as I walked in the door, so I don’t recall many specific details about the evening. But trust me, it was fabulous!

Me, Stuart Brownstein, Hakan Ezur, and Blake Mycoskie

Photo by Colin Cowie

I’m amazed that Colin finds the time to entertain at home because he always has so much going on: Aside from writing books and appearing on his friend Oprah’s talk show, Colin also recently opened the C Bar at one of my favorite hotels and holiday destinations in the world, The Belvedere in Mykonos. And he’ll be appearing on the Home Shopping Network practically all day on Thursday—if you’re looking for some gorgeous gift ideas for the holidays, you won’t want to miss it. I’m already enjoying a yummy scented candle from Colin’s HSN collection that he just sent to my office, which reminded me that I still haven’t gotten around to writing him a thank you note for inviting me to dinner a few weeks ago. Clearly I need to read Colin’s book!

-- James Patrick Herman

The David Rockwell-designed C Bar at the Belvedere