Taking Hollywood by Snowstorm

Hit: With delicious irony, a seen-it-all, done-it-all Hollywood crowd passed over the footprints of Cecil B. DeMille and other late, great show people at Mann’s Chinese Theater tosee an extravaganza staged by Isaac Mizrahi, a New York fashion designer, and his pack of supermodels (Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Veronica Webb). For final punch--ifyou don’t count the faux snow that came down on the already cool crowd--there was k.d. lang crooning with a Lawrence Welk-style bubble machine, followed by dinner in a fabulous tent. It was all to benefit the California Fashion Industry Friends of AIDS Project Los Angeles on Thursday night.

Miss: An insensitive, well, OK, just plain rude contingent walked out early on lang’s concert, prompting her to cut short her show in retaliation.

Who Was There: A few transvestites; clusters of People in Black trying to outsmart the fire marshals by sneaking puffs on Marlboro Lights in the tent; plus Dan Aykroyd and Donna Dixon, Anjelica Huston and Robert Graham, Sandra Bernhard (“This was the best night in Hollywood ever”), Jon Lovitz, Wayne and Janet Gretzky, Natalie Cole, Raquel Welch, Dennis Hopper, APLA chair Steve Tisch, Barry Levinson, Linda Gray, Mark and Wendy Canton, Linda and Jerry Bruckheimer, and Sofia Coppola.

Say That Again: “It’s the Oscars of tall chicks,” pontificated Josh Richman, co-owner of Babylon (that’s a restaurant, but you probably knew that). “They can say it’s for AIDS and I hope they raise a lot of money, but it’s basically a spectacle, and that’s what people are here for.”

Quoted: “I wouldn’t have done this if it wasn’t at the Chinese. It’s like the Louvre of California, one of the natural wonders of the world,” said Mizrahi as a fire marshal insisted he extinguish his ever-present cigarette.

Triumph: The circus-sized dinner tent behind the theater, filled with hundreds of red paper lanterns, tablecloths of red Chinese brocade and centerpieces of melon-sized pink peonies.

Fashion Statements: Actress Lauren Tom in Pamela Barish’s sheer white baby-doll dress with exposed black push-up bra. Producer Susan Harris in Mizrahi’s mint green taffeta ball-gown skirt, old cardigan sweater, pink suede mules and backpack.

Chow: Tommy Tang’s wild mushroom salad with egg rolls, crispy duck with grilled yam, steamed rice and, for dessert, mango and berry creme brulee, chocolate truffles and fortune cookies with such funny fortunes as, “Could you be pregnant?” and “Steve Tisch wants to make a deal with you.”

Freebie Factor: lang’s “Ingenue” compact disc, a white baseball cap monogrammed “IM,” plus all the peonies you could grab.