ACE Awards - one of New York's Biggest Fashion Events - are Philly Strong

Philadelphia fared well last night  at the Accessories' Council Annual Award gala. The awards were especially cool this year since it was the organization's 15th anniversary celebration. Shout out to the Accessories Council for giving us the heads up on the latest in glasses, bangles, Lucite, stacked heels. over the years. This group, led by the Philadelphia area's  own Karen Giberson - who was stunning in her strapless, black Robert Rodriguez dress - does a phenomenal job in getting out the trends. And their award winners always to prove to be innovative people to watch. (It was at last year's ACE awards that Lady Gaga got her first fashion award. And she's been getting fashion props ever since.) But back to last night, King of Prussia's QVC network won E-tailer of the year. How could they not when one can watch QVC on their Iphone app during the day? I shook hands with Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins who was quite dapper in his black and white tuxedo. And John Wind, of Maximal Arts was sitting at my table where we chitchatted about the latest trend in jewelry

Kanye West - who managed to garner a few claps for his almost poignant, but give me my props speech for his style maker of the year award.  "I thank Marc Jacobs so much for giving me the opportunity to design a shoe for Louis Vuitton, but the thing that broke my heart most was when they said, 'You're finished. The shoe's finished.' When it was ready it was like the dream of putting together the fabric and having the energy that I knew of being a street kid, of being a boy out of Chicago, and enjoying every day and the way I can connect with this. It's like, 'you can't play the video game anymore.'" Then he went on to say. "When there is an article about New York Fashion and I'm not in it... then I feel left out."

Other notable awardees: Lauren Bush received a humanitarian award as the Co-founder of FEED. (I hope she comes to Philly to talk about this project.)  Rachel Roy's Rachel line won brand launch of the year, actress Christina Ricci won for style evolution and Lanvin's Alber Elbaz won designer of the year.

Thanks Karen for the invite. It was a lot of fun.