Fashion Designers Honor Their Own.Maggie Gyllenhaal, Victoria Beckham and Eva Mendes present the event.That was pretty obvious, suggested Ms. Lebowitz, who had been asked to emcee the annual awards night for the Council of Fashion Designers of America. A cream-bordering-on-ivory dinner jacket. White shirt. Black pants."Do you mean who made this?" she asked. Her outfit was by Anderson & Sheppard, a bespoke shop on Savile Row. Did she know how to spell that?"I should," she said. "I write them enough checks."

Since it was announced that Ms. Lebowitz would introduce the awards, there had been some concern (and some hope) that the writer, a fixture in the fashion scene since the era of Studio 54, would name names, or at least skewer a few of those familiar faces among a crowd that is keenly sensitive to the slightest slights. Instead, she paid tribute to an oft-worn comment about accessories made by Coco Chanel: "I never wear a tie," Ms. Lebowitz said. "Because I believe when a woman gets dressed for the evening, she should leave at least one thing to the imagination."

The note Ms. Lebowitz struck for the evening, then, could be described as zippy. Responding to criticism within its ranks that the awards show, the designers' version of the Oscars, had become an egocentric snore, the format was shuffled this year so that the trophies were handed out at the beginning of the night and the dinner came way at the end. Famous people who were not designers — or only part-time designers — were largely pushed to the side. At one point, three of them were made to stand on stage to present an award to the best women's designer of the year, each wearing a dress by one of the nominees.

Maggie Gyllenhaal wore a see-through green patterned Proenza Schouler top, looking like a turtle in pajamas. Victoria Beckham appeared to have broken out with a love rash in a dress made of hundreds of cutout hearts by Marc Jacobs. And Eva Mendes wore a clean white column by Francisco Costa, the women's designer at Calvin Klein. When the envelope was opened, Ms. Mendes let out an enthusiastic yelp her designer won while Ms. Beckham visibly pouted. She could not help but wear her hearts on her sleeve.

The other awards were handed out in rapid order. Tom Ford, following a lengthy visual display of his advertisements in which naked women grab the crotches of clothed men, was named men's designer of the year, and Tory Burch, who makes those flats with her logo on the toe, was given the nod for accessories. Swarovski, the crystal company, also presented awards to younger designers, to the Rodarte label designed by the sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy for women's wear, to Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders for men's and to Philip Crangi for accessories.
Special awards were also given to the designers Carolina Herrera and Dries Van Noten; to Candy Pratts Price, the executive fashion director of Style.com; and to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who helped negotiate a deal to keep the 7th on Sixth fashion shows in Bryant Park through 2010.