Although Fashion Week officially kicked off last Friday, Monday was a major day for the fashion world''s biggest guns: Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta. Both shows are must-sees for old-guard fashionistas and power brokers who like to keep their well-manicured figures on the industry's pulse. Monday morning at Herrera there wasn't a starlet in sight. B-listers and assorted others are welcomed at other shows but Herrera, who has hosted Renée Zellweger in the past, doesn't bother with that by now overworked publicity ploy. Two of the most interesting attendees at the show weren't even acolytes who worship at the altar of all things fabulous but, rather, two gentlemen who favor bespoke suits. Graydon Carter was in the front row with his lovely wife Anna. When asked what was on his mind that morning, five years after the terrorist attacks that shut down this city and subsequently made his monthly editor's letters one of the most compelling reads in Vanity Fair, he admitted, "Anything but fashion. This morning I thought, the sky looks the same as it did then," Carter said. But he then changed the subject with a smile, saying, "I'm here to support Carolina. She's a friend of mine and she makes beautiful clothes."

--Diane Clehane

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