What's an A-list actress to do if she's found the designer dress of her dreams for Vanity Fair's Oscar party now that the legendary bash has been cancelled? And what about the editors who rely on those indelible images from Morton's that seem to live on for eternity? Those were questions that were making the rounds at Fashion Week when news broke that Graydon Carter had cancelled the party of the year due to the as-yet unresolved writer's strike.

"I feel their pain," said InStyle's Charla Lawhon whose own Golden Globes shindig had to be cancelled last month. "We went through the same thing. There is so much that goes into these things that the decision has to be made early enough to avoid having to go to far down the road at considerable expense."

Allure's Linda Wells said the fallout goes further than a bunch of stars all dressed up with nowhere to go...

"The images and reporting that comes out of that party fuel an engine that goes all year long. We use so many pictures from that night," she said. "It's wrong. Just so wrong! It feels as though the world as stopped spinning on its axis!"

One New York-based stylist who was counting on logging some frequent flieer miles jetting out to LAla-land to dress clients was postively stricken at the news. "This is heinous. I'm going to lose thousands of dollars in fees. It's my biggest month of the year and now I'm trying to decide whether to use my Amex points to go on a vacation or stick around and see if anything else comes up."

No word yet on Carter's plan B now that he won't be hosting a few hundred of his closest friends but, says one insider, there's no way he'll be sitting home watching the show in his dressing gown. "I hear he's going to do a very small private party." There's also word the magazine is going to be taking over the recently renovated Thompson hotel. As they say in Hollywood, to be continued ...

-- Diane Clehane