It was a grand Thursday evening at Cipriani 42nd St. as William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman of the Estee Lauder Companies Inc. and William T. Willard III, VP of Dillards Inc. was honored by the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and the FIT Foundation at the college's annual benefit gala.

Celebs, who came out in support, dazzled the red carpet affair. They included supermodels Carolyn Murphy and Constance Jablonski, as well as Recording Artist Natasha Bedingfield.

Attending the cocktail hour afforded several hundred in attendance the opportunity to meet fellow supporters of the FIT Annual Gala and FIT Educational Development Fund as well as enjoy cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.

The educational aspect of the evening was personified by the distinct presence of three FIT Packaging design students, winners of a recent Estee Lauder competition for the re-design of the Pleasures (fragrance) bottle. Alicia Tagliasahoni, a Junior Package Design major at FIT, told us that displaying her winning bottle made the evening special for her. "My whole concept is to re-revolutionize the floral fragrance by inserting a bud vase that the consumer could customize with their own flower."

Additional noteworthy attendees included Aerin Lauder, Leonard Lauder, Gary Lauder, Tabietha Dillard, Mandy Dillard, Francisco Costa, Italo Zuchelli, Lisa Perry, Dr. Joyce Brown, H. Carl McCall, Dr.Valerie Steele, Karen Sadove, Cindi Leive, Alexandra Lebenthal.