Last night at MoMA, Tommy Hilfiger celebrated the publication of, somehow, his fifth book, co-written with legitimate design icon George Lois. It's a visual survey of pop culture and called Iconic America: A Roller-Coaster Ride through the Eye-Popping Panorama of American Pop Culture. Fittingly the massive MoMA lobby was filled with rounded Eero Aarnio chairs, a couple of Marcel Breuer's iconic Model B3 chairs and even a Lips Sofa. White shag carpeting took the place of the more traditional red carpet. Then appeared Arden Wohl.

This was the first time I had met Ms. Wohl, though we all certainly feel like we know her a bit. She was wearing her signature headband. Her black eyes are deeply set; they sparkled with an almost feral intensity. "

What's your name?" I asked.

"Mount Helix," she said.

"Come on," I said.

"Mount Dessert," she said.

"Fuck this," I said, and began to walk away.

An older gentleman approached Mt. Dessert. "Arden," he said, "how are your parents?

"Great, Marty. They're great," she said.

Ms. Wohl changed tactics. Turning to our photographer, she said, "Ooo, you're sexy. You have red hair and so you're sexy." She grabbed the camera from around her neck and tried to take some photographs.

In another corner we happened upon Kristian Laliberte and Devora Rose, nestled near the bar. (Later we would happen upon them again in more inebriated form.)

"Joshua!" said Kristian. "You haaaaaave to be nice! I'm soooo terrified that Emily is coming to the Unruly Heir show! She's going to be soooo mean."

"K-dog," I said, "you're not going to be the center of the story."

"Can you please just add a sidenote? Say that I'm skinny. You can even say that I'm anorexic. I don't care," he said.

Kristian Laliberte is skinny and perhaps even anorexic.

Social Life editor Devora Rose scowled.

"Let me give you my card," she said, and handed over her glass of red wine. It was Coke.

"Diet?"

"Touch my waist," she said. "Does it look like I need to be on a diet?"

"I meant the Coke," I said, and left.

Soon Tommy Hilfiger got on stage. "Are you excited to hear Debbie Harry from Blondie and her band?" he asked the crowd in his strangely robotic way.

"Yes," murmured the crowd. And then she was on, singing "Call Me."

We took the opportunity to page through his book. The "Lolita Taboo" of which they write makes no mention of the fact that "Lolita" was ever a book.

Then Debbie Harry pointed to the Balzac sculpture. She said, "Look, it's our special guest, James Brown! Can we get a spotlight on him?"

Her request went ignored. The tech guy probably really confused, as it clearly was Auguste Rodin's 1898 bronze Monument to Balzac. Ms. Harry became more and more peevish about the joke. We left the book behind, on an Egg Chair.

[Photo: Danielle Ezzo]