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Rain Fails to Fug Up Alyson Hannigan’s Bangs

Eye curtains courtesy of Fetherston.Photo: Patrick McMullan

The burst of lunchtime rain abated just in time for a few of hoi polloi to take in the Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti presentation without ruining their hair. Which was crucial in Alyson Hannigan’s case, because she merrily showed off crisp new bangs to her gushing pals in the crowd, and every girl knows you can’t debut a hairdo when it’s plastered to your forehead. Unless that’s the look you’re going for, in which case you have larger problems than a little drizzle.

While waiting for the second run-through (of three) to start, an acquaintance of Hannigan’s gushed about Scott Baio’s reality show about love and woe. Hannigan — tinier in person than we’d expected — sheepishly admitted that she couldn’t tolerate more than one or two episodes, but very politely listened to a chronicle of the season without once rolling her eyes or falling asleep on her feet. We like to imagine that, somewhere uptown, Anna Wintour and Roger Federer were having the exact same conversation, eating caviar and exclaiming, “Forget Darfur — why is Baio such an asshat?”

Leighton Meester became the second Gossip Girl star to make the rounds, standing quietly and a bit lost, occasionally posing for shutterbugs. Olivia Palermo and her five pounds of makeup — styled by Crayola this season, perhaps? — whispered to a pal, then left just as Byrdie Bell arrived. Singer Vanessa Carlton took in the first go-round while hugging the back wall, relatively undisturbed by the photogs in her cream tights and booties, worn with an off-the-shoulder dress and a “distressed” leather bag that looked as if she had moments earlier used it to beat back a pack of rabid wolves with a fetish for light F.M.

As Padma Lakshmi leaned against a different section of the wall, a manager-type of Ugly Betty’s Becki Newton declared she simply had to introduce Newton to the outgoing Mrs. Rushdie. Trouble is, it took Becki a while to recall who Padma was; after some prompting she exclaimed, “Oh, I’ve sat next to her before! She TOTALLY won’t remember me.” Alas, Padma became a faint memory again when the clothes came out and Newton — who stayed the entire hour to ogle the light dresses and super-hot patent wedges — turned all business. Imagine it: going to a fashion show primarily to see rather than be seen. Who does that? —The Fug Girls

Rain Fails to Fug Up Alyson Hannigan’s Bangs