Today's Out & About column is about the gala at which the New York Times photographer was honored.

First Course: Maine Peekytoe crab salad on a bed of greens surrounded by ruby grapefruit gelee
Entree: Duo of chicken: Roasted breast and braised leg with gratin Dauphinoise, wild mushroom, and root vegetables
Dessert: Sorbets and almond tuile
Place: Museum of Modern Art
Occasion: Presentation of the David Rockefeller Award
Recipient: Peter Peterson
Among the guests: Uma Thurman, Charlie Rose, Steven Schwarzman, Bruce Wasserstein, Jeff Peek, Susan Baker, Lisa Phillips, Emily Rafferty, Kate Levin, Arne Glimcher, Raj Roy, Aerin Lauder, Jane Lauder, and Richard Holbrooke
Official Event Name: Annual Corporate Luncheon
$2.9 Million: Amount raised for education department at the museum
Related: Photos from the event
More: in the Sun print edition tomorrow

Below: David Rockefeller, Peter Peterson, Marie-Josee Kravis & Richard Salomon

Block by block, the Citizens Committee for New York City works to improve city neighborhoods. So the organization's annual gala, "The New Yorker for New York Awards," which took place last night at the Waldorf-Astoria, possessed a strong civic spirit, this year emboldened by sports and politics, as the event fell the night after the Giants won the Super Bowl and the night before Super Tuesday.

Most of the applause was for the honorees, introduced in between courses of salmon, chicken pot pie with lingonberry sauce, and chocolate shells filled with raspberries.The New Yorker for New York Award went to the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb; the Marietta Tree Award for Public Service, to chairwoman of the City Planning Commission, Amanda Burden; the Brooke Russell Astor Award for Philanthropy, to the founder and president of Randall's Island Sports Foundation, Karen Cohen; the Arthur Ross Award for Young Philanthropists, to a principal at Katzenbach Partners, Jack O'Kelley; the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award for Public Service, to the New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham, and the OSborn Elliott Award for Community Service, to Karen Washington, the co-founder of La Familia Verde, building community gardens in Harlem.

Related: Out & About Photo Album of the Citizens Committee for New York City Gala

Leaving the show, I wound up on an elevator to the lobby of the Far West Chelsea building with: six of the models and Ms. Roy's husband, Damon Dash, and then I was off to FIT for the opening of a stunning exhibit on Madame Gres. The exhibit has four main sections: one showing the pajama look of the 60s, labeled an ethnic period; one showing sculptural evening gowns and coats, some o them copies for the American market; another sculptural grouping focusing on day wear, and the centerpiece of it all, a masterful arcade of Grecian dresses in oh so many colors and variations. [photos]

Afterward I took what I thought would be a break from fashion, attending a Glimmerglass Opera concert at the Morgan Library. But the three sopranos playing Shakespeare's Kate, Cleopatra and Juliette showed their impeccable style, coming up on their own with just the right outfits for their roles. And the ladies in the audience too were impressive, with their rich prints, brocades, and tweeds. And so opera takes another fashion-forward step forward.[photos]

See the party in Out & About's Photo Album.

If a big Academy Awards ceremony does take place this year, red carpet and all, Marjane Satrapi will be going down the red carpet in a Diane von Furstenberg dress.
Ms. Satrapi, who lives in Paris, is up for an Oscar for best animated feature for her "Persepolis," about her upbringing in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution, which is based on her graphic novel of the same name.
This month she visited Ms. von Furstenberg in her Meatpacking district headquarters to select a dress for the awards ceremony. She was a fan of Diane von Furstenberg clothing even before they met: she wore a black wrap dress when she won the Jury Prize at Cannes last year (pictured above).
"She calls Diane her good luck charm," the co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, Michael Barker, said at a screening of the film last week organized by Peggy Siegal.
Ms. von Furstenberg told the story of her friendship with Ms. Satrapi before the screening began (Ms. Satrapi was not present).It started when the head of Pantheon, Sonny Mehta, gave her copies of Ms. Satrapi's books, published in two separate volumes in Pantheon in 2003 and 2004:

A few years ago, Sonny Mehta sent me this book, a graphic novel (I just found out what you call it). It was on my table for a long time. It is provocative and free, everything I like about women. I gave it to several friends.
Last year in Cannes, I was watching the awards, and she got an award, and she was wearing a dress of mine. And I thought that was very nice.
Then I went to Paris, and I was speaking to guy in my office who is Persian.I speak a little Persian because my first boyfriend was Persian. And he said to me, you have to meet Marjane. ...
So we met. And she's a great girl, very funny, free, and unbelievably talented. And I said to her, if there's anything I can do in New York, just ask me. That is why I am here tonight.
She is nominated for everything and of course, she's got to have a Diane von Furstenberg dress because it brings her good luck.

Of all the stories of fashion houses courting celebrities to wear their clothes, it's refreshing to hear this genuine tale of female friendship.

Even though it'd be easy for Tiki Barber to think only about football in the days leading up to the Super Bowl -- his former team, the Giants, is in the contest for the first time since 2001 -- he made time Wednesday night to attend an art auction at Christie's organized by the New York City Volunteer Council of Save the Children. Mr. Barber was in fact a leader at this event, holding the title co-chairman (his co-chairwoman, Sarah Ferguson, was not able to attend).

Works for sale included a 1949 lithograph by Pablo Picasso, donated by Galerie Mourlot, and the right to create a work of art with one's DNA (obtained through a cheek swab) -- but not one work with football as a theme. The auction raised about $100,000 for Save the Children's programs to promote nutrition and literacy to children living in remote regions of the Mississippi River Delta, the Deep South, Appalachia, and Native American reservations.

Mr. Barber, who these days works on camera for NBC, has a pretty full calendar for Super Bowl weekend. He'll be going to Phoenix "but just as a spectator," he said.

Save the Children was founded in 1932 to aid malnourished and uneducated children during the Great Depression.

--Mallory Wilson-deGrazia

Still, her record isn't perfect, as a side by side photo comparison demonstrates.

The photo on the right was taken at a fashion show a year and a half ago, Uh-oh. Krupp doesn't appear to have a hairstyle with bangs, and if she did have bangs, she made an error sweeping them off her face.

At her book launch party last week, on the roof of the Gramercy Park Hotel, all was in order, both for the author and her best friend from high school, the Broadway actress Christine Ebersole. (Which just proves that sticking with old friends also keeps you young.) Both significantly improved their youthful quotient. Bangs were a big part of it. Longer hair too. And definitely, definitely younger and hipper clothes.

And as for the party itself: guests left feeling younger with a bag full of tools Krupp recommends in the book: age-defying creams from Oil of Olay, Spanx bras and tights, jeans from Habituel, yoga toe flip-flops, and gift certificates for Robert Marc eye wear.

It was a typical afternoon at The New York Sun until our receptionist Michelle Eusebio rang me up and said, "There's a banana for you at the front desk. It just arrived by messenger."

"A what?" I said. Didn't she mean, oh, i don't know, a bouquet of flowers? a box of chocolates? No, she did not. "A banana," she said, in a completely matter of fact tone. I guess Michelle has seen her share of things arrive by messenger.

I rushed out to retrieve my banana, fortunately not slipping on the way (that's supposed to come later). And there it was on Michelle's desk: a banana, not green, not overripe, just right for eating. Except I couldn't do that before I had answered: Why me, why a banana, and why a banana by messenger?

The writing was on the peel. It was neatly printed with my name and address, confirming that this banana was intended for me, and not, well, some of the apes in my office, who shall remain nameless. The sight of my handwritten name made me wonder about the art of writing on a banana. What great literary works might Tarzan have produced, had only someone thought to read his bananas? Clearly, Jane had not thought of doing that.

On the other side of the banana, there were a bunch of those stickers that usually tell you what corporate entity you have to thank for your banana. The stickers on my banana told me not only who had sent it, but for what puprose.

That's when I realized I'd been acting as dumb as an ape. It was an invitation, of course. What else would anyone bother to send by messenger to the society editor of a newspaper with a daily column covering parties?

And so there you have it: I've been invited to the opening of an exhibit at Deitch Projects, featuring the work of graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, on January 31. I met Mr. Sagmeister once, at the inaugural Vilcek Awards ceremony. He designed the award. At Deitch, he'll be showing off work to be published in a book, with the title "Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far."

Thanks to Mr. Sagmeister, I have learned how to turn a banana into an invitation, and how to transfer banana stickers onto paper. And now for my big slip..

I covered the gala last year, and was struck by the intimate feeling of the event. It's a gathering where opera lovers and stars mingle as friends. [Read last year's coverage HERE]

For the 15th year in a row, a storm greeted the arrival of the Winter Antiques Show gala preview. And this time around, the precipitation included plunges in the stock market.
But all was well inside the show, where platters of cupcakes and smoked salmon offset booths full of expensive objects.
"The core business is solid," the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, John Thain, said hours after the brokerage firm announced a $9.8 billion fourth-quarter loss and the stock had fallen more than 10%.
And so the shopping for porcelains, tapestries, and chandeliers proceeded, proving once again that New Yorkers love to weather a storm. [PHOTOS HERE]

Political candidates could take a lesson or two about what makes America great from Woody Guthrie. His music and writings are distilled beautifully in a touring tribute show that came to New York's Knitting Factory Monday titled "Ribbon of Highway Endless Skyway."

And there's more to come: two New York artists are recording material from the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives.

If the 2008 elections lead us to a hopeful state of mind, perhaps we'll be ready to celebrate Woody's centennial in 2012.

The shot above is from the final number in the show, "This Land is Your Land," and features performers Joel Raphael, Johnny Irion, Sarah Lee Guthrie, Olivia Irion, Jimmy LaFave, and Marie, Annie & Jeannie Burns.

And there's more on this event in the Wednesday, January 15 Out & About column.