MAC Stars Take Manhattan

New York's Fashion Week is the perfect time to ditch everyday wear and break out the couture — especially if you can snag invites to those glitzy after-parties that cap off the runway shows. Debutantes, divas and drag queens alike were at the West Village's Ace Gallery to sample the fifth incarnation of Viva Glam. That's MAC's high-shine cosmetic offering, with 100 percent of proceeds going to the MAC AIDS Fund.

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's social butterfly, Jai Rodriguez, practiced what he preaches as he worked the room. TV Guide Online spotted him trading hugs and quips with another NBC reality boy, The Apprentice's Kwame Jackson. FYI, the Fab Five has just put out the Queer Eye soundtrack, but Rodriguez plans to do a solo act on his in-the-works debut CD. "It's pop-rock, kind of Anastacia meets Justin Timberlake," he boasts. The 24-year-old music man has yet to pick a title for his, um, ambitious-sounding disk, which is due out this fall.

Former Miss America Kate Shindle gushed about playing a brainwashed spouse in this summer's remake of The Stepford Wives. "I try to look as casual and smart as possible in the wake of this movie, where I had to look dumb and pretty — a flashback to my pageant days," she quips. For the film, Shindle got very powdered and primped alongside Nicole Kidman, who plays Stepford's defiant heroine. "It's definitely a heavy makeup and hair project," the beauty queen chuckles. "I think they made me the trashy one."

MTV's TRL host Damien Fahey shared what he and the newly svelte Anna Nicole Smith have in common: "Trim Spa. I've lost 20 pounds and I feel great." Clearly aspiring to follow in the footsteps of predecessor Carson Daly, Fahey wants his own talk show. "A late-night thing," he says, "like Craig Kilborn or Jon Stewart." Like any good up-and-comer, Fahey's willing to make a humble debut. "For our first guest, we'll have to shoot low," he cracks. "Maybe Bob Saget or that guy who played Balkie on Perfect Strangers."

Arriving fashionably late, MAC's new quintet of Viva Glam spokes-celebs — actress Chlo&#235 Sevigny, model Linda Evangelista and singers Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliot and Boy George — were quickly escorted to their VIP corners. Still sporting the war paint created for him in the recently closed Broadway show Taboo, George pooh-poohed the velvet rope. Instead, he chose instead to chill with the people. "I'm just relaxing, darling," he cooed, a cigarette dangling from his fingers. "Smoking and relaxing."