When Tom Ford left his gig at the Gucci Group five years ago and signaled his intention to make Hollywood movies, there were plenty of naysayers. If the designer-turned-director ever doubted himself, he never let it show in public, and at the U.S. premiere of A Single Man at Grauman's Chinese Theatre last night, he was overcome by another, perhaps even rarer, sort of emotion: disbelief. "Being here, in a theater like this, is a dream come true," Ford said. "For me, it's almost surreal."

Like most of Ford's creative efforts, this one is garnering high praise: Among the awards it has picked up on the festival circuit was one for Best Actor for Colin Firth at the Venice Film Festival. And to hear his actors tell it, Ford's talent behind the camera is not unrelated to his success on the sartorial front (you may have heard a little about his menswear line). "Knowing so much about what the character wore and having that fashion background definitely helped," Nicholas Hoult, who plays Firth's student, explained. "In some scenes you see the dressing as an armor, or as the extension of the character. And Tom knew that. He was a brilliant director." His co-star Matthew Goode agreed with that last sentiment. Pacing the garden with Harvey Weinstein at the Chateau Marmont after-party, he offered, "Tom really smashed it out of the park on this one." As if anyone ever doubted he would.

Interior designer Ryan Korban is one of the downtown style set's biggest secrets—though not for much longer. The point of the party that Alexander Wang, Victoria Traina, and Natasha Poly threw for him last night at the Soho Grand was to sweep him out from under the carpet. "He does my office, he does my shop-in-shops, he does our showroom, he does my home," Wang said. "I don't think there's anyone like him—he's super-sophisticated and super-luxurious, but has an eye that's fresh." Traina, who's moving in a few months, and Poly, who's planning to buy on the West Side, both seemed eager to secure his services, too. "I really believe in accessories for the home—the art, the books," Korban said, in between repeat trips to the bar for his thirsty model friends. "You see people running around in T-shirts and jeans, but then they have the Alaïa shoes or the Hermès bag. I think they want to live the way they want to dress." Apart from a slouchy black beanie, though, his main accessory this particular night was handfuls of drinks.