SO SORRY: Christian Lacroix has sent his regrets to the San Francisco Ballet's Auxiliary. The designer was planning to attend a Nov. 16 Lacroix ballet fashion show and lunch hosted by Saks Fifth Avenue, but opening delays at his Manhattan boutique put his City by the Bay trip on hold, as well. However, the Saks luncheon and show will go on with the designer's directrice of haute couture Marie Martinez Seznec and Lacroix president Nicolas Topiol headlining the event. A reception the night before at the Pacific Heights home of Ann and Gordon Getty is also still a go.

NIGHT HAWKS: Jane Birkin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Danielle Steele, Julie Gayet, Chantal Thomass, Jean-Paul Goode and William Klein were among a flock of fashionable night owls who poured into Hermès' renovated Parisian flagship last Tuesday for the house's 24-hour-long party. "I hope I'll manage to keep going all night," said a worried-looking Guillaume De Seynes, Hermès' executive vice president, as he greeted guests at the event's kickoff. A flurry of acts awaited inside, from pint-sized ballerinas twirling on Hermès hat-boxes to Indian dancers. But the night's most poignant act had to be a performance by Birkin, the gap-toothed muse behind one of the store's most iconic bags. Birkin belted out a run of old Serge Gainsbourg numbers on the store's central glass staircase — dressed in a pair of scruffy cargo pants — and even dedicated a song, "As Time Goes By," to Gaultier. who sang along. Earlier, Gaultier admitted he'd probably fade around midnight. "I need my sleep too much and, anyway, dreaming can be just as much fun as partying," he joked. For Colette's Sarah Lerfel, however, staying up was a matter of practice. "We're gearing up to open a 24-hour ephemeral boutique in Los Angeles on Nov. 9," she said, adding that Marc Jacobs, Martin Margiela and Jack Spade are some of the other brands participating in the event, in collaboration with Paper magazine.