Lauri Peterson, Vinessa Shaw, Herbie Hancock and other guests join the Covenant House California for a night of awards and music; Chelsea Handler, Julianne Hough, Kobe Bryant and a team of celebs step out to a benefit for EIF's Women's Cancer Research Fund; Keanu Reeves, Adelaide Clemens and more attend GenArt Presents "Generation Um..."; Sharon Stone, Snoop Lion, Vicente Fox and others guests mix it up at the Better LA "An Evening With A View" Annual Gala; Nicole Richie, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Rachel Zoe and some of L.A.'s fashion elite hit a Balmain dinner party at Chateau Marmont—get caught up on Thursday's top events in this edition of Last Night's Parties.

Opening a boutique with staying power in a city like NYC is no small feat, but Claire Distenfeld was up for the challenge. She opened her Upper East Side fashion mecca, Fivestory, last spring - and one year later, it's still going strong, hailed by critics as one of the best curated high-fashion boutiques in the city. The multi-story townhouse carries everything from Balmain to Carven, but no matter what she puts in her store, her goal is to always make women feel good, telling us, "I'm never gonna buy pieces that won't make a woman feel good. She can feel different, she can feel unique, but you're not gonna see a garbage bag with holes in my store." Click through to see how Claire Distenfeld was able to use her background in fine arts to make a name for herself in the cutthroat fashion industry, and stand out from the rest. More>>

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Photos by Nellie Park.

Artist Marcel Duchamp once said: “I am interested in ideas, not merely in visual products.” Duchamp’s seminal creations and thinking were instrumental in art’s paradigm shift over the next 100 years. It may be too soon to tell, but Leandra Medine, aka the Manrepeller, a fellow detractor of retinal art, seems to be on a parallel path, encouraging us to mindfully contemplate our own personal fashion choices, rather than mindlessly follow others’.

This year, Time Magazine named Manrepeller.com one of the top 25 blogs in the world (that’s the entire world, not just the fashion world!) – but it’s her innovative ideas on fashion and the business she’s gotten herself into offline that has caught our attention. With countless collaborations including a jewelry line that sells out in seconds, a new clothing line that will surely do the same, several ad campaigns with brands like Bumble & Bumble, and even a book of essays in the works - she’s become the thinking woman’s fashion icon of the moment, if not the future. She’s inspiring women far beyond the fashion industry to love who they are…with or without their man’s validation. In two short years she has redefined what it means to be a “fashion blogger” and, at 23, she has no plans of slowing down. As Hall and Oates almost once crooned: “Watch out here she comes, she’s a… MANREPELLER!”

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Last night in NYC, Gilt Groupe launched the Brian Atwood handbag collection at the Top of the Standard, Garance Dore celebrated the launch of Bidermanns for Barneys at Il Buco, Kenneth Cole hosted a preview of his Fall 2012 collection, Patrick McMullan and Ben Widdicombe were on the panel for The Cult of Celebrity at the Soho House, and so much more. Last night's parties were all about the designers! More»