ELIE'S FANS: Shopping was the theme for Elie Tahari in L.A. last Tuesday. He hit the stores on Robertson Boulevard, Rodeo Drive and Melrose Avenue, where he picked up a dress for his three-year-old daughter at Fred Segal, in the morning and afternoon. At night, he opened his 5,000-square-foot boutique within the Beverly Hills' Saks Fifth Avenue to shoppers whose purchases raised money for The Alliance for Children's Rights. Marcia Cross, Kristen Bell and Stacy Keibler were among those who browsed the racks. Cross, who wore a brass-colored Elie Tahari dress, debated three wardrobe choices for the evening. "This one was so easy. I just went with the mood I was in," she said. Bell, casual in a Juicy Couture jacket, Elie Tahari top and Hudson jeans, said Tahari has started to play a larger role in her closet. "I have recently been exposed to Elie Tahari," she said. "His stuff is really classic, but at the same time he has gotten hipper."

SHOP TILL YOU DROP: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are seasoned shoppers, but they turned the tables Thursday night when they welcomed fans and designing friends including Jenni Kayne and Christian Louboutin to a shopping party for their contemporary label Elizabeth and James at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills. Though their older brother inspired half the line's name, the Olsens didn't offer any men's clothes, which didn't bother Louboutin. Instead, the shoe designer said he was surprised by the vast size of their inaugural fall collection, which is produced by Vernon, Calif.-based L'Koral Industries. "When I started my line, I did it little by little," Louboutin said. "But [Elizabeth and James is] very, very well-managed. More than anything else, it's very good." Kayne supported her friends by squeezing into a black banded miniskirt from the Olsens' designer label The Row and trying on a $995 red wool-cashmere coat trimmed with fox fur from Elizabeth and James. "I'm excited for them," Kayne said, who will open her first store today in West Hollywood.

Also that night, another gaggle of shoppers whipped out their wallets at the bash that Nordstrom and In Style magazine threw at Hollywood's Boulevard3 nightclub for eight emerging contemporary labels: Chulo Pony, Viridis Luxe, Sunner, Karta, Meghan, Dorothy Lee, Rory Beca and L.A.M.B. Though L.A.M.B.'s Gwen Stefani didn't come to the party, all the other designers did, including Sunner's Susan Denner Lee, who lives in New York. "It's important to be in touch with your retailer and, as a vendor, with your customers," she said.