DRESSED TO KILT: Designer Jeffrey Banks is not the only person in the industry crazy about tartan. At a party feting his new book, "Tartan: Romancing the Plaid," Banks and co-author Doria de La Chapelle didn't get up from the signing table for the entire two-hour duration of the event Monday night. Saks Fifth Avenue celebrated the tome on its second floor, amidst Burberry's famous plaid offerings. Co-hosts Stephen I. Sadove and Diane von Furstenberg stood court among a crowd of plaid-wearing dandies.

BARRE NONE: The ballet world got a taste of rock 'n' roll Monday evening when Career Transitions for Dancers hosted "Dance Rocks," presented by Rolex. The likes of Patricia Kennedy, Bebe Neuwirth and Christine Ebersole were on hand at City Center as ballerinas pirouetted and plieed to the musical stylings of Elvis Presley and James Brown. Between numbers, Ebersole lamented her two left feet. "I always wanted to be a dancer," the actress told the crowd, "but that wasn't in the cards for this lifetime." Of course, evening honoree Neuwirth—whose Broadway credits include "Fosse" "Chicago" and "A Chorus Line"--could not make the same claim. "When I was born, the doctor told my mother, 'she's a dancer'," the "Frasier" star said.