The Accessories Council hosted their annual ACE Awards in NYC last night to honor the most influential movers and shakers in the industry. Tomas Maier was on hand to be celebrated as designer of the year for his work with Bottega Veneta, and Diane von Furstenberg smiled with a DvF-clad Molly Sims before heading in to accept the Accessory Visionary award. Hilary Rhoda took a turn down the carpet, while fellow model Agyness Deyn was there to pick up Burberry's Brand of the Year Award on behalf of her good friend Christopher Bailey.

We caught a moment with TOMS's Blake Mycoskie, who was honored with the year's Humanitarian Award. He posed for photos in a black velvet Dolce & Gabbana tux that he paired with a zebra-print pair of TOMS straight from his new holiday collection. Mycoskie arrived alongside a Victoria Beckham-wearing Erin Wasson, which got us thinking about a future Erin Wasson x TOMS collaboration. "Maybe!" Mycoskie said. "You know I need more and more talented people. I am running out of ideas." The pair apparently go way back after meeting in their native Texas a few years ago. "We're both from Texas," said Wasson. "I met him three years ago in Dallas during his first of his TOMS American tour. They were cruising around in an Airstream, going around store to store when they first were starting the company, and that's how we met."

Nine West's Fred Allard won the evening's Visionary Award, and he opened up about the trends he's sees being big this Winter — he finds the over-the-knee boots "very sexy" but thinks clogs are "not a major trend." Despite saying that celebrities like Halle Berry, Rihanna, and Eva Longoria are big fans of Nine West, Allard won't be hiring them for any ad campaigns in the near future. He said, "Celebrities are attached to a very strong personality. We decide to pick our models and change our models every two seasons and there is a reason behind that. I just don't want to be stuck with one vision of a woman. . . we are fashion shoes for the masses."

Lady Gaga, meanwhile, turned up over an hour late and quickly posed for the waiting cameras before heading in to accept the Stylemaker Award from Marc Jacobs. Other guests included Alexander Wang, Glenda Bailey, Christian Siriano, and a Zappos-friendly Betsey Johnson — click here to see the full list of winners.

New York 11/02/09. Getty and Pacific Coast News Online