NEW YORK: Sarah Jessica Parker was set to be toasted Monday night as this year’s fashion icon at the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards. Parker — and her penchant for Manolo Blahnik stilettos and Oscar de la Renta party dresses — has been a big booster of the fashion industry, on- and off-screen. On ‘Sex and the City’, shopping was her character’s favourite pastime, and Gap just announced that Parker would be the new “face” of the brand.

Also at the CFDA awards, a lavish black-tie ceremony at the Manhattan branch of the New York Public Library, Donna Karan was to receive a lifetime achievement award and Miuccia Prada an international award. Tom Ford, recently of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, also was being honoured. Competing for womenswear designer of the year were Carolina Herrera, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Ralph Rucci, while the menswear contenders were Sean “P Diddy” Combs, Ralph Lauren and Kors. ‘American Idol’ winner Fantasia Barrino was to perform. — AP