Sure, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani made the scene, and some folks were decked out in red, white and blue. But make no mistake, the seventh annual VHl/Vogue Fashion Awards was no benefit bash. Instead the raucous star-strewn gathering, held at Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom on Oct. 19, represented the first get-dressed-up-and-give-out-hardware celebrity soiree since Sept. 11. Most adapted well. Sharp Dressed Man winner Sean "Puffy" Combs thanked everyone for "comin' out, smiling and not being scared." For model Niki Taylor, who presented actor Josh Hartnett with the Newcomer Award, it was her first public appearance since being gravely injured in an April car crash. With stars like Gwyneth Paltrow and Hilary Swank grooving to Macy Gray's performance of "Sexual Revolution," and Leading Man winner Jim Carrey mugging at the mike, the event came close to achieving a familiar level of fizz. "If we go on with a depressed, dark world it's not going to make anyone happy," said designer Betsey Johnson. "It's best to just keep on trucking."