Banks Cashes In

11/26/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

Supermodel Tyra Banks wore two hats at a New York bash in her honor Thursday night -- that of new GQ magazine cover girl and of birthday girl. (Actually, her natal day was Dec. 4, but what the hey.) On the cover of the mag, Banks, 26, wears little more than a birthday suit: a red bikini bottom and a rose in her hair. In person on Thursday, she wore a little more, in the form of hip-hugger pants with a matching halter top and Manolo Blahnik stilettos. She told PEOPLE that doing the magazine spread was fun. "I'm so happy with it," she exclaimed. "It was one of the most exhilarating and hardest photo shoots I've done. They had me swimming and climbing mountains." No wonder they threw her a party.