Allen Questrom's Ultimate Quest

Early this fall, on a warm September evening, the glitterati of the New York fashion world paid $1,000 each to toast themselves with champagne and caviar amid lush bouquets of dahlias and roses at the Armory ballroom on Manhattan's Lexington Avenue. The event--a black-tie dinner for retiring New York Times fashion reporter Bernadine Morris--overflowed with the likes of Donna Karan and Oscar de la Renta. Lining the runway of the night's glamorous fashion show were some of the brightest lights in the retail firmament, from Bergdorf Goodman Inc.'s Dawn Mello to Chanel Inc.'s Arie L. Kopelman.

The dance floor, though, belonged to Allen and Kelli Questrom. Tall and dashing in his black tuxedo, the 54-year-old chief executive of Federated Department Stores Inc. had whisked his wife onto the hardwood to glide her though a complicated pas de deux. Spinning and smiling like Fred and Ginger, the whirling Questroms gradually nudged the other couples aside. "The waters parted, the dance floor cleared," laughs Kalman Ruttenstein, Bloomingdale's fashion director. "All eyes were on Allen and Kelli."