POLITICS OF FASHION: Susanne Bartsch isn't the only live wire still lighting up the party circuit that began in the Eighties. Her friend and (former) partner in party-throwing arms, Marc Balet, is giving a fund-raising bash for Sen. Hillary Clinton this evening at his 3,600-square-foot loft just north of New York's SoHo, where he lives and works. Balet, a marketing executive whose clients have included Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Enyce and Southpole, expects to raise $100,000 for Clinton's campaign coffers, via contributions of $5,000 from each of 20 women executives.

Liz Selassie, owner of Designer Loft and a relative of former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, asked Balet, who's a friend of hers, if he'd provide the venue for the fund-raiser. The Clinton campaign, Selassie said, was "looking for a fabulous location that could accommodate 20-30 people; an intimate, home setting." Selassie's connection to the senator's campaign came by way of her partner in Designer Loft, Paulette Cleghorn, a "friend of Hillary's" who was contacted by handlers of fund-raisers for Clinton around the country.

Beyond the bucks donated, hors d'oeuvres ingested, and cocktails imbibed, the party will afford the invitees a chance to wield some political clout over issues affecting minority women.