On The Town: Champagne, strawberries and paintings by John Bellany in the Solomon Gallery all helped get lovers of fashion into the mood. The Moët & Chandon Design Centre's Spring/Summer 2004 Showcase was about to begin.
The young writer Cecelia Ahern, of PS I Love You fame, which is currently number one in the bestseller lists, was there with her mother, Miriam Ahern, to see her sister Georgina Ahern modelling a Synan O'Mahony dress. Michael Simpson, of Moët & Chandon, and his wife, Marie, greeted marketing manager Caroline Steilman who was there with her fiancé, Karl Purdy.
Gemma Corrigan, manager of Havana in Roches Stores on Henry Street, chatted with Joanna Walsh, a jewellery designer from Sligo town who was with her sister, Gillian Filan, wife of Westlife's Shane Filan.
Ashling Kilduff, managing director of the Design Centre - now 21 years in existence - was wearing a black John Rocha dress while Natasha Pillay, the centre's assistant manager, wore a black outfit by Missotten Strijbol. The fashion show was about "mixing the looks and showing different designers together and going more into 'smaller capsule' styles," said Kilduff.
Anne Boylan, sporting a cerise trouser suit by Regine, posed for photographers. She recalled working with Peter Ustinov, who died this week, when he played King Edward VII and she played Queen Alexandria in the TV series Strumpet City. "He was highly entertaining," she said, before she and her friend, Elaine Orr, of RoC cosmetics, took their seats in the Design Centre in the heart of the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre.
Jason O'Callaghan, who sings the part of Dean Martin with the group, The Rat Pack, told friends he plans to stand in the local elections as an independent in the Terenure-Rathfarnham constituency.
As the lights dimmed, Deirdre O'Kane and her elder sister, Liz O'Kane, and Tracy Sheeran, wife of jeweller Paul Sheeran, and her friend Esther Clifford, and Valerie Keating, of the special offers website pigsback.com, all left the Solomon Gallery, where work by artist John Bellany is currently showing, to take their seats and enjoy the night.
Inside, the DJ Paul Webb with his son, Shane Webb (13) lined up the tracks on the turntables and let the music begin. Then the lights were dimmed and the show got under way.