More brushes with the rich, famous and fabulous:

Since working on Anglomania, my celeb-spotting rate has been increased by an infinitesimal amount. Just this morning, Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols popped in to have a look at the setup, and to check over the costumes he lent for the exhibit. As my co-worker Jessica says,"I can't believe he just said 'Peace mate!'" Very un-punk indeed.

Then there was the Costume Institute's Annual Benefit aka the Met's Party of the Year. Needless to say, this being a Vogue fashion party, there were giraffe-like models, outlandishly decked designers and air-kissing a-plenty. We saw:

* Vivienne Westwood, the Reigning Queen of Punk in signature orange hair, diamonte devil horns, Union Jack deconstructed ballgown and patent metallic red lace-up platforms, with spouse and co-designer Andreas Kronthaler;
* Naomi Campbell - in white embroidered bolero jacket and dress;
* Tommy Hilfiger - in tuxedo with Rolling Stones' tongue in diamonte on the back, indiscreetly cannoodling with a nameless blonde;
* Drew Barrymore - in a black lacey corsetted number and bright red lipstick, laughing her head off;
* John Galliano - in Victorian top hat and pearly-queen style sequined Beefeater jacket, covered from head to toe in polka dot patterned sequins;
* Sienna Miller - in a short and sweet Twiggy-esque gold sequinced mini-dress;
* Jonathan Rhys-Meyers - looked like he's aged quite a bit since the days of Bend it like Beckham;
* Josh Harnett;
* Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran, with 90's-supermodel wife Yasmin;
* Philip Treacy, milliner extrordinaire who single-handedly revived Britain's hatmaking legacy, donning a fabulous El Diablo type black masque with devil horns;
* Kate Moss, who looks comparatively tiny when next to all the other giraffe types;
* Liz Hurley (starting to look a bit wrinkley) ;
* Linda Evangelista, in a pink frilly number and looking like she has a bun in the oven;
* Supermodels best mates Amber Valetta and Shalom Harlow;
* Ex-Gucci face Georgina Grenville;
* Lenny Kravitz (who used to live in a 5 billion mansion right opposite the Met);
* Russel Simmons, of Def Jam records and Mos Def's Def Poetry fame.

From my observations, I have concluded that:
a) Models are mutants. They all looked like they'd readily snap in half if bumped into. People should never be that skinny.
b) Models, in fact, have wrinkles. *Phew*
c) Society types are very plastic. All socialites look the same: fake bake, twig-thin, with disproportinately bouffant hair to match meringe dresses. Most cannot dance to save their lives, or won't to save face.

So all in all, it was fun to dip into this uberwarped reality. And I'm still rather chuffed about not having to pay $5000 to dress up and party like a rock star =)

Couldn't snap any celeb pics, as was crashing the party. To see what everyone wore, go here.