"I gave birth at 6:28 this evening," Matthew Williamson joked at London's Design Museum, where a show chronicling the first decade of his career opened Tuesday night. "I've been working on the exhibit for nine months, and it's been just as emotional as having a child—each piece has such a special poignance for me." Everything from family photos to inspiration boards to the colorful dresses that made the designer famous were on display, the latter suspended from the ceiling so that guests such as Yasmin LeBon, Lady Gabriella Windsor, Marie Helvin, and Leah Wood could make close inspections. On Williamson's arm for the majority of the night were his two favorite ladies: Thandie Newton and the woman he acknowledged as his original muse, his mum.

A 45-minute car ride away in central London, Marchesa's Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig were fêted at Harrods, which stocks the label's red-carpet dresses. "We were really excited to do something in our hometown and see our friends and family again," Craig said of the cocktail party, which was held in the shopping mecca's Ladurée outpost. "And when they said we could do it here, we jumped at the chance—who doesn't love a good macaron?" Apparently, Marchesa-clad girls like Jasmine Guinness, Elizabeth Saltzman Walker, and Tamara Mellon have a soft spot for the sweets, as do Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, Gabriel Byrne, Vidal Sassoon, and Naomi Campbell. When they weren't watching Craig's brother, Alex Ward, perform magic tricks, guests kept busy by speculating about what important business might be keeping Chapman's paramour, Harvey Weinstein, on the phone. The movie mogul excused himself more than once for an outdoor cell-phone moment.

— Derek Blasberg