Buoyed up on seas of champagne, a flotilla of decadents arrived at Nick Knight's Bal Masque to participate in the sort of surreal spectacle that is becoming a very London way of carrying on these days. "It was inspired by a book about Beau Brummell that my wife, Charlotte, gave me," said Knight. The photographer, who has a noted bespoke tailoring habit of his own, ran wild with the idea of the masked balls trumped up by the original eighteenth-century dandy. Thrown at the gothic Strawberry Hill House by Moët & Chandon to honor Knight's 20-year career, the scene that awaited the be-masked beau monde— Kate Moss, Pete Doherty, Gisele Bündchen, Alexander McQueen, Stephen Jones, Philip Treacy, Bella Freud, Gareth Pugh, and a zillion others—included a blindfolded orchestra, waltzing dancers, a live fencing contest, and a "Cinderella," who at midnight ran through the house to change into rags.

Still, the best entertainment was supplied by the night-long guessing game: "Who is that?" The resourcefulness of the fashionable guests knew few bounds, creating a scene somewhere between Eyes Wide Shut and London's extreme-dressing Boombox club. For the elegant, there were metal mesh masks, saucer hats with slits for eyes, explosions of quills, vast sweeps of peacock feather, and medieval jester masks. And for the ingenious, pig and wolf faces and a full ram skull, as well as surgeon's and ski masks. Still more impressive, though, were the people who had put their own hands to work. Several girls had snipped pieces of lace or fishnet stockings into pretty eye coverings; a couple of photographers' assistants taped strips of colored photographic gel to their temples; and other fashion nymphs had raided their gardens, creating an ivy lorgnette, in one case, and a palm-leaf visor, in another. As for letting you know who these people were? Sorry, we really couldn't tell.

— Sarah Mower