"If I collected myself, this is what I'd collect!" declared Richard Prince of the contents of his exhibition Continuation, which opened at London's Serpentine Gallery on Tuesday night. Artists, collectors, local glitterati, and a sprinkling of European aristocracy and oligarchy lined up to hear Prince talk about his favorite paintings. The artist also expounded on his cheerfully professed practice of "appropriating, pirating, and stealing," before all moved on to a glammy dinner thrown by Louis Vuitton and fashion's own Mr. Appropriator, Marc Jacobs.

The cross-generational mix of guests, including Charlotte Casiraghi, Claudia Schiffer, Joely Richardson, and Larry Gagosian, chatted up a storm in the hydrangea- and peony-filled tent, whose walls were emblazoned with Prince's "After Dark" series. Among the night's hot topics was an incredible crystalline chunk of emerald green and gold hanging around Jacobs' neck. "I went shopping for a swimsuit today and came back with this," the designer laughed of his new bijou, a significant work crafted by the late jeweler Andrew Grima. "It's a woman's piece. I wondered, 'Can I wear it?' Then I thought, 'Why not? I can wear what I like!' "

From Greenwich Mean to Eastern Standard, the art fêting continued as painter Francesco Clemente unveiled his new portrait series, "The Sopranos," at Lincoln Center's Gallery Met. The eight-work collection features famous sopranos like Renée Fleming and Deborah Voigt in the costumes they'll wear for the upcoming Met season. So were any of the operatic divas actually divas in the Naomi Campbell sense? "What a naughty question!" chastised Clemente, who added diplomatically, "They were all challenging in their own way." Post-cocktails, guests made their way up to a VIP dinner hosted by Max and Lubov Azria and Vogue contributing editor (and Gallery Met director) Dodie Kazanjian. "Isn't it delightful to be at the Met and not have to watch an opera?" joked Fran Lebowitz. Nearby, burlesque performer Exceed Eternal attempted to lure Sante D'Orazio and gal pal Manon von Gerkan to his explicit, and explicitly named, performance at the Box. "You really have to see it to understand it," explained Mr. Eternal. Therein lies the essence of art in general, n'est-ce pas?

— Sarah Mower (Serpentine) and Evelyn Crowley (Clemente)