Amid a blaze of chic chinoiserie and hot colors, Shanghai Tang launched its new flagship last night at 600 Madison Avenue. Guests—including Jacqueline Sackler, Chessy Wilson, Tara Summers, Jessica Joffe, and Kate Schelter—came in for a sneak peek at an ST outpost that's smaller and more focused than the ambitious, multilevel one that crashed and burned a few blocks up the street a decade ago. The brand has been working to reinvent itself with fresh talent: They've poached a print designer from Kenzo, and recently enlisted Lanvin alum Joseph Li to take the lead on ready-to-wear for Spring 2009. Claire Bernard, however, was ahead of the curve. She wore a Chinese-pattern dress to her Riverdale prom, she explained, much to her date's distress. Nor did she take the sexy silver Shanghai Tang number she had on last night all that seriously: "It's a modernization of the traditional dress—a.k.a. a traditional dress, just really, really short."