The 21st Century Debutante

I'd completely forgotten about this until I picked up a two month-old copy of Grazia in my flatmate's room. Inside was an article about the Crillon Ball, or le Bal Haute Couture through the eyes of Isabella Blow's god-daughter Victoria de Silva. The Crillon Ball is a vestige from the days of the aristocracy. It's an annual debutante ball in the Crillon Hotel in Paris. 22 of the wealthiest and most glamorous 17 to 21-year olds are invited from around the world. Like the old debutante balls, the event is a priviledge and can have a dramatic impact on their social standing. Court events of the past, where debutantes were originally presented, had strict rules regarding dress. Every year the Lord Chamberlain would release an update of rules for dress in the monarch's court. The Crillon Ball is no different. The debs are required to wear a couture dress from a high-end designer from their home country. And no one is allowed to wear the same designer. In a time when presentation, primping, and couture are left to the celebrities on the red carpet, an event like this seems as much of a fairytale as the royal courts of the past, or like Victoria de Silva says in Grazia, "[a] Cinderella weekend."

Attendees of the 2008 Crillon Ball

Catherine Guiness's daughter Anna Hesketh in Vivienne Westwood couture with her escort

If you're not one of these 22 socialites, then The last Debutantes exhibition running at Kensington Palace until 31 June 2010 is the easiest way to come close to the debutante experience. It features dresses from the last presentation of debutantes to the Queen in 1958, including Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain couture.

Dresses from the Dear Debs exhibition at Kensington Palace

Some of the last debutantes in the 1958 presentation to the Queen

K.R.