The final touches are being put to plans for this year's Angel Ball, rated last year by many as the ball of balls. There are two highlights to the November 14th occasion in aid of Angel's Quest: a showing of the Rochas Paris's spring/summer 1998 collection - only the second viewing after the Paris show tomorrow - and finals of the model-search competition, Search For An Angel.
The winning "angel" in the competition will be flown not to heaven, but to Paris (roughly the same thing for Americans, according to the adage) in order to model for Rochas. The fashion house wants to strengthen links with Ireland in this climate of fervent Paddy-chic, as its leading designer, Peter O'Brien, is himself Irish.
It promises to be a fairly glittering event; the committee comprises Deirdre Kelly and Catherine Condell of Brown Thomas, which is sponsoring the event, model Sonia Reynolds, and Celtic Heartbeat's Dave Kavanagh, among others. Journalists from French Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle and Le Figaro have all booked tickets, as have the POD's John Reynolds and music agent Freddie Middleton, who plan to host a table for UK band, M People.