MCNY Winter Ball

Blame it on the—relatively—low-key fashion calendar, or maybe on cabin fever, but New York’s social set seemed ready to get back into their tuxes and ball gowns Wednesday night when the Museum of the City of New York held its annual Winter Ball, sponsored by Carolina Herrera, at The Pierre.

“It’s so nice to be out again,” said Jamee Gregory. “I was staying home so much, I thought at one point, I would never go back to my old life.”

Little danger of that. Cocktail hour was so packed that all three bars had lines five people deep. You would have thought all those bodies would have warmed the place up, but with temperatures outside dipping below freezing, inside goose bumps were still rampant.

“Are they cutting back?” queried one gentleman. “Where’s the heat?”

Constant chatter had to do. A server had to ring a bell for dinner multiple times until, eliciting no response, he resorted to turning the lights up. Is there anything more frightening to New York’s top echelon than overhead lighting?

Once in the ballroom, guests were greeted with table settings mimicking Herrera’s showroom décor: chocolate and white striped runners and potted hedges. The museum’s longtime champion, Mark Gilbertson, announced the silent auction winners and gave a shout out to his own decades-long devotion to the cause, offering “I’m still involved as long as the Nivea cream kicks in.”

In little need of such beautifying measures were Coco Rocha and Hilary Rhoda, who spent most of the meal—of which they devoured all three courses, it must be noted—talking real estate. Rocha and her husband James Conran have recently moved into a house in Westchester where they are currently recovering from some flooding issues.

“I haven’t showered in two days,” she confessed. “I should probably be in my pajamas, but I had my hair and makeup done and I was all ready, so I had to come.” Now that’s the spirit.