april showers, may flowers; The spring social season blossomed forth with parties from Manhattan to Miami.

Byline: William Norwich

The world may be going to Bellevue in a handbasket, but we will always have the spring social season, won't we?

Of course we will.

Not that our cast of characters exactly hibernates in burlap in winter-but it is human nature to want to bloom in spring.

The artist Anh Duong and Barton Quillen (the co-owner of Prague Kolektiv, specializing in Czech modernist furniture) announced their engagement to be married this month on Long Island's East End. To celebrate, the groom's grandmother and mother, Mrs. Betty Evans and Mrs. Jacqueline Quillen, invited friends and family from both sides of the altar to a cocktail buffet in April at Mrs. Evans's aerie.

As Mr. Quillen's people are the honey of a very Old Guard hive, Grandmother's is a fine place on Manhattan's East Side with river views and sunny rooms, some still buzzing with the handiwork of Billy Baldwin. (For the uninitiated: I mean the legendary designer, not the actor.) To paraphrase the artists Christopher Brooks and Peter McGough: "The WASPs were in the dining room, the intellectuals were in the living room, and the bachelors were in the Billy Baldwin room." (Actually, they spoke more colorfully, but never mind.) The bride-to-be wore an ornamented column by Christian Lacroix, who is expected to design her wedding dress as well.

Points elsewhere this spring, much has been said about a black-and-white ball at Christie's to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of Truman Capote's famous dance. What touched me most was the extraordinary effort people made to keep to the black-and-white dress code and to wear theatrical masks. It is probably easier to find a gun in New York City than a mask made of marabou and glitter, but such is the appetite these days for glamour and for occasion (two separate needs) that guests left no stone unturned to dress up and dazzle.