a grand affair; Beauty marks, powdered hair, and liaisons dangereuses: For one spectacular night at the Met, le tout New York was transported back to the eighteenth century.(Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute gala)

Byline: William Norwich

Dangerous liaisons, anyone? A whispered pledge of love-or at least an evening of allegiance in beautifully appointed rooms? Welcome to the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute gala, or the Party of the Year, as it is also known in rarefied parts.

More than 700 guests came to dine and dazzle with visions of Versailles, or a reasonable facsimile, dancing in their heads. You heard that it was a dark and stormy night, heaving rain and wind? That just heightened the dramatic effect of every entrance.

The theme for the benefit party, underwritten by Asprey's Lawrence Stroll, Silas Chou, and Edgar Bronfman, Jr.-the Met raised more than $3 million-was

inspired by the season's critically aclaimed exhibition "Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century" (on view through August 8). Convened in no less splendid a venue than the museum's Wrightsman Galleries, dress mannequins, like cast members of the Royal Shakespeare Company, wear period finery and are posed by the theatrical designer Patrick Kinmonth in an assortment of mischief: a hairdresser stands on a ladder to finesse the curls in a towering wig; dogs run free; seducers are afoot; tutors are bored; and libertines with slippery hands play cards. The French Revolution is coming. Was there an echo in the museum tonight?

Whoever said nothing happens at parties hadn't been to this one. Just for starters, only fifteen minutes before they left Trump Tower, Donald Trump proposed marriage to his girlfriend, Melania Knauss. "I'd been thinking about it for a long time, but tonight seemed like the right night," Trump said. Elsewhere, Jennifer Lopez wore an elaborate Dolce & Gabbana dress with a long train that the designers themselves carried lest it get wet in the rain. Once J.Lo was safely inside, she had a salty good time with her new "friend," Marc Anthony. Which no one was supposed to notice, but did. (In the celebrity realm, privacy is in the eye of the beholder.) And in case you were worried, there will always be an England: Jemma Kidd was seen about with Arthur Mornington. He will be the duke of Wellington someday.

Meanwhile, in the culture war of dressing up versus dressing down, the up side