Wings of desire; Social butterflies are flying high this season.(Council of Fashion Designers of America awards dinner )

Byline: William Norwich

Butterflies by the millions flock to Mexico each November and return north in April, because warmth is essential to their survival. Alas, three of the last five winters have been so cold south of the border that the population of monarchs-butterflies, not kings or queens or assorted other potentates-is down as much as 75 percent, according to a recent CNN report.

Thinking of this butterfly news as a sympathetic, slightly whimsical conversation starter, I mentioned it to a young lady I was seated next to at dinner the other night. Perhaps it was the distraction of the handheld computer in her pretty palms-I got no laughs when I asked if she was blogging for Arianna Huffington-the lady responded by reminding me that it was rather cold in Palm Beach this winter, too.

What can I say? At least social butterflies are having a happier year than their prototypes in nature.

That annual convergence known as the Council of Fashion Designers of America's awards dinner really is a remarkable enterprise.

The organizers always want the party to be hip and happening as well as tres elegant-a very Jacqueline Onassis-swooning-at-Versailles sort of occasion-but inevitably it ends up being more like Annette Funicello bingo on a beach blanket . . . a high school prom . . . more vino than veritas . . . but fun in a funny way.

It all happens in the grand rooms of the New York Public Library, with drinks in the Astor Hall, dinner in the Celeste Bartos Forum. Like a scoreboard in Madison Square Garden, or an elephant in the living room, a teleprompter is plunked down in the middle of the dining area so the presenters can read prewritten comments. (Why? When is this on TV? Surely these stylish people can utter a few charming words without a script? But what do I know.) Reading a teleprompter is not so easy, apparently; the timing, the pacing, the flat jokes, the unfortunate mangling of names like Swarovski. (Hint: It rhymes with money; the kindly crystal family underwrites the evening and endows the prestigious Swarovski Perry Ellis Award for young fashion talent. Derek Lam won this year.)