Parties: Big night for bouffants

Amanda Eliasch, socialite and photographer, giggled at the wit of having chosen the slightly seedy Soho Revue Bar to launch her new book of quasi-erotic pictures, Cloak and Dagger. It turned into a clash of two rival tribes of women. The evening's entertainment, writhing pole dancers and coquettish burlesque acts, looked right at home, while the guests, perfectly manicured society women – suited husbands in tow – in uniform black dresses and stillettos, did not. Jerry Hall sat aloof from the competition at the back by the bar with art dealer Ivor Braka and the Countess of Hanover by her side, turning her nose up at the admittedly unappealing canapes.

Then in walked Nancy dell'Olio. Photographers idly chewing Cumberland sausages jumped to attention around the Sophia Loren wannabe; perhaps an indication of the paucity of high-wattage stars at the bash?

The night rolled on, and many Cosmo cocktails later, the daggers came out. Naim Attalah, publisher and sometime writer, was heard complaining that one of the women had cellulite. (Did she mean one of the dancers, or her contemporaries?) Relief from all the bouffantery came finally in the form of Tracey Emin. Wearing an unspectacular navy top, checked skirt and barely a brush of make-up, she brought a Brueghelesque simplicity to the closing moments of a party that needed a little less gaudyness and a touch more class.