User:Mosehay/sandbox

le Bal des Débutantes

le Bal des Débutantes in Paris, also known simply as le Bal or, sometimes, the Crillon Ball, is an annual international fashion event created and organized by Ophélie Renouard and her team. It was first held in 1992 at the Hôtel de Crillon, which served as the venue until 2011. In contrast to the traditional debutant balls, le Bal is a media fashion event and brings together the daughters of celebrities, aristocrats, artists, politicians and others, with an emphasis on achievement rather than birth. The “Debs”, as they are known, make their couture and media premieres in gowns designed by French haute couture as well as French and foreign couture houses. Some notable past Debs include: Ksénia and Anastasia Gorbacheva, Barbara Berlusconi, Scout and Tallulah Willis, Diana, Angela and Sara Mellon, Lauren and Ashley Bush, Lydia and Amanda Hearst, Francesca Eastwood, Autumn Whitaker, Dree Hemingway, Anna Wallenberg,  Anouchka Delon, Princess Bettina Bernadotte, Princess Lorenza de Liechtenstein, Princess Fawzia Latifa of Egypt, Princess Adishree Singh, Wan BaoBao and Olivia Pei.

History
The debutante ball began as an English tradition, where 18-year-old women from aristocratic families would be presented to the queen wearing white ball gowns, white gloves and tiaras. The traditional débutante ball was followed by a season of balls. The tradition continues for instance in the U.S. at New York’s Waldorf Astoria, in the American South, in Vienna, in the Philippines, and in Latin America.

In France, the couture house Jean Patou took on the tradition by creating an annual ball in 1957, but this came to an end with the events of May 1968.

On September 27, 1992,  Ophélie Renouard revived the tradition in the image of these French balls, but with a modern twist, bringing together haute couture and couture fashion houses to dress young women from many types of famous families. These first 21 Debs included Princess Caroline Murat, a descendant of Napoleon, and Lady Sophia Hamilton, a daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn. All of the designers were French except for Oscar de la Renta, but even at this early date Renouard was planning to make the event more international by bringing in more foreign Debs, including some from Asia. (This was eventually accomplished in 2003 with the participation of Wan BaoBao and Penelope Pei-Tang from China.) The event was held at the Hotel de Crillon, a Paris landmark and one of the oldest luxury hotels in the world. Its association with le Bal would continue until November, 2011.

In 1993, there were 27 Debs from around Europe, including Harumi Klossowksi de Rola, daughter of the painter Balthus, who was dressed by Japanese haute couture designer Hanae Mori, as well as Laetizia Tarnowska, wearing Louis Feraud Haute Couture. Other designers included Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture, Christian Lacroix Haute Couture, Chanel Haute Couture, Dior Haute Couture, Vivienne Westwood and Gianni Versace Haute Couture. One journalist covering the event wrote that “the show itself was central casting’s idea of Paris couture — all unswept Carita Chignons, solid makeup and the girls plodding out in drop-dead gowns. Yet all seemed as thrilled as Cinderella that someone had waved a mascara wand to give them old-fashioned glamour.” The 2000 Ball début of Lauren Bush, granddaughter of former American president George H.W. Bush, has frequently been cited as the turning point when le Bal “went global”. She waltzed in the arms of HRH Prince Louis de Bourbon de Parme, “a delicious moment” according to le Bal’s master of ceremonies Stéphane Bern, and one that was widely recounted in the worldwide press. In 2003, the first Chinese Debs made their premiere, including the year’s “star” Bao Bao Wan, the granddaughter of Wan Li, the former chairman of the Chinese People’s Congress and executive vice-premier of China. le Bal took a hiatus in 2010 due to its regular venue, the hotel de Crillon, being up for sale. The event returned in 2011 to the Crillon, with the approval of the hotel’s new owner, Saudi prince Mitab ben Abdallah Ben abd Al-Aziz al Saoud. In 2012, the event is projected to be held in the ballroom of the Théâtre National de Chaillot, with a view over the Eiffel Tower.

Charities
The purpose of le Bal is to raise money for charity. Proceeds from the Ball have benefited several different charities over the years. Previous charities have included the Mélita Bern-Schlanger Foundation for diabetes research, created by Stephane Bern and named after his mother; Enfants d’Asie to help underprivileged children in East Asia;  and the Feed Foundation, a charity launched by 2000 Deb Lauren Bush to fight malnutrition.

Pre-ball preparations
Due to the detailed preparation of the Debs in a large number of countries, the process of planning le Bal lasts all year. This includes the trips to the Haute Couture Houses in Paris in the summer or fall before le Bal, when the Debs, usually with their mothers, visit with the designers to choose their ball gown.

The weekend of le Bal
The Debs spend the weekend in Paris, and from 1992 to 2011 they were lodged at the Crillon:   The Friday night before the ball, there is a waltz rehearsal for the Debs, their families and their cavaliers. The Debs spend several hours on the Saturday of the Ball itself getting dressed and perfecting their look with hair and makeup artists. They also pose for photos with select international press.

The night of le Bal
Dinner is served to the families, the press  and other invitees, while they await the entrance of the Debs. The young women are then presented in a defilé (fashion parade) on the arms of their cavaliers, introduced by the master of ceremonies, French media personality Stéphane Bern. The ball itself is opened by the Debs dancing with their fathers,  and then the music shifts to more modern fare and general dancing begins.

Reception by the press
Each year’s Bal is recounted in fashion and society pages of magazines around the world, as well as on television and other media. Le Bal’s press coverage tends to recount the event’s cachet and elegance. World media coverage has termed it the “world’s most glamorous debutante ball” and the  “grandest ‘coming-out’ ball on Earth”. It graces the Forbes’ list of the “world’s hottest parties” and the Folha de São Paulo called it “one of the most happening events of the international jet set”. Writer and historian Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni has said that “le Bal has really maintained its exclusivity; all of the top designers participate, and there have never been any sleazy photographs of the debutantes.” Stories of Renouard’s trials and successes as the Ball’s creator are frequently recounted in media coverage. She “is an extremely determined French PR woman with a deft touch for networking and a bulging contacts book, who has masterminded le Bal since 1991, when she invented it as a fresh alternative to the dated debutante concept,” wrote Charlotte Methven in You. “While she may have a highly developed radar for desirable people, she is self-confident enough not to be overawed and will not bend her standards to anyone’s will.”

Selection
Young women are selected for le Bal based on their “looks, charm and famous parents”. That said, they come from a wide variety of backgrounds. They are the daughters of actors, writers, politicians, nobility, rock stars, and entrepreneurs. And they must, of course, be able to model haute couture. “The girls must be able to squeeze into a sample couture ball gown, come from families of renown, and have nice personalities,” said Renouard, who is responsible for inviting them to take part. Even very famous girls who do not fit the image of le Bal are not invited; Paris Hilton, for example, was never accepted.

Transformations
Even though they generally come from well-off families, Debs attending the Ball still undergo a transformation. “Trading fashionably frayed jeans, trainers and fruit-scented lip gloss for heels, tiaras and haute couture gowns worth up to £30,000 each, they undergo a semi-Cinderella transformation (“semi” because most of these girls already have a head-and-shoulders start on Cinderella),” according to Rory Ross in The Daily Telegraph. Girls who take part in the ball report being grateful for the glamorous event, for the after-partying in Paris, for the chance to do something for charity, for the friendships they form with other girls from around the world, and for the family nature of the event. “It’s a unique experience,” Scout LaRue Willis, the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, told the French press. “I’m dressed like a princess and my family has been brought together for me, which doesn’t happen often.” Often, it is also these young women’s introduction to couture. For example, Clémence Rochefort, the daughter of French actor Jean Rochefort, was quoted as saying that her premiere in Nina Ricci was her first time in haute couture.

Debs and their post-Ball careers
One of le Bal’s first round of Debs in 1992, Lady Sophia Hamilton, is now a successful vintage blouses designer, whose label is worn by Claudia Schiffer and Samantha Cameron. 1993 Deb Harumi Klossowski de Rola is a jewelry designer. Discovered at the 2000 Bal, Lauren Bush, granddaughter of George H.W. Bush, went on to a successful modeling and design career. She has been featured on the covers of Vogue and Vanity Fair and frequently modeled for Tommy Hilfiger as well as for Abercrombie & Fitch. Lily Collins was another Deb who saw le Bal as an opportunity. “I’m about to start studying broadcast journalism so I wanted to get the inside scoop on the whole debutante thing,” she told the Telegraph at her Bal premiere in 2007. The next year she covered the US presidential campaign as a host on the Nickelodeon show Kids Pick the President. That year she was also picked by Spain's Glamour magazine as their "International model of the year", and appeared on their cover in August of 2009; she has since gone on to a film and television acting career. Dree Hemingway, the granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, became a model after her Bal appearance in 2003, appearing on the covers of Vogue and Elle.

Famous past Debs
• Princess Lorenza de Liechtenstein • Princess Fawzia Latifa of Egypt • Princess Caroline Murat • Princess Sarah Poniatowska • Princess Adishree Singh • Elisabeth Senghor • Diane and Chloé Bouygues • Caroline and Nadine Ghosn • Delphine Arnault • Marie-Solène d’Harcourt • Bélen Domecq • Julia Puig • Cosima Ruiz de la Prada • Izumi, Yuki and Hikari Mori • Sarah Miyazawa Lafleur • Harumi and Anna Klossowska de Rola • Yasmine Arman • Ségolène Frère • Princess Alexandra de Croÿ • Alice Ferguson • Yasmin Kerr • Eva Rice • Lily Collins • Lady Tatiana Mountbatten • Barbara Berlusconi • Princess Costanza della Torre e Tasso • Princess Fabrizia Ruffo di Calabria • Countess Lavinia Borromeo • Comtesses Sofia and Anna de Pahlen • Paloma and Nathalia Zobel de Ayala • Bao-Bao Wan • Jasmine Li   •  Xiaodan Chen • Olivia Peï • Ksénia and Anastasia Gorbacheva • Aleksandra Kwasniewska • Anna Wallenberg • Amanda and Lydia Hearst • Lauren and Ashley Bush • Dree Hemingway • Kathleen Kennedy • Scout and Tallulah Willis • Francesca Eastwood • Autumn Whitaker •  Diana, Angela and Sara Mellon