FIRST, Gong Li called - she wanted to buy bags.

Then, Carina Lau rang. She wanted to get watches.

Easy Comme, easy glow: Dr Georgia Lee looking elegant in Prada, while David Gan is resplendent in Comme des Garcons, with Lanvin shoes.

Finally, Zhang Ziyi telephoned. She wanted to shop for rings.

It can only be David Gan's speed dial buzzing.

But the celebrity hairdresser put three of Asia's screen shiners on hold because he had a VIP (very important party) to attend.

It was the Icon Ball Of Dreams, the luxury magazine's third annual black-tie affair for advertisers, socialites and tai-tais, and industry supporters.

They squealed in the quiet elegance of the St Regis (we can't possibly hold it in a five-star joint; it's got to be a six-starrer) a discreet backdrop to the ladies who live by labels.

Male partners in Armani and Zegna bookended the gals of the glossies in Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Fendi, Gucci, Hermes, Lanvin, Muiccia Prada, Valentino.

David Gan held his own - between banker Monica Marthens in Dior and DrGeorgia Lee in Prada - in his Comme des Garcons, Lanvin shoes and Corum watches. (He couldn't decide between the gold and the silver, so he wore both).

The Icon ball is one of the year's top six to be seen at. (The remaining five shall remain nameless here.)

Last Wednesday night, 300 people were lucky enough to be invited by the doyenne herself, Miss Elsie Yah, Icon boss and Singapore's version of supremo Anna Wintour of American Vogue.

Miss Yah thanked her dream team behind the VIM (very important monthly) and the night segued into its dream theme of magic and Moet, fine fusion food, over and under (trapeze artists above and La Perla undies show), and awards for the dazzling, the gorgeous, the stylish, the elegant and theglamorous.

I thought one of the most outstanding pieces of fashion was the red straitjacket the magician Magic Babe Ning got out of, like a Jean-Paul Gaultier design.

Wonder if she'll rent it out for the Singapore Fashion Festival events this week.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Mar 30, 2008.