A liaison with danger

As recipes for a good party go, this one was hard to beat.

Step one: invite some of the most beautiful actresses, models and pop stars on the planet. Step two: tell them it is all about "the choreography of seduction and erotic play". Step three: light the blue touch paper, stand back and enjoy.

Scarlett Johansson was just one actress who turned out at their stunning best for the Dangerous Liaisons gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Dressed to kill? They were still looking for survivors when the party ended several hours later. Jennifer Lopez, Charlize Theron and Renée Zellweger poured into some of the finest party frocks money can buy.

Ms Theron was classy with a black strapless gown and a diamond and pearl necklace. J-Lo looked so much the epitome of Fifties glamour that one looked around in vain for Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

The Costume Institute Gala was tied in with a new exhibition, Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion And Furniture In The 18th Century. Some guests found dressing up for the night a bigger challenge than usual. "These women are not really used to wearing a corset or a big ballgown," said Bill Bull, dressmaker to some of New York's most glamorous women, including Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue and a chairwoman of the gala.

With hooped skirts on the agenda for those who chose to take the theme literally, there were additional problems - how to get in and out of the doors. "There were women asking whether or not they would be able to fit," said the Met's Bernice Kwok-Gabel. One caller even asked her to wield a tape-measure and translate inches to centimetres. But she would, said Ms Kwok-Gabel, "have to remain nameless".