Liz makes Versace comeback

Now we know why Liz Hurley chose to appoint so many godparents for her son Damian. It was to ensure she always has a babysitter. After all, when you have a front row seat at a Versace couture show with your name on it, a night of nappy-changing cannot compete.

Little wonder that Miss Hurley hopped aboard a Eurostar to be one of Donatella Versace's special guests. For there is no better way to show the world you've got back your figure and your dignity than by wearing a Versace couture gown created especially for you.

Ever since she donned the infamous safety-pin dress, Miss Hurley has had a close relationship with the house of Versace, and is one of the label's best advertisements for its show-stopping red carpet creations. Last night she chose something more demure than the safety-pin number - but only marginally. Her floor-length green evening gown was festooned with glittering stars and cut in a low V at the front, showing off her decolletage to perfection. She accessorised with a simple silver crucifix, vertiginous salmon-pink mules and, of course, lashings of lipgloss.

The presentation was almost a sideshow compared with the spectacle of the front row. Miss Hurley was joined by singers George Michael and Sean "P Diddy" Coombs, Rupert Everett, David Furnish, chart queen Ashanti and actresses Chloe Sevigny and Rosario Dawson. All gaped in wonder at Donatella's sexy creations.

Never one for understatement, she sent out hour-glass ballgowns in fabrics as diverse as electric blue crocodile skin, metallic silver lam? and leopard-print chiffon. All were plunge-fronted or plunge-backed, and looked impossible to wear without being well-acquainted with a shoe-horn.

For day, Versace showed slender suits, with jackets nipped in at the waist and skirts tight to the knee.

A patchwork theme ran through the whole collection, but banish all visions of your granny's quilt. This being couture, the patchwork was of the highest quality, with one coat made of more than 80 types of antique fabric sourced from all over Italy.

Which outfit tickled Liz Hurley's fancy is anyone's guess. But even though price tags for a couture creation run into thousands, when you look like Liz, you get your frocks for free.