Serpentine Gallery sensation

Sir Mick Jagger was nowhere to be seen but his sometime companion, supermodel Sophie Dahl, appeared to be revelling in her chance to dance with someone closer to her own age - playboy Tim Jeffries - on the dance floor at the Serpentine Gallery summer party.

Sir Mick had been invited to the annual fund-raiser for London's leading contemporary art gallery in Hyde Park but he did not turn up, leaving Miss Dahl to enjoy it without him.

Miss Dahl, 24, had started in white trousers but by the time she and 41-year-old Mr Jeffries, former boyfriend of Claudia Schiffer, took to the dance floor, she had changed into a black skirt slashed to her thigh. She arrived on the arm of a third man, Ben Elliot, the nephew of Camilla Parker Bowles and the former boyfriend of Sir Mick's daughter Jade, who was also present.

Among the guests were Prince Andrew, who spent much of the evening chatting to actress Joely Richardson, and Dustin Hoffman. David Bowie and his wife Iman were also seen dancing in the gallery's new glass and steel pavilion, designed by the Japanese architect Toyo Ito.

The gallery, which costs about £2.5 million a year to run, is an educational charity and has to raise two-thirds of its income from sponsorship, donations and other activities. The party was held in association with French Connection, which is sponsoring the current exhibition, Gilbert & George's The Dirty Words Pictures, 1977.

The Serpentine Gallery is open 10am to 6pm, every day. Entrance is free, call 020 7402 6075 for more information.