The lanterns swayed in the wind under a darkening sky as we arrived at the most glamorous Oxford ball of the season...
Gradually the main quad filled up with people as we emerged from dinner - black tie, white tie, long gowns, cocktail gowns, saris and kimonos - whatever people had chosen to wear for the evening, everyone looked exquisitely elegant.
After a heavy rain shower, the warm air as you passed through the doorway leading from the Shelley Memorial to the Fellows' Garden was filled with green smells and a tropical atmosphere.
As the sky gradually became darker with clouds and the coming nightfall, the lanterns strung up over every quad became more and more dramatic.
Earlier in the evening I joined my husband and his friends in the garden of a house on Merton Street before going on to the ball. I wore a rose pink duchesse satin gown from Coast with a cropped oriental-style embroidered jacket from Topshop - any balls I have been to in the past have been earlier in the year and have resulted in freezing to death by midnight. In fact, when I went to the Trinity Ball in Dublin many years ago I had the good sense to wear thermal leggings, a warm camisole, wooly socks and boots under my gown as well as a full length fur-trimmed evening coat on top and was JUST ABOUT warm enough. God that was an awful night, now that I think of it. Not glamorous AT ALL.
As it happened, though, we are heading into a bit of a heatwave here in Oxford now and the jacket wasn't necessary in the end last night. I was planning to wear a heavily embroidered shawl from Himachal Pradesh over my gown, but the threatened rain made me stick with the jacket and I'm glad I didn't expose the shawl to the risk of grass-stains and rain after all.
Almost every corner of the college had some sort of entertainment - a Killers cover band in the Rad quad, a capella in the Dining Hall, card tricks by the library and laser battles in the Fellows' Garden. Wherever there *wasn't* entertainment there was food and drink - tents devoted to gin cocktails or champagne, sushi, wok treats, Ben & Jerry's ice-cream, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and more...
Strapless dresses and I have always had a complicated relationship, but I was brave...
...although in true Passmenterie style, when I made a quick dash home to feed the baby halfway through the night (devoted motherhood, no?) and the heavens opened to a tremendous deluge and thunderstorm, I decided that a full-length gown might lead to difficulties at largely outdoor ball, and so I changed into a vintage-style raw silk ivory cocktail dress, ivory umbrella and slightly more danceable-in heels. In the end, the night seemed to get hotter and hotter and I might have died in the heavy gown in which I started the night, so I was very glad of the lighter dress.
Luckily, the weather had done its worst so far as the rain was concerned and the rest of the night stayed dry, which meant that my coiffure survived admirably (not least because it was the sort of style that could be let down and put up again in under a minute if part of it came loose after over-enthusiastic dancing.
The next morning saw my husband leap out of bed at a most uncivilized hour to make coffee and pick up croissants at a nearby bakery in order to go punting for the morning with all his friends. I ignored this ridiculous behaviour and went back to sleep so as to conserve energy for our afternoon walk by the Thames for Sunday lunch at the Trout.
So never let me say that Oxford is less than fabulous again, right?
For something very different today, go and read My Marrakech. If you're not already a fan, you should be.
