PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW: WHO THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE?

From Vanity Fair online:

High security battled high society at the Kensington Palace Gates, in London, last Thursday night at the Quintessentially Perrier-Jouët summer party. Concierge club co-founder Ben Elliot cut a fine yet rather formal figure in a blue Ralph Lauren suit, but those he greeted on the steps of the Orangery were quite a different kettle of fish. The dress code was avant-garde, after all, and for guests, including actor Thomas Sangster, writer Richard Dennen, model Poppy Delevingne, Hofit Golan, model Lily Cole, and the Marquis of Worcester, no outfit was too loud, no bustle too big, and no color too garish.

Actress Sophie Hunter, sporting a baby bump, and Razorlight singer Johnny Borrell were spotted sitting on a wicker chair that appeared suspended in mid-air beneath an arch of white roses. It was only when one partygoer piped up, “Well, she definitely wasn’t pregnant on Tuesday!” were suspicions aroused that the tummy beneath her frock might have come from the dress-up box. Even more surreal was the palm tree in the middle of the lawn. This, contrary to rumor, was not a glitch in Princess Michael of Kent’s garden design but rather an installation by artist Nick Hackworth.

As potted shrimps, pea-and-mint risotto, and fresh crab ciabattas were handed around, artists Gavin Turk, Jake and Dinos Chapman, and Anthony Gormley stood marveling at Hawksmoor and Wren’s 18th-century Orangery. Other guests, including fashion designer Betty Jackson, chef Mark Hix, Blur bassist Alex James, and the delightful Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis couldn’t decide whether to head west, toward the corset-yielding cactus to try on rams-horn hats and Venetian masks, or go east, toward D.J. Ben Bridgewater’s turntable.

Piers Morgan appeared among a crowd eagerly awaiting a song snippet à la SuBo (that’s Susan Boyle to you, you pop-culture neophyte). Then moments later—in a flash of camera bulbs—David Hasselhoff arrived, flanked protectively by his daughters Hayley and Taylor. Dressed in a newly bought Gieves and Hawkes shirt and a pair of Fin’s loafers—“I love them! I’ve bought a pair in every color!”—the Hoff talked excitedly of the tour around Britain he was embarking on: “I’m gonna Brit. It. Up!”

As some guests partied on at the Orangery, others joined Anoushka Beckwith (daughter of socialite Tamara Beckwith) and Violet von Westenholtz at the Met Bar, where Kings of Leon were trying to have a quiet drink. But as Roger Taylor hit the decks, they realized: no such luck.

THE VEGAS STYLE GUY SAYS: Really?