Rai·son d'ê·tre

The Season has kicked off and you can't get a seat in any of the Euros favourite hang outs - Ciprianis, Harry's Bar, or San Lorenzo - those Euros love their pasta. The start of Wimbledon heralded their arrival and they have been scattered about since. Until tonight, when the crème de la crème are on full display with the highlight of the Season, by which I mean social season daaarling do keep up, at the Serpentine Gallery Summer Party, Hyde Park. The reason Tatler magazine exists, if there ever was to be one.

No one that is not a Hilton, McCartney, or Jagger goes to these parties. That would ruin many a rai·son d'ê·tre. Strict guest rules are not only necessary, but crucial, when it comes to preserving façades at events of tonight's order.

Just think of it on a different level. You have just splurged on a new outfit which you are convinced is pretty fashionable. You save it's first outing for Saturday's party when you meet some friends and can show it off, with discretion of course. Only to find the person standing next to you wearing a nicer version. And they are taller and thinner so naturally it looks better. Rather deflating.

Transpose such a Saturday night fall from vanity, to a crowd whose very job is to impress. The stakes become much higher then because there is a collective will to keep everybody employed. Which is why the so called 'IT' circle rarely widens beyond a ring or two at most. Musicians marry models, who marry actors, who marry musicians, and so it goes. It is important that it stays that way, for employment figures remember.

If you cast open the net too wide, not only may you get dregs but you are likely to get bigger species of fish. And we don't want Rod ditching Penny for a new genus of woman, do we? There are bra contracts to think about.

And therein, Darwin, lies the preservation of species: a small net.

And for what else is going on at the Serpentine Gallery:

Inside the gallery itself, it is rather ironic that the current Thomas Demand exhibit is about illusion and deception. The German photographer focuses on images of rooms and spaces that initially look real but are, in fact, photographs of three-dimensional models, constructed entirely from paper and cardboard. Closer inspection reveals a lack of detail and the artifice becomes apparent.

The exhibition reconsiders the traditional notion of photography as a faithful record of reality. We wonder what Hello and OK! would have to say about that.

A pleasant diversion to a Sunday stroll through Hyde Park. Admission is always free.