British Museum's ball will show London is in the pink

News of London’s latest attempt to rival New York’s Met Gala by hosting the British Museum’s inaugural fundraising ball later this month has brought back fond memories of my previous life as a London party queen.

- JOY LO DICO

When I was the editor of the Evening Standard's Londoner's Diary, I wasn't short of invites to such functions. The Serpentine Gallery's summer parties were particularly good - Pharrell Williams gave an impromptu performance one year - as were those at the V&A, where I'd find myself drinking champagne around the oval pool in the John Madejski garden with winners of Nobel Prizes in Literature. Frieze Art Fair and its attendant parties made for excellent people-watching, as gallery owners like Jay Jopling courted corporate suits who had the necessary readies to fund such creativity.

And that's before we've even factored in moments like Kylie singing while lying across the bar at The Ivy, or Lady Gaga's private gigs at Annabel's, because guest lists show the true extent of power and display who's who and what's what in a certain year. The British Museum's ball, with museum director Nicholas Cullinan playing the role of Anna Wintour, is set to host the great and the good of culture - think Dame Kristin Scott Thomas for film, Tracey Emin for art, and Roksanda Ilincic for fashion, and those who support its work.

This inaugural ball's theme is pink - not a reference to