It's a posh opening, just the place to cut a dash. Which is just what model Alexander FitzGerald does in his dark cashmere and wool suit. He steps up, shows us the inside of his jacket: there is a slight intake of breath - Such detail! Such seams! Such invisible hems!
As the champagne flows he tells us he had the little number made while he was in Thailand recently - the unknown tailor took just two days to finish it. Lisa Breen of Magnum Clothing, who would know about such things, thinks the suit is lovely too. So we all draw close to study the finish, the sewing, the pockets.
The opening of L'Occitane, a new Provencal beauty product shop in Wicklow Street, attracts people who notice the finer things. Ciara Corbett, one of the organisers of the charity Angel Ball, which happens on Friday, October 8th, in the RDS, is there chatting to her friend Tara Huxley-Blythe, of Bottom Drawer in Brown Thomas. Tara isn't carrying her Louis Vuitton luggage, but she is sporting a very sophisticated jacket by Byblos. It's all in the details.
Philip and Joan Ryan from Fairview - daughter Amy (15) works part-time in the shop - are there. Drina Kinsley, owner of the restaurant Ta Se Mahogony Gaspipes in Stoneybatter, is there too, having left her chef husband at home "chained to the stove".
After running Da Vincenzo's restaurant for 10 years, Colin Scully and his wife, Siobhan, sold up and decided to open a shop that is "for the body, mind and soul". However, Colin is going to concentrate on the wholesale part of the business, having already discovered that "women get very protective when you go towards their make-up counter".