The singers were ready to rock. The champagne was uncorked. City Hall was swathed in purple strobe lights. The Wella Design Centre Fashion Show was under way.
First Sheila Kerins spoke on behalf of the International Breast Cancer Foundation of Ireland, which received the money that was raised on the night. One in 12 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, she said.
The Celtic Tenors, James Nelson, Matthew Gilsenan and Niall Morris, who have an album coming out in early March called So Strong, waited in the wings.
Next, it's off to Beijing for the three singers. Then it's a week in the Gaiety Theatre from Monday, March 25th.
Dressed in black leather jackets, their stylist, Ken Boylan, was on hand to help them be "more boyband-ish than stuffiness", he said. They opened the show with the Vard sisters, all six singing Gabriel's Oboe by Ennio Morricone from The Mission - in perfect harmony, of course.
Designs by Lyn Mar were first on to the ramp. She has recently returned from Los Angeles, where her clients include Jane Seymour and Olivia Newton John. Mar is heading back to the US soon to meet Elizabeth Taylor, who likes her styles. Mar will show next, she said, probably in Malibu.
There were jet-setters in every corner - Mar's assistant designer, Patrick Casey, was just back from India and John Russell, executive director of Wella Ireland, is off on safari to Botswana with his partner, Sinéad O'Sullivan, later this spring.
Sharp intakes of breath greeted the designs of Limerick man Synan O'Mahony, who was there with his mother, Mary O'Mahony, and his aunt from Galway, Anne Coyle. His dramatic silk crepe and chiffon dress is not for the faint-hearted but model Sarah McGovern wore it with style.
Designer Jenny Packham and her partner, Mathew Anderson, came over from London to be involved in the show. Next up, they said, is the London Design Show, which starts on Sunday week. Also spotted at the glitzy show was former model Yvonne Keating, who was wearing Louise Kennedy, she said. And Jackie Lavin, was beaming about the success of the book, It's a Long Way from Penny Apples, by her partner, Bill Cullen. It has sold 55,000 copies to date, and all the money is going to the Irish Youth Foundation, she said.