Partyhopper

From In Style's Angela Salazar in Los Angeles: Makeup was definitely the star at the MAC Cosmetics "Chinese Dress" event the other night. Held in a tent outside the beauty firm's Robertson Blvd. store, the fete featured a live exhibition of nude models.

OK, so they weren't exactly nude. The models, part of a traveling installation first launched in Shanghai, were painted by MAC makeup artists in classic Chinese dress designs by Sue Wong, Juicy Couture, Vivienne Tam and others. (They might have had on thongs, too.)

Sue Wong with a model wearing a painted version of one of her dress designs.
Photos by Donato Sardella/WireImage

"I chose the dragon motif because the dragon is a very powerful Chinese symbol," Wong, an L.A.-based designer, told me. "My model looks like Anna May Wong, circa 1930, so it's very Hollywood glamour and very apropos for the town we live in." (Anna May Wong, by the way, was a Chinese-American film actress famous in the '20s and '30s and probably best known for her role in Shanghai Express with Marlene Dietrich.)

MAC's cool Viva Glam VI spokesperson, Eve, made an appearance, as did singer Jody Watley, actors Arielle Kebbel, Marisol Nichols, Ione Skye, Jennifer Coolidge and David Hasselhoff, who happily posed with many a model. Shirtless male waiters (splashed with a healthy dose of makeup themselves) passed fortune cookies, mushroom-risotto balls, crab cakes, swordfish skewers and Shanghai Surprise vodka drinks to guests marveling at the intricately painted models. (Apparently, the thinking on this night was: The more makeup you wear, the fewer clothes you need!)

Jody Watley and Eve

To get in the spirit, I headed into the MAC Pro Store, where makeup artists stood at various stations, brushes in hand, ready to perform their magic. I opted for a fun night look (the orange-red eye shadow was a tad outrageous for me), but many guests went with easier-to-wear colors and purchased the products used on them.

Alas, I had nowhere to show off my new look, so I headed home. Later, as I washed off my makeup, I couldn't help but wonder how many hours those models were going to have to spend peeling off rhinestones and scrubbing off body paint. Ah, the price of beauty!

-- James Patrick Herman