Exceptionally, on a personal note, I would like to express my profound joy as I Write these lines. As you all know, I have been away from my Social Animal blog for a while, and as some of you are already in the know, I have been recently freed from my golden cage, and I am once again a free bird, free to fly, free to write! On this note, I shall resume my duties...

Yesterday evening was a family affair at Aby Rosen's spectacular "For Sale" mansion on East 71st Street. Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld was hosting an Opening reception for his good pal Nicolas Pol's latest exhibition entitled Neverlodge. This was an event worthy of the presence of the Restoin Roitfeld royalty. Maman Carine Roitfeld was totally slim in down-to-the-floor black, while daughter Julia was totally pregnant in mini black.

This was also an event that attracted the usual suspects: the snazzy Shvo duo (Michael and Seren) made a dazzling entrance, Alexandra Richards wandered through in faux-fur, Stavros Niarchos worked the crowd with his hopefully-faux-fur-clad Jessica Hart, and all this under the watchful eye of Simon de Pury, while longtime friend Giovanna Battaglia was snapping photos faster than Patrick McMullan.

The art itself also presented a fashionable element of fur, in the form of a taxidermy leopard wearing a sparkling red cap. My first reaction was Quel horreur! On second thoughts, it might have been a piece that came with the mansion, and apparently, it was not the only taxidermy object on display around the abode. Nicolas Pol described his new series of paintings as a fictional theme park called Neverlodge. This imaginary world is part brothel, part amusement park. Personally, I found it quite difficult to find any sense to the multicolored doodles, and even the artist himself seemed lost trying to explain to several guests: "It’s both something and absolutely nothing, the Neverlodge thing."