Teale Burrell had a solution in mind. The day before, she’d been playing with some fishing wire – which is malleable, transparent and strong – and thought it would be perfect for securing the diadem in place.

Then 17, Teale was one of the youngest debutantes in Le Bal’s 2022 class.

She was also my ticket to the glitzy event, where I spent an evening as a fly on the wall – witnessing displays of staggering wealth and privilege, unlike anything I’d seen before.

A year later, it’s still a night I’ll never forget.

Le Bal is no ordinary debutante ball

Ophélie Renouard founded Le Bal in 1994 with a mission to resurrect a 200-year-old tradition that started in the UK. In their heyday, debutante balls had one purpose: to parade women in front of the denizens of high society with the aim of finding a suitable marriage partner.

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The organisers of Le Bal don’t shy away from the historical origin of the event. But when I first spoke to Renouard over the phone ahead of last year’s party, she wanted to make clear that her event had evolved.

In recent years, Le Bal has partnered with humanitarian groups like the Seleni Institute, which works to provide resources to improve perinatal mental health; Enfants d’Asie, which promotes women’s education in Southeast Asia; and the World Central Kitchen, which provides meals to communities in crisis.

“I invite people because I find them interesting and because we can tell a story about them,” Renouard told me in 2022.

More often than not, that “story” is about the debutante’s family. From what I gathered, that also means they tend to be rich, royal or famous.

Teale’s class of debutantes, pulled together in the summer of 2022, was no different.

Her mother, Lady Louise Burrell, is the daughter of the late 12th Duke of Argyll, Ian Campbell. Campbell, who died in 2001, was thought to be among the wealthiest men in the UK in the 1970s, having amassed a wealth of £87 million (US$109 million), as The Guardian reported in his obituary.

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Ahead of this year’s ball on November 25, Renouard is gradually announcing a new class of debutantes. Unsurprisingly, they also come from wealthy families. So far the list includes Liza Webster, the daughter of former US President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff; and Advaitesha Birla, the daughter of an Indian billionaire industrialist.

Cinderella arrives

As my Uber pulled into the Shangri-La the night of Le Bal, two concerns ran through my mind: would I stick out like a sore thumb in the black floral gown I’d borrowed from a friend at the last minute, and could I walk in my new £40 heels?

One wobbly step in front of the other, I made it to the entrance, where a doorman ushered me inside to a whole new world of luxury.

The hotel was decorated with florals on the evening of Le Bal.

At the top of the stairs, an orchestra made up of three violinists and one cellist welcomed us into the ballroom. Chandeliers glittered from above, illuminating the decorative gold and marble cornice around the six-metre-tall ceiling.

As guests sipped on sparkling wine served in glass flutes, the chatter in the ballroom grew louder. At about 10pm, the sound of a bell signalled the start of dinner.

I found my seat at a table in the corner along with other reporters and editors, most of whom had been to Le Bal at least once or twice before. As we dug into our unmemorable three-course meal, some of them gushed about past events, regaling the table with stories of celebrities’ debuts and predicting what each debutante would wear.

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Whispers spread that one of the debutantes was wearing a piece of jewellery from Marie Antoinette’s collection – the same Antoinette who was beheaded for her royal life of excess while the French population starved. If anyone picked up on the irony, no one said it aloud.

Finally, the long-awaited debut

After dinner, the moment we’d all been waiting for finally arrived, as the master of ceremonies called everyone’s attention to each debutante’s entrance.

Minutes later, all the debutantes stepped onto the dance floor with their cavaliers as classical string music reverberated in the ballroom.

For a brief moment, I felt lost in time watching modern-day princesses dance with princes. Natasha Connery and Harper Peck, the grandchildren of Sean Connery and Gregory Peck, respectively, swayed to the music together.

Le Bal came to a close in the early hours of the morning with a handful of parents dancing to September by Earth, Wind and Fire. Their kids, however, had ditched their couture for regular clothes and were now gathered in the lobby to call Ubers and party in Paris.

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For them, the night was only starting. “We didn’t go to bed,” Russell told me on a call days after Le Bal, her voice still hoarse from partying until 6am.

In a few days, Le Bal 2023 will welcome a whole new class of teenage debutantes. Just as Russell did, they’ll feel like they’ve stepped into a fairy tale.