Shanghai debutantes savor their moment

The chandeliers were turned off, and the candles were lit. The champagne was bubbling, and the multi-layered cake towered on the trolley. The Rolls-Royce drove up, delivering 12 young ladies pampered in exquisite white gowns and high-bunned hair, ready to be "crowned", at the third Shanghai International Debutante Ball, held in mid-January in the Shanghai Peninsula Hotel.

Daughters from the most wealthy and influential families in the country had expected to be invited to the city's perhaps most prestigious social event. Young women from less privileged families were glued to the media and social networks, eager to find out about the dresses, the tiaras and the hairstyles of the selected "debutantes" at the ball.

Zhou Caici, also known as Vivian Chow Wong, is the founder and organizer of the Shanghai version of the British high-society event introduced by King George III in 1780. For the past three years, she has managed to find domestic couture tailors, food caterers and PR teams for "her ball" to set a tone for China's nouveaux riches seeking the "essential luxury lifestyle".