What do George Gershwin, Dame Ninette de Valois and IT Magazine all have in common? They were all born 100 years ago this year. However, while the staff, friends and readers of IT all got together at the Herbert Park Hotel on Wednesday night for a big bash to celebrate their centenary, Gershwin and Dame de Valois were nowhere to be seen. Of course the magazine has gone through various incarnations in its time and even various titles including the Lady of the House (which in 1912 featured a picture entitled "The Countess Annesley's Baloo, the only dog in the world with an artificial leg encased in a leather boot") and Irish Sketch, before settling down to Irish Tatler or IT for short in the 1990s.
Today's editor, Morag Prunty, was at the entrance welcoming guests who included previous editor, Noelle Campbell-Sharp. Campbell-Sharp took over Irish Tatler in the late 1970s and was responsible for shortening the title to the snappier IT. She is now the proud owner of the Origin gallery on Harcourt Street (soon to be the locale of a snazzy members' club) and the force behind the Cill Rialaig artists' village in Co Kerry.
Prunty, who earned her stripes on several women's magazines in London before making the move to Dublin, had double reason for celebration - she has also just got engaged to designer Niall Kerrigan. Other people doing a double celebration on Wednesday night were designer Louise Kennedy, who was showing her new Merrion Square headquarters to the press for the first time the next day, and actress Pauline McLynn, who was heading down to the wrap party for Aristocrats in the Life bar on Middle Abbey Street.
McLynn, who plays "a posh English lady" in the BBC drama series directed by David Caffrey, is in the midst of playing the role of Aunt Aggie in Angela's Ashes with director Alan Parker. A word of comfort for all those suffering from the dreaded flu that is doing the rounds at the moment - the lovely Robert "Full Monty" Car- lisle, who is playing the lead in the film, is also suffering.
Many of the other guests at the Herbert Park party were featured in the bumper centenary issue of the magazine. Among them were dozens of the women who had been invited to take part in the specially commissioned portrait celebrating women who shaped Ireland including opera singer Bernadette Greevy, writer Marian Keyes, film maker Katy McGuinness, artist Pauline Bewick, guest art editor for the mag, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, Special Olympics medallist Rita Lawlor, and artist Anne Madden.