THEY sit quietly in row J until Westlife burst onto the Olympia's stage. Then Joanne Doyle and Natalie Purcell let themselves loose, waving and flashing their cameras. The two 16-year-olds admit to being "huge fans" of the boy band. "They all look like they're all really nice people," says Natalie - "and they're gorgeous."
It's Pierce Brosnan who has Sandycove retailers Audrey Taylor and Pat Carey in a tizzy. "I couldn't even order my drink," says Audrey, who was standing right next to Mr Bond in the Shelbourne Hotel earlier in the night. "Oh, he's gorgeous," says Pat. "He was in a leather jacket and jeans, he was on his own. Oh, wow!" The two hardly notice the rich and famous who breeze by them at the Olympia for the Boru Vodka Fashion Show in aid of Childline.
Who is the woman in the white crochet trouser suit with red trimmings? "It's a Christian Lacroix," says Majella Kilduff, from Castleknock. As one might say, "absolutely fabulous!"
Actress Alison Doody is more subdued in a long silk leopard-skin dress. Before the show, Lorna McDermott, a member of the ISPCC ball committee, introduces her friend, Louise Gunn. "She's Puff Daddy's dresser," she jokes to howls of laughter. Louise, in fact, is a niece of Sean Lemass.
And the man in the grey anorak over by the counter? A Fianna Fail image-maker maybe? No, it's Mark Byrne, financial controller of Brown Thomas actually. He whips off his jacket quickly. "It's from our Gant line and it's cold," he says defensively.