Where were you when Barack Obama became president-elect? The irrepressible socialite Nona Summers told me that she was propped up in bed in her Knightsbridge flat, cigarette in one hand and celebratory drink in the other, but most people I know used the election as an excuse to get out, stay up late and party. The hunky actor Josh Hartnett went to the big bash at the American embassy in London, which was all decked out in stars and stripes. Over in LA, the place to be was Courteney Cox and David Arquette’s house. They hosted an Obama victory party, with Jennifer Aniston, John Mayer, Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen for company. David was so excited that he even shared his champagne with the paparazzi who were camped outside. As for me, I’d have loved to have been at Grant Park in Chicago, mopping Oprah’s tears, but it wasn’t to be.

I was in New York, at Public House in Midtown, for a glitzy election bash thrown by the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and his wife, Georgina Chapman. She was dressed in a lavishly embroidered gown from her own label, Marchesa, which some people said was over the top. I disagree — heck, we were witnessing history in the making, and you don’t do that in a tracksuit. Padma Lakshmi, Jessica Alba, James Franco and Gina Gershon all looked suitably decorative, while Salman Rushdie and the sexy French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, who arrived on the arm of a glittering Daphne Guinness, represented the intellectual heavyweights.

It was meant to be a bipartisan party, but Obama-mania dominated. If you want proof of how uncool it is to be a Republican, then witness the antics of one Conservative grande dame of fashion. She cried throughout Barack’s victory speech, before leading a chant of, “Yes, we can.” I saw her in July, when she dismissed Obama, saying, “I won’t vote for anyone whose middle name is Hussein.” She probably believes he’s a Muslim and not really a US citizen too, but wasn’t going to let that spoil her party.

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