The Top 5 Debutante Balls Of The World

Shanghai International Debutante Ball, Shanghai, China

Thirteen girls ages 17 to 22 were presented at this year’s Shanghai International Debutante Ball. The first debutante ball to be held in China, the Shanghai International Debutante Ball was held at the Waldorf-Astoria in Shanghai—a particularly appropriate venue due to the hotel playing host for over half a century to New York’s International Debutante Ball. Debutantes included ten girls from the UK (one of whom had previously come out at Queen Charlotte’s Ball), and one girl each from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Poland. The girls were treated to an opulent weekend in Shanghai, being driven from one even to the next in a fleet of Jaguars, and wearing jewelry loaned to them by French jeweler Chaumet. The Shanghai International Ball adhered to many aspects of a traditional ball, but by including debutantes who are not of noble, aristocratic, historically significant lineage, the ball paid homage to the financial growth that the city has experienced over the past decade. Or maybe Jenny Hallam-Peel, one of the organizers of the Queen Charlotte’s Ball and a former debutante herself, said it best:

"There are an awful lot of rich people in China now and they want to learn more about upper-class etiquette and the upper-class lifestyle.”

Where better to start than with a debutante ball? [Photo via]