Henry Morrison Flagler Museum.

The 27th season of championship polo begins in January at Palm Beach Polo.

Palm Beach Address Book Lodging The Brazilian Court, 301 Australian Avenue; 800.552.0335. $500 - $1,600 per night The Breakers, 1 South County Road; 888.273.2537. $465 - $3,650 per night The Chesterfield, 363 Cocoanut Row; 561.659.5800. $225 - $1,500 per night. The Colony, 155 Hammon Avenue; 800.521.5525. $400 – $1,200 per night Four Seasons Resort, 2800 South Ocean Blvd.; 800.432.2335. $435 - $3,500 per night The Ritz-Carlton, 100 South Ocean Blvd.; 800.241.3333. $460 - $3,500 per night   Dining Bice, 313 Worth Avenue; 561.835.1600 Café Boulud, 301 Australian Avenue; 561.655.6060 Ta-boó, 221 Worth Avenue; 561.835.3500   Shopping Calypso, 247B Worth Avenue; 561.832.5006 Greenleaf & Crosby, 236 Worth Avenue; 561.655.5850 Hermes, 255 Worth Avenue; 561.655.6655 Mariko, 329 Worth Avenue; 561.655.5770 Valentino, 204 Worth Avenue; 561.659.7533

The Beach Club at Mar-a-Lago.

Palm Beach Galas January 3 – International Society of Palm Beach annual holiday gala dinner dance at The Mar-a-Lago Club. 561.832.4200 January 7 – Alzheimer’s Community Care – An Evening in Paradise gala at The Breakers. 561.683.2700 January 26 – Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation dinner to celebrate the annual Race for the Cure. 561.841.0041 January 29 – American Red Cross 48th annual International Red Cross Ball at The Mar-a-Lago Club. 561.650.9133 January 31 – Norton Museum of Art Premier and gala dinner celebrating Spain in the Age of Exploration. 561.832.3541 February 4 – American Cancer Society Mardi Gras Gala at The Breakers. 561.655.3449 February 5 – Norton Museum of Art Bal des Arts 2005. 561.227.1250 February 14 – American Heart Association 50th annual Palm Beach Heart Ball at The Breakers. 561.615.3888 February 17 – Miami City Ballet annual gala at the Kravis Center. 561.833.4492 February 19 – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 14th annual Discovery Ball at The Breakers. 561.833.2080 February 20 – Albert Einstein College of Medicine annual Palm Beach dinner at The Mar-a-Lago Club. 561.659.5637 February 27 – Friends of Akim USA 17th annual Gala for Hope at The Breakers. 561.835.8822 February 27 – Palm Beach Opera Evening of Splendor Gala at the Kravis Center. 561.820.4488

Art & the Performing Arts Flagler Museum January 18 - April 17 - Railway Palaces of the Gilded Age 561.655.2833; flaglermuseum.org Miami City Ballet January 21 - 23 – Program II February 18 - 20 – Program III Kravis Center for Performing Arts 561.832.7469; www.miamicityballet.org Norton Museum of Art February 2 – May 1 - Spain in the Age of Exploration, 1492-1819  561.832.5196; www.norton.org Palm Beach Opera January 28 - 31 – I Puritani February 25 - 28 – Faust Kravis Center for Performing Arts 561.833.7888; www.pbopera.org The Society of the Four Arts January 22 – February 20 – Maxfield Parrish, Master of Make-Believe 561.655.7227; www.fourarts.org

Above: Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569–1622), Isabel Clara Eugenia, 1599, oil on canvas. Patrimonio Nacional, Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, Madrid. Below: Maxfield Parrish, Lute Players, 1922, color lithograph.

The question of which of the stacks of Palm Beach social invitations to accept has never been as vexing as it is this season. Local and seasonally transplanted socialites of decades past thought they had their hands full with the ten-week season, which lasted from mid-December to February 23rd, the day following the George Washington Birthday Ball at Henry Flagler’s estate. Having expanded to November through April, the new season offers seemingly endless invitations of pressing social consequence; but the height of the season remains the months of January and February, to which this year’s social calendar can attest. Add to the galas and benefits a host of other noteworthy events such as Palm Beach! America’s International Fine Art and Antique Fair, the January 29th commencement of polo season at the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club, the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club from January 26 through March 13, as well as the opening of smashing venues for dining, shopping and getting pampered, and it’s easy to see why this season’s greatest challenge will be how to be everywhere at once.

One location that everyone is already declaring a home away from home is the newly reopened Brazilian Court hotel. With a decades-old pedigree that includes a list of loyal visitors such as Greta Garbo, Cary Grant and local society maven Marjorie Merriweather Post, The Brazilian Court is now playing host to the current generation of celebrities and socialites. Not only has the hotel been carefully restored to honor the Spanish-inspired Southern tropical design aesthetic that defines the winter resort’s traditional architecture, famed international chef Daniel Boulud has opened his latest outpost, Café Boulud, in the hotel. Boasting a formal dining room as well as a romantically lush courtyard and conservatory, Café Boulud also presents its discerning clientele with seasonally relevant offerings of French cuisine. Of course, dining poolside is also a popular choice – more now than ever with the opening of Frédéric Fekkai’s long-awaited salon and spa nestled into the hotel amid a lush garden of tropical foliage. New Yorkers addicted to his shea butter hair masks, among other signature treatments, will feel at home in Fekkai’s serene new salon and spa. With the rigorous social schedule during Palm Beach’s winter season, it is a wonder that anyone managed without Fekkai’s wonderworks until now.

Though The Brazilian Court is heralding a particular revival of old-world charm, the city’s other hotels and resorts have been keeping the city’s tradition of relaxed luxury alive and well. Buzz surrounding The Breakers’ $145 million renovation and expansion confirms that every inch of the 140 oceanfront acres of hotel property evoke the sumptuous ambience of the original 1896 hotel but with all the 21st-century amenities. With the eight on-site restaurants and countless options for indulgence at the spa, guests might be tempted to remain in the complex – if there were not so many other hot spots in Palm Beach to see and to be seen at as well.

For visitors wanting to stay in the thick of the island’s music and nightlife scene, The Colony offers the best of centrality along with the feeling of an elegant British Colonial-style haven. Home to an incomparable ongoing cabaret series, hotel guests and nonguests alike will flit in and out in late January to catch heartthrob crooner Jeremy Davenport of People magazine’s Top 50 Bachelors fame. Though unrivaled in musical events, The Colony’s location is rivaled in location and service only by The Chesterfield, an English-style boutique hotel conveniently located on Cocoanut Row.

But not everyone wants to stay in the heart of the shopping and nightlife action. Located on the southern tip of the island, both the Four Seasons Resort and The Ritz-Carlton treat guests to their signature luxury and discretion. Ever sensitive to the social rigors of Palm Beach life, the Four Seasons is offering its A-list guests a postholiday Ayurvedic Detox Treatment sure to re-center even the most frenzied partygoers.

Though it may be a challenge to keep up with the nightly opportunities to dress to the hilt, winter’s influx of glitterati have no dearth of shopping options in Palm Beach. Over the years, Worth Avenue has drawn shoppers from Jackie Kennedy to Oprah Winfrey and Paul Newman to Al Pacino. Palm Beach cognoscenti flock to Worth Avenue not only for an afternoon of shopping, but also to dine and mingle at two perennially popular haunts, Bice and Ta-boó. Lunch at Bice is inevitably a parade of beautiful people conducting business and pleasure over their inventive Milanese meals. Savvy locals, visiting celebrities and season regulars all make their way through Ta-boó where the scene is a celebrity-heavy study in contrasts – the restaurant has hosted Ozzy Osbourne, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and scores of the famous and infamous in between.

Having been a mainstay for picking up last-minute gowns, dazzling pairs of cuff links and thank-you gifts for hosts, Worth Avenue has become even more of a shopper’s paradise over the years. Valentino, Gucci, Emanuel Ungaro, Emilio Pucci, Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani, Hermès and Chanel are all on the avenue. Also popular for its signature bohemian chic is a Calypso outpost to add to its locations in New York and St. Barts. Sparkling adornments for women and men are customarily picked up on Worth Avenue as well – with Cartier, Bulgari, Tourneau, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chopard and Verdura all lining the gilded avenue, wristwatches and sparkling jewels are in no short supply. Collectors with an eye for one-of-a-kind and estate pieces drop by Greenleaf & Crosby without fail. Even costume jewelry is a cut above at Worth Avenue’s Mariko, where you might be surprised to see who indulges in baubles that inspire heart palpitations at the sight of the pieces but not their price tags.

This year, however, many serious jewelry collectors are holding out for Palm Beach! America’s International Fine Art and Antique Fair, which opens with a vernissage for an elect smattering of collectors, high-profile connoisseurs and assorted VIPs on February 4. Other collectors, aspirants and the general hoi polloi are welcomed from February 5 until the 13th. In addition to the collection of American and European paintings from the past two centuries, sculpture, furniture, rare books and objets d’art is a hand-selected collection of exquisite haute couture jewelry, which for many a fairgoer is truly the main event. Although bragging rights on snagging a Rembrandt rank high, the breathtaking gems sold at the fair can leave an exhibitor in the afternoon and adorn to striking effect at one of the many galas that same night. Knowing the market, many of the most prominent jewelers around the world, such as Graff, Harry Winston, David Webb, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, David Morris and Gioia, save their most prized pieces to unveil at the fair. Estate pieces and particularly extravagant gemstones are well received by the many serious collectors who attend the fair to – well, seriously collect. Not to be outdone by the jewels, beloved eveningwear designers Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera and Zang Toi will all make personal appearances at trunk shows. The specially arranged spring/summer Herrera collection fashion show at Neiman Marcus on January 5 benefits the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Discovery Ball on February 19 – there’s just enough time to pick up one of Herrera’s smashing confections and tailor it perfectly before the ball. Oscar de la Renta, who charms the ladies as much with his social grace and beaming smile as he does with his ability to make them look drop-dead gorgeous, will show his spring/summer collection with Saks at the Hospice Evening benefit dinner dance on January 14th at The Breakers.

Well-coiffed, well-accoutred and certainly well-bejeweled, the social set’s greatest challenge revolves around the myriad social opportunities. For the many who jet down from New York and Boston, keeping an accurate calendar of not only the events, but also of the planning committee meetings, pre-benefit lunches and private celebrations that comprise the festivities, is an absolute must. A private jet is the most valuable accessory during the season, especially for committee chairs. Donald Trump and his preternaturally beautiful fiancée, Melania Knauss, will make the rounds as honorary chairs of the International Society of Palm Beach annual holiday gala dinner dance on January 3 and doubtless will entertain friends at his Mar-a-Lago Club. With barely enough time to fire a few more apprentice hopefuls back in New York, Trump co-chairs the Albert Einstein College of Medicine dinner honoring Ira Milstein along with Marilyn and Stanley Katz, Leonard Lauder, Howard Milstein and Peter Kalikow on February 20 at The Mar-a-Lago. The dinner follows on the heels of another of the season’s most hotly anticipated galas, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Fourteenth Annual Discovery Ball at The Breakers chaired by Diana Ecclestone, Susan Keenan and Michele Kessler, three savvy hostesses whose involvement in the event guarantee a smashing success.

In addition to the nightly events, the height of the season is punctuated by world-class opera and ballet offerings and two particularly festive holidays, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day. The Palm Beach Opera performs I Puritani at the Kravis Center from January 28th through the 31st and Faust from February 25th through the 28th. From January 21st through the 23rd and February 18th through the 20th Palm Beach is treated to the Miami City Ballet. Unsurprisingly, suitable fetes have been organized for the season’s holidays as well. On January 31st, Dame Celia Farris, Frances Fisher, Emelia and Jose Pepe Fanjul, Maura Benjamin, Nancy Brinker and Ellen Jaffe will be at the Norton Museum of Art for a reception and dinner celebrating Spain in the Age of Exploration. Attendees will have a sneak preview of the historically significant exhibit, which includes pieces held by the Spanish royal family. In addition to the historical documents such as a 1493 letter from Queen Isabella to Christopher Columbus, El Greco and Velázquez paintings will fill the Norton Museum of Art until May 1. On February 14, which philanthropist or lovebird could resist the American Heart Association’s Fiftieth Annual Palm Beach Heart Ball at The Breakers? Mending and warming hearts should always be so simultaneous. In fact, in Palm Beach, the two often go hand in hand.

Melissa Rakowski, chairwoman of the Miami City Ballet Gala.	Susan Keenan, Michele Kessler and Diana Ecclestone, co-chairmen of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Discovery Ball.		Hermé de Wyman Miro, chairman of the International Society of Palm Beach Gala.
Frances Fisher, chairman of the Norton Museum’s Spain Gala Premier.	Chris Marden, co-chairman, Palm Beach Opera Gala.	Helen Persson, co-chairman, Palm Beach Opera Gala.	Sydell Miller, co-chairman, Palm Beach Opera Gala.
Sandy Krakoff, chairman of the Norton Museum’s Bal des Arts 2005.	2005 Palm Beach Heart Ball Co-chairmen: Front row: Jerré Gowdy, Sharon O'Neil, Arlette Gordon, Cathleen McFarlane Ross, Norma Fireman. Back row: BJ Kemp, Connie Nicolo, Sally Robinson, Diann Scaravilli, Joyce Vaughn, Alice Tarone, Pam Dupuis, Judy Grubman and Kathlyn Maguire.