Thought a little $18 million fine and a 5-year ban from the securities industry for her husband was going to keep Her Fabulousness in the shadows, shut off from the world, inside her speakeasy/closet? Think again!

Five years and four days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the New York City Ballet Fall Gala was a glittering jumble of celebrity (Drew Barrymore, 50 Cent), finery (Chanel, Jar), and economic commentary (Wilbur Ross et alia). “People are ready to spend money -- they certainly spent a lot at Barneys today,” said hedge-fund manager Richard Perry, chairman of Barneys New York, who stood with 850 other guests under red and blue hot-air balloons filled with helium and anchored by ropes on the promenade of the David H. Koch Theater. The baskets were filled with red roses. “I think most people here are pretty well insulated from the economy,” said Wilbur Ross, founder of WL Ross & Co...Philip Falcone, whose bankrupt company LightSquared Inc. faces a fight over how to sell its assets, sat with his wife, Lisa Maria Falcone, a board member of the New York City Ballet, and diva Anna Netrebko, who on Monday performed a private concert at the home of Blackstone Group LP CEO Steve Schwarzman.

She kept things fairly tame with the butterfly/flapper ensemble but just waituntilshegets her sea legsback.

Scene Last Night: Ross, Falcone, Blavatnik Eye Ballet, Economy [Bloomberg]