I went to Le Bal des Débutantes, where kids of Hollywood legends, royals, and business moguls make their high-society debut. It was a night full of glamour I'll never forget.

Founded by Ophélie Renouard, Les Bal des Debutantes has become one of the most exclusive and looked-forward to events on the calendar for the rich, royal, and famous. This year, I received a press invitation to attend on behalf of Insider.

With the exception of the past few years due to COVID-19, the ball has been the occasion for the daughters and sons of old Hollywood legends, international royals, and business moguls to make their high society debut since 1994.

As Insider previously reported, no one can buy their way into Le Bal, which takes place annually in Paris, France.

To attend, you must get the green light from Renouard herself, who told Insider she only extends an invite to people she finds "interesting."

In keeping with the guest list, which included attendees from various aristocratic and royal backgrounds, Le Bal was held at the Shangri-La in Paris on November 26. According to the website, it's the former home of Prince Roland Bonaparte, a French royal and descendant of Napoleon Bonaparte who died in 1924.

Though it's since been transformed into a hotel, the palatial venue still oozes the decadence of its royal origins.

Doormen assist guests arriving at the hotel by car, artifacts and paintings hang as decorations on the walls, and upstairs there are terraces that provide sweeping views of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower.

The day before the ball takes place is when many of the debutantes meet each other for the first time. Some flew to Paris from as far as India and Indonesia, and others traveled from Italy and the UK.

But for a few of the young women, who are generally 21 and younger, Le Bal is somewhat of a family get-together. Princess Hélène of Orléans of France and Syvila Manou of Greece told Insider they are cousins who happened to be invited to Le Bal the same year.

"We're very close," Hélène, 21, said. "What I like the most about this weekend is the fact that a lot of my family is here."

"I see it as a very wholesome moment," she added. "I'm so glad to meet other people but I'm definitely not doing it for networking."

Debutantes at Le Bal spend most of Friday doing individual and group photo shoots, which gives them an opportunity to see how their makeup will look on the big night and to try on their dresses one last time.

Teale Burrell, a 17-year-old debutante from the UK, told Insider each young woman was glammed up by makeup artists using NARS cosmetics. Getting her makeup done professionally is far from a normal day in her life, Burrell said. However, she said she loved how the makeup artists hired by Le Bal were enhancing their authentic beauty.

"Instead of the makeup trying to cover you up, it's emphasizing what you have naturally," she added.

Making her debut as Norway's first-ever Le Bal debutante was Leah Behn, the 17-year-old daughter of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway. She wore a Grecian-looking Giambattista Valli couture gown.

Märtha Louise told Insider they'd previously flown to Paris in June to attend dress fittings in person. "We had a girly weekend here to pick out the dress, we went through lots of Giambattista's designs. It was really difficult to choose," she said.

She added that she was happy for Leah, a beauty influencer who already owns her own business, to take part in the event that is so far removed from its historical origins.

"It's changing from the early days," Märtha Louise said. "Debutante balls were basically used to marry off the young women to be dependent on men their entire lives. Now they are more independent women."

Unlike the days of Regency-era debutante balls, reimagined on TV shows like "Bridgerton," the young women at Le Bal don't wear bridal gowns.

The white dresses of the old days were a means to signal a debutante was ready for marriage while making her debut in society. But at Le Bal, debutantes are loaned colorful couture gowns designed by the likes of Elie Saab, Fovari, and Jean Paul Gaultier.

For some, it's the first time they've worn anything couture. Marine DeGryse, an 18-year-old debutante from the US, told Insider putting on her Christian Dior gown for the first time was a totally new feeling.

"This is nothing I've ever experienced in my life and I probably will never experience something like this again," DeGryse, who is a freshman at Boston College, said.

At least over a hundred guests, parents, and members of the press arrived at the Shangri-La before the event started at 8 p.m.

The crowd gathered at the base of a floral staircase where members of staff checked names against the guest list and gave each attendee a place card so they would later be able to find their name on a table inside.

As everyone made their way up, the debutantes and their male counterparts, known as cavaliers, were busy getting ready elsewhere in the hotel.

After a few hors d'oeuvres, which included bite-size nibbles of foie gras and glasses of sparkling wine, a dinner bell rang.

It signaled for guests to move into the banquet hall for dinner. Stepping into the room as someone who'd never been to a ball before, I was in awe of the spectacle – round clothed tables were perfectly set and decorated with elaborate pink-and-white floral arrangements.

The hue of several chandeliers illuminated the sheer height of the ceilings and the majestic gold cornices.

Guests were served a selection of cold starters that included a chickpea and quinoa salad, avocado and fish roe, and chicken and tuna. Afterward, a vegetarian and non-vegetarian selection was served, depending on each guest's preference.

At my table, guests were excitedly discussing what couture gowns each debutante would be wearing.

Later in the evening, I was also told the debutantes were loaned jewelry from V Muse, a fine jewelry collector – one of the representatives from the company told Insider that the young women had accessorized their looks with some pieces that hadn't been worn in at least 100 years.

During the dinner portion of the evening, a master of ceremonies gave an introduction about Le Bal, World Central Kitchen – the charity sponsored by the event this year – and a short bio for each debutante and her cavalier. He said that Le Bal 2022 was welcoming 18 debutantes from 14 different countries.

He also praised Renouard, the founder of Le Bal, for "reawakening" the tradition of debutante balls in Paris.

A couple of the first young women to enter the room included Almira Bosa, the first Le Bal debutante to attend from Indonesia, who wore Carolina Herrera, and Wenhao Cai, who wore Iris van Herpen.

Although most debutantes were paired with cavaliers they were either related to or had met for the first time on Friday, there was at least one duo who had come as a couple – Natasha Connery and Harper Peck, the grandchildren of Gregory Peck and Sean Connery, late Hollywood legends of the 20th century.

According to Tatler, the pair began dating toward the end of 2021.

Making her own debut at Le Bal 2022 was also 19-year-old Olympic skier Eileen Gu, who wore Guo Pei and was escorted by Count Félix de Limburg Stirum.

Annabel Zimmer was the last debutante to make her debut at Le Bal.

Wearing a Jean Paul Gaultier gown, she entered the banquet hall with her arm looped around Ignacio de Borbón Díaz — a Spanish model and reality television star, according to his Instagram bio.

In keeping with tradition, the debutantes took part in a waltz with their fathers during one of the last segments of the evening. Though some of the young women told Insider they'd been dancing the waltz since infancy, others said they'd nervously been practicing for weeks.

To ensure they were all well prepared, the organizers gathered all of the debutantes and their families at the Shangri-La the evening prior for a lengthy dance lesson.

Teale Burrell, one of the debutantes, later told Insider that some of the young women who were wearing larger dresses – herself included – couldn't help having their couture gowns stood on in the midst of the waltz.

"That was so bound to happen," she said. "We needed a slightly bigger space."

But overall, she said the experience of attending the ball, taking part in the dancing, and getting to know the other debutantes was above and beyond what she'd expected. "Everything was a high," she said.

At one point in the evening, hairstylist Alexander von Trentini told me that a person like Ophélie Renouard, the founder of Le Bal, is difficult to find in this day and age. She knows everyone, has contacts around the world, and has her finger on the pulse for who she believes should be invited to her revival of debutante balls from the past.

And if at any point she found it stressful to organize one of the most elegant events on the social calendar for the rich and famous, it would be difficult to tell. During the evening Renouard appeared totally at ease, floating around the room and engaging in conversation with her guests, debutantes, and cavaliers.

That's not to say, however, that she hasn't already turned her attention to the future of Le Bal. In fact, she previously told Insider she has a list of debutantes for at least the next 20 years.

Whether or not this year's guests, myself included, get the invite again is to be determined. But what I can safely say is that in my case it was a night for the books.