Paris Hilton at dinner with boyfriend Doug Reinhardt (Photo by Daniel Schwartz)

The floral arrangements might have been smaller and the grandiose decor designed to be not so grandiose, but, still, as the saying goes, it’s what’s on the inside that makes the outside beautiful. With femme forces such as First Lady Michelle Obama (who made a surprise appearance), Patti LaBelle, K.D. Lang, Annie Leibovitz, Midori, Chita Rivera, and, yes, Paris Hilton, the Kennedy Center was a beautiful place to be Sunday night.

Michael Kaiser had a hard act to follow after last year’s salute to conductor John Williams, which brought out Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorcese, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. But, this year’s women, especially conductor JoAnn Falletta (who masterfully command of the National Symphony Orchestra) made 2008 a distant memory.