Picture it: six-foot palm trees draped with moss, orchids, and green amaranths, illuminating hanging candles, and billowing curtains of glittering orange and sheer gold organza framing an orchestra led by Manolo Puerto. The music draws you easily to the dance floor with a syncopated Latin beat. To winter-weary New Yorkers this may seem like a tropical dream, but it was no fantasy for the Palm Beach elite at the Breakers. The 20th year of the infamous “Hospice Evening,” a charity gala that raises big bucks for the Hospice of Palm Beach County, was as resplendent as ever.

The evening culminated in an exhibition of Venezuelan-born Carolina Herrera’s crisp and colorful spring and summer collection, produced by Saks. Guests received blue velvet make-up bags by Stubbs and Wootton and fragrances from Carolina’s collection, among other distinctive trinkets. Co-chairs Lore Dodge and Lucy Musso must still be patting themselves on the back for such a masterful, sizzling event.