Public hanging at RCA ends up in pandemonium

Forget the line-up for Cézanne, the queue to see and be seen in last week was for the cloakroom at the Royal College of Art’s centenary extravaganza.

New arrangements meant you left your goods and chattels outside the door in a kind of shed – chilly, but rewarding for star-spotters, as the likes of Peter Blake and Abram Games joined the fray.

But as the 8pm chucking out time approached, a mood of panic set in. The coats had been moved from the front door to the basement tradesmen’s entrance. There visitors were left to fend for themselves, making a mockery of the RCA’s elaborate ticketing system.

Bags in one pile, coats all over the place – the great and the good had to pitch in with the rest and wails emanated from the seething mass as property was found or fought over. More like the January sales than a cultural experience. If anyone found a silver bag…