It looks like Paris and Ascot and Audrey Hepburn and a Baptist church on Easter Sunday. Like birthday cakes and wedding presents and high tea at Harrods. Women wearing hats turn even the most gorgeous garden into backdrop scenery, a small luncheon into a party. Oprah throws an affair to remember.

"I've always wanted to have a hat party," says Oprah from beneath the brim of an aqua straw confection. "I wanted more than a garden party—I wanted a fantasy, a scene from a Merchant Ivory film."

At the Montecito home of friend Genevieve Robert Reitman, she got what she wanted. There, beneath a benevolently blue California sky, nine of Oprah's girlfriends gathered for a late luncheon. Genevieve and her daughter Catherine, a student at U.S.C., O, The Oprah Magazine editor at large Gayle King, Harpo Films president Kate Forte, NBC news correspondent Maria Shriver, and The Oprah Winfrey Show executive producer Dianne Atkinson Hudson and supervising senior producers Dana Newton Utigard, Ellen Rakieten and Katy Murphy Davis arrive resplendent in summer frocks and a bouquet of fancy hats.

The Garden Party Menu:

• Lavender Lemonade
• Sautéed Shrimp Salad with Ginger-Cilantro Dressing
• Panini with Proscuitto and Asparagus
• Stuffed Chicken Breasts and Root Vegetables
• Strawberry and Peach Tartlets with Fromage Blanc

Throw Your Own Unforgettable Party!

• Set the scene
• Dress up the table
• Plan the menu