Paris Hilton, Jade Jagger and Caprice, a London night, 2006
Liverpool Street and Volstead, Swallow Street, London · 2026
I am Charles Pycraft, a London photographer. Twenty years ago tonight, on Saturday 11 November 2006, Paris Hilton landed in London for a night out with her friend Jade Jagger. By my camera's clock the pair were walking out of the Aurora bar near Liverpool Street arm in arm at 02:06 on the Sunday morning, and at 03:39 Caprice was leaving Volstead, the new speakeasy style club on Swallow Street, after joining them for the rest of the night. This piece keeps to what the files show and what was reported at the time.
The anniversary comes with perfect timing. Paris launched her first fragrance with Parlux in 2004, and two decades and more than 30 scents later she has just released Iconic Queen, a floral amber in a metallic lavender bottle. It went on sale on her own site on 7 October 2026, and from 1 November it began rolling out to Ulta Beauty stores across the US, with an international debut alongside.
The pavement
The night, as the agency caption put it at the time, started at The Ivy, moved east to a private party at Aurora, the bar inside the Great Eastern Hotel on Liverpool Street, and carried on at Volstead until about 4am. The Ivy was a familiar door: two years earlier I photographed Jade's father there, in Mick Jagger and L'Wren Scott at The Ivy, 2004.
The two Aurora frames are three seconds apart. Jade is in a long white coat with a deep fur collar, her hair loose, laughing. Paris is in a long black jersey dress with a cut out at the front, a diamond bracelet and a phone in her hand, holding Jade's arm. In the second frame Paris breaks into a big open mouthed laugh at something just out of shot.
Caprice came out of Volstead at 03:39 in a fur trimmed jacket, a striped top and jeans, clutch bag tucked under one arm. Volstead had opened at 9 Swallow Street that May as a smaller sibling of Boujis, with a Prohibition theme and no dance floor, and it was that spring's hyped new hotspot.
Paris stayed on in London that week. On the Monday night, 13 November, my camera had her at 22:38 coming through the revolving door of her hotel in Mayfair in a navy satin strapless dress, a white quilted clutch and red heels. On the Wednesday, 15 November, at 18:43 she left the hotel in a gold beaded, fringed mini dress and silver sandals, on her way to the World Music Awards at Earls Court.
Who they were
Paris Hilton was in her pop star year. Her album Paris came out in August 2006 on Warner, led by the single Stars Are Blind. In the UK it was famous for something else as well: Banksy and Danger Mouse swapped the CD in around 500 copies in British shops for a spoof version, with their own artwork and remixes. At the World Music Awards that Wednesday she presented the award for World's Best Pop Artist to Madonna, who sent her thanks on video. Lindsay Lohan hosted, and Beyoncé and Nelly Furtado performed.
Jade Jagger, the daughter of Mick and Bianca Jagger, was a jewellery designer with her own company, Jade Inc, set up in 1996. In the early 2000s she became creative director of the crown jewellers Garrard, where her skull pieces and big statement designs gave a very old house a rock and roll edge, a run that ended in 2006. Since 2004 she had also been designing homes with the property brand YOO. That June she hosted the launch of her Jezebel club night at Shepherd's Bush Pavilion, and Paris was among the guests.
Caprice Bourret grew up in Southern California and moved to England in her early twenties. By 2006 she was often described as one of the most photographed women in the world, with more than 350 magazine covers behind her. In 2001 she had launched her own lingerie range, By Caprice, with Debenhams.
What was going on that week
On the Saturday Paris arrived, the UK number one single was Put Your Hands Up for Detroit by Fedde Le Grand. The next day Westlife took over with The Rose, their 14th number one, ahead of U2 and Green Day's The Saints Are Coming, while Madonna's Jump came in at number 9. Jamiroquai's High Times topped the albums chart.
At the cinema, Borat stayed at number one for a second weekend, taking £4.51 million, with Christopher Nolan's The Prestige new in at number 2. On the Tuesday, 14 November, Casino Royale had its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square, with the Queen attending, for Daniel Craig's first outing as Bond.
Where they are now
Paris Hilton has kept the pop career going. Her second album, Infinite Icon, came out in 2024, and her documentary Infinite Icon: A Visual Memoir premiered in Los Angeles in January 2026. Iconic Queen is the second scent in her Iconic line, and Parlux counts more than 30 Paris Hilton fragrance launches since 2004.
Jade Jagger still designs jewellery, now handmade pieces sold through her own site, alongside her paintings, with collections such as Medicine Chest and Paradisica.
Caprice runs By Caprice Home, a bedding brand sold across the UK, and has moved into film. She produced and stars in An English Christmas Wish, shot in Birmingham, London and the Cotswolds, playing a fashion photographer, with the film due on television this winter.
My photography years ran from 1999 to 2014, and that archive is now licensed through Backgrid UK.
More from the archive: Mick Jagger and L'Wren Scott at The Ivy, 2004
The pictures
Five frames from a body of work I made in London between 1999 and 2014: three from the night of 11 to 12 November 2006 and two from later the same week.
Credit: Charlie Pycraft / BACKGRID. Licensing: Backgrid UK Sales, backgrid_uksales@shutterstock.com