The fifth-floor restaurant at the Harvey Nichols store in London's Knightsbridge is pulsating. Arriving guests run a strobing, shouting gauntlet of paparazzi. Inside, the scene is straight out of The Devil Wears Prada, or at least Sex and the City - improbably slim women clutching Cosmo cocktails and men with expensively distressed hair bearing champagne flutes. Actor Pierce Brosnan oozes through the crowd. The party leads the London Evening Standard's social diary column the next day. It all seems a long way from Africa.

The gathering launched a small line of African-made clothing owned by Bono, the ubiquitous campaigning rock star, and his wife. Helping Africa is a longstanding Bono preoccupation, which is why he has recruited far bigger companies and brands than his own to the cause. Product Red, announced a year ago at the World Economic Forum at Davos, is seeking a commercial solution to the humanitarian disaster of Aids in Africa.