Jezebel: Socialites

Socialites Would Like To Remind You That They Are Princesses And Will Dress As Such

Jenny Zhang — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:30:00 EST

Er, blue carpet. Whatever. Anyhow: UNICEF held their annual Snowflake Ball last night in New York. For the most part, the ball gowns were either glitzy or safe, with a few standouts and a few WTFs. More »

Socialite Fashion: Some Hits, Some Misses, Some Serious Boning

Jenny Zhang — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:35:00 EDT

Socialites, models, fashion designers, Serena Wiliams, Rupert Murdoch's wife, Mayor Bloomberg's daughter, and the lady who hosted America's Most Smartest Model came out for the New Yorkers for Children Gala. Just one question: New Yorkers for children… to do what? More »

Socialite Shoplifter Tries To Get Five-Finger Discount On Disgustingly Expensive Scarf

Whitney Jefferson — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:30:00 EDT

Manhattan socialite Beata Boman, a self-described self-described "former model and fashion designer" was arrested Tuesday afternoon for stealing a scarf that's possibly worth more than that clunker you're currently driving around. More »

Casey Johnson And The Difficulties Of Being A "Lesbian Socialite"

Anna North — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:30:00 EST

After the death of heiress Casey Johnson, speculation flies about her "downward spiral" and relationship with Tila Tequila — and the coverage reveals that being rich and famous didn't save her from discrimination. More »

Washingtoniennes Call Dibs On Choice Gowns, Avoid Inaugural Brawls

Sadie Stein — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:00:00 EST

Genius idea: a website is allowing women to register the gowns they're wearing to inaugural balls so no one makes the faux pas of showing up in the same dress. We say: Thank. God. More »

Palm Beach Story: Lilly Pulitzer Is Bizarrely Fascinating

Sadie Stein — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:20:00 EST

"The 77-year-old designer and former grande dame of Palm Beach entertaining—in the Sixties and Seventies, her kitchen sat 26 for dinner—awaits guests perched on a chinoiserie-covered bench. She wears white slacks and a vintage Lilly shirt printed with white and yellow daisies, her feet bare but for the bright coral polish on her toes," describes a new W magazine profile. Everybody knows Lilly Pulitzer prints — the pink and green WASP uniforms that have signified Palm Beach privilege for half a century. Most of us would never wear them — but there's something compelling about this quintessential story of privilege, independence and success. And Lilly Pulitzer herself — brisk, eccentric, sans underpants — is a character for the books! More »

How To Be An It Girl: October Nylon Explains It All For You

Sadie Stein — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EDT

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October plays host to Nylon's second annual "It Girl" Issue and the IG's in question are about what you'd expect: lots of rich children and models and well-dressed scenesters. "It Girl" is itself such an amorphous concept, we wondered, what does it even mean? Well, from examining the It Girls profiled within (Zooey Deschanel is the cover It Girl), here is what it takes: More »

Blog Alert!

Sadie Stein — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:50:00 EDT

File under: Rich Narcissist Intrudes On Territory Of Poor Narcissists. Melissa "Mrs. Chappy" Morris is the thinking woman's socialite. "Using a medium that often portrays women of her milieu as spoiled backstabbers, Mrs. Morris offers a rare perspective of New York society on her blog, May December, named in part because of the 30-year age gap between her and her husband." [New York Times] More »

Sweatin' With The Oldies: NYC Old Guard Gathers in 100 Degree Heat for MoMA 'Party In The Garden.'

Sadie Stein — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Full disclosure: I almost called this installment "Bar Mitzvah Disco." For some reason this collection of quietly-clad socialites and their dapper octogenarian escorts, who assembled last night mid-heatwave for the Museum of Modern Art's 40th Party in the Garden, took me right back to 1994, the year I threw on an enormous Laura Ashley sack every Saturday, was driven to some temple in the tri-state and won the limbo by default because I was so much shorter than everyone else. In the end, the connection seemed too tenuous. But tell me if, after the jump, you don't hear faint strains of "Hot, Hot, Hot"... More »

LOLSocialites: Money Just Can't Buy Taste

Jennifer — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:30:00 EDT

One of the reasons New York is really funny — and annoying — is because the city has "socialites": Self-important, wealthy women with ridiculous names (Byrdie Bell, Tinsley Mortimer, Susan Shin, Carrie Cloud, Valesca Guerrand-Hermes) who like to go to parties where they buy "tables" so that they can wear expensive shit, have their pictures taken, and in the process, fuel their sense of self-importance. Often, they consider these activities to be "work"! But based on last night's benefit for the Museum of the City of New York, some of them may need to look for a new job... or a new stylist. After the jump, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of a high-society event, silly names and all. More »

Mormon Former Hamptons Editor Bares Soul To Vogue

Moe — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:40:00 EST

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"I feel like a bad Mormon," Kristina Stewart Ward begins her first -person essay in this month's Vogue. See, she just hired a nanny. Mormons don't have nannies! But she is not just any Mormon; she's a former editor at Hamptons magazine! And most of her Upper East Side friends "average one nanny per child (no really: one child, one nanny; two children, two nannies, and so on)." How many children does Kristina have? One. She's pregnant with another, though! And so it goes. For a few thousand words. Kristina is Mormon, and a ridiculous socialite. Out in the town, they used to call her "No sex and the City." Does she struggle with all the materialism/consumerism/greed/superficiality/vanity of the fashion industry? Nah. Does she struggle with her faith? Nah on that too!

While we are very much a Christian religion (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints is Mormonism's official name), we don't believe that God stopped speaking to man after the last page of the New Testament. It's a lot for a young person to swallow, but I accepted it...Some Christians feel about the Book of Mormon roughly what the Jewish community feels about the New Testament.

UMMMMmmmm, show us your ruins, bitch! More »

Socialites Are Just Self-Involved Slackers In Pretty Clothes

Moe — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:30:00 EDT

Today's Wall Street Journal has a primer on New York socialites, for those of you who could never quite figure out how it was that you came to know names like Tory Burch, Tinsley Mortimer, Aerin Lauder, Fabiola Beracasa and/or Zani Gugelmann. The big takeaway of the story is supposed to be that today's socialites — unlike yesterday's socialites, who were comfortable raising money for worthy causes — are raising money for themselves, mainly via lucrative businesses working in the part of the fashion industry that depends on knowing the names of other socialites. You see, because women are so fucking liberated these days. But it's not all work and no workout!

Fabiola Beracasa, daughter of media heiress Veronica Hearst, proudly advertises her jewelry business, but she is better known for her ubiquitous party appearances and dance routines on bar banquettes.

Kitty Carlisle Hart, Nights Of Coke-Fueled Debauchery, Both Dead

Jennifer — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:32:26 EDT

Kitty Carlisle Hart, a socialite before Paris Hilton defamed the term and an all-hours girl before Lindsay Lohan — and the good citizens of New Jersey — made clubbing gauche, died yesterday at a hearty 96-years of age. Kitty loved everything pretty and everything witty, and so we mark her passing by providing an answer to the question she posed in the latter part of her life: More »