socialites

The Classicist: Paradise Lost - 40 Years of Cafe Society

Filed under: Art, Books, The Classicist, Wealth

In the 1920s, '30s, '40s and '50s the so-called Café Society in Europe drew together aristocrats, millionaires, artists, authors, couturiers, choreographers and musicians in a "glittering world of fashion and frivolity, opulence and ostentation", notes Thierry Coudert in his ultra-stylish new book, Café Society: Socialites, Patrons and Artists 1920 to 1960 from Flammarion. Those decades were the "apotheosis of an era that was to have a profound influence on the history of taste" Coudert writes, with the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Lady Diana Cooper, Diana Vreeland, Cole Porter, Noel Coward and Cecil Beaton setting the tone and deciding which artists, designers, and musicians were in vogue. The cover of the book (above) depicts heiress Barbara Hutton, then the Countess von Reventlow, at a tennis match in 1940, while Yves Saint Laurent, Orson Welles, Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau and many more make cameos in the impressive volume.

Gallery: Cafe Society

Tags: Aristocrats, art, artists, books, Café Society, Cafe Society, coffee table books, Diana Vreeland, Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Duke of Windsor, Europe, fashion, France, Noel Coward, socialites, society, style, wealth, Yves Saint Laurent

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Blige & Bloomberg Step Out for NY Women's Foundation Gala

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Charity, Big Givers

Grammy award winning R&B songstress Mary J. Blige and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were the star attractions at the The New York Women's Foundation (NYWF) Fall Dinner 2009 the other night held at Manhattan's chic Gotham Hall.

Blige (right) performed at the exclusive event, where guests included socialites Agnes Gund, Anne Bass, Muffie Potter Aston, Sharon Bush, Debbie Bancroft, Jean Shafiroff, Denise Rich, and designer Catherine Malandrino.

Stepping Up Awards were presented to New Yorkers who "serve as role models of courageous leadership, vision and commitment to women and girls as individuals and as partners," including Elizabeth and Herbert Sturz and Sheryl WuDunn and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas D. Kristof.

Established in 1987 as a public philanthropy, the NYWF strategically funds organizations and programs that move women, girls and families towards long-term economic security through individual transformation and systemic change.

Tags: Anne Bass, AnneBass, Catherine Malandrino, CatherineMalandrino, Denise Rich, DeniseRich, Mary J. Blige, MaryJ.Blige, Michael Bloomberg, MichaelBloomberg, socialites, The New York Womens Foundation, TheNewYorkWomensFoundation

Sex and Dying in High Society

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Books, Wealth

Laurence Leamer, author of The Kennedy Women, examines the seamier side of Palm Beach's high society in his new book Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach. Described as an "inside look at this playground of the rich, and its under-class of social-climbing wannabes," the book traces the history of Palm Beach and its most famous estates before examining some of the posh town's more infamous scandals.

Publisher's Weekly says the book's "highly visual vignettes - dominated by divorce, infidelity, excessive drinking and violence - produce a depressing picture of sad, angry, insecure and frequently nasty people hiding behind empty smiles, luxury cars and socially invisible servants," noting that while some may find it "a penetrating portrayal of a privileged segment of the American population, others might regard it as a book-length gossip column."

Tags: Florida, high society, HighSociety, Palm Beach, PalmBeach, socialites