Zani Gugelmann, Nicola Breytenbach, Fabiola Beracasa, and Claire Bernard at last year’s Museum of Natural History Winter Dance. They’re just part of the gang of girls and gays who still rule the scene with an iron clutch.Photo: Patrick McMullan
So January was cold, and February was short, but now it’s finally March. And you know what that means? It’s party time! No, not for you. For people who matter. We know since SocialiteRank.com shut down nearly a year ago, you haven’t been as able to keep track of what’s been going on with Tinsley and Zani and Margherita, but, trust us, they’re still out every night, flawlessly executing that arm move that Ellen Page has been trying to imitate! See, March is when the events for young socialites really begin in earnest. Last night saw the Riverkeeper benefit at the Hearst Tower, hosted by the ecocharity’s junior council. Scheduled next week is the American Museum of Natural History’s Winter Dance and the Frick’s Young Fellows’ Ball. A quick peek down the list of all the host committees show that, this year, all the fun is dominated by one set of friends. Claire Bernard, Maggie Betts, and Jamie Johnson are on the committees of all three of the above events, and they are joined here and there by Amanda Hearst, Hudson Morgan, Annie Churchill, Andrew Black, Derek Blasberg, and Byrdie Bell. This is a little bit of a shift away from the Tinsley-Dabney-Lydia axis, but it’s essentially the same gang. Which isn’t surprising, only…where’s Olivia Palermo?
The pretty young socialite, who tried so hard last year to make her way onto the e-mail lists that eventually morph into the host committees for events such as these, seems to have slowed her efforts. Either that or the old troop above is just being more aggressive about ignoring her. (The only thing worse than being e-mailed about is not being e-mailed about, right?) After all, getting people to put their names on the invitations to these events is more about making sure you have asses to put in all the rented chairs than about prestige. “There’s such a glut of events around now that you need to have people on the committees signed in with blood to make sure they go,” explained one regular event host. “If it’s a big committee list, they know that they’ve got that many people buying tickets.” Wait, the point wasn’t to try to get people to come in the hopes that they’d be able to smoke out Arden Wohl? We’ve been buying tickets for all the wrong reasons!
So what’s Olivia up to? There’s no better way than to ask, right? “I’m finishing up with school at the New School,” she told us at a cocktail party for New Yorkers for Children last night at Bally. “I have about a year left, and then I’m going into acting lessons, and we’ll see how that goes.” Palermo has already spent some time in Los Angeles auditioning for roles. She’s studying media at school, and she explains that she hasn’t totally dropped from the social circuit. “Next week, I have the Museum of the City of New York, which I’m on the committee for, and that’s pretty much it,” she explained. “I just go to the things I really support. I try not to go to everything, be selective.” That sounds so, well, reasonable. Go, Olivia! Looks like her year of getting bullied by the likes of Tinsley Mortimer has given her a good perspective on social life.
But what are we going to do without her? Who will fill her aggressive little Louboutins? Never fear — there are some new faces on the scene who are climbing the ranks, and they’re cute (if bloodthirsty). Suddenly, it’s like Kipton Cronkite (related somehow to Walter) is everywhere, promoting his Kipton art initiative, and, of course, there is Emily Brill (daughter of media mogul Steve), who’s trying to explode onto the scene riding on a wave of blonde hair and blog posts. And Bobby Kennedy III (one of those), who is gorgeous enough to ensure he gets in all the right photos. What will the old gang think of these newcomers? Will they welcome them with open arms? Or will they jab them with pointy elbows? Only time, and money, will tell.
Related: The Number One Girl [NYM]
