This twice married 91-year old Georgetown, Washington, D.C. socialite and journalist was born in Dusseldorf and died as a result of “strangulation and blunt force injuries” in her own bathroom in August 2011. (more…)
Tag: social
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Viola Herms Drath (1920 – 2011)
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Alice de Janzé (nee Alice Silverthorne and also known as Alice de Trafford and Comtesse de Janzé, 1899 – 1941)
A wild socialite and daughter of an American textile industrialist, de Janzé is one of the best known members of Kenya’s notorious Happy Valley set and was one of those suspected of the 1941 murder of Lord Errol. This hedonist shot herself and her lover, Raymond de Trafford, in the Garde du Nord railway station in Paris in 1927 and though both survived, she is said to have simply gasped: “Take care of my dog!” as onlookers came to their rescue. Pardoned and fined less than the figure set for shooting a deer out of season, this supposed bipolar disorder sufferer subsequently married and then divorced de Stafford before committing suicide with the very gun she’d used previously. She requested that her friends held a cocktail party on her grave. You couldn’t make it up. -
Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun
If being vice president of product development at Tiffany’s isn’t enough, why not help yourself to a little bit more to be sure? That’s just what Georgetown University graduate Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun did after 22 years with the company. Married to a hedge fund manager named Robert Okun, this sociable sort was used to Manhattan galas and weekends in Darien, Connecticut but decided she’d also help herself to $2 million of her employer’s property. Of the 164 items that have never been returned, in July 2013 she commented: “I knew it was illegal to steal, and I did so regardless… I’m very sorry”. -
Peter Wetherell: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
20 questions with Peter Wetherell, Mayfair’s leading estate agent
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
The revival of Mayfair as the best residential village of what is now called “Prime Central London” (PCL).
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
“Better as a friend than an enemy”.
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Miriam “Muffie” Potter Aston
Married to one of the world’s most prominent cosmetic surgeons, this blonde East Coast socialite formerly was the executive vice president of marketing and advertising at Van Cleef & Arpels. Described as a “whirlwind” and a “staple at benefits”, New York based Potter Aston colour codes her closet and makes “it a point to not do anything social” at weekends. -
Crashing has no bounds
Gatecrashers turn up at a memorial service for Michael Winner
The 2005 film Wedding Crashers starring Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Christopher Walken made that breed of crasher famous but an image from today’s Mail Online illustrates another of their number: the memorial crasher. (more…)
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Bhavna Ahluwalia: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times asks fashion management consultant Bhavna Ahluwalia: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
Spirituality.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
That certainly isn’t mine. My motto is: “To love and to belong”.
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Joy Venturini Bianchi
This San Francisco based style icon is famous for her signature oversized black glasses and “natty attire”. A divorced philanthropist, Joy Venturini Bianchi has been involved in the Helpers Community Inc. charity for decades and considers the Balboa Café one of her favourite dining spots. In 2016, she was criticised for the excessive pay cheques she took from Helpers and in 2017, the charity was forced to repay “tens of thousands of dollars”. -
Wally of the Week: Katie Price
Katie Price is hardly a person in a position to give advice to Madonna on cosmetic surgery
Katie Price has racked up six names and three marriages since being born in 1978. Described as “football-boobed” by The Mirror, the glamour model used her weekly column in The Sun today to attack Madonna.
Katie Price is the least likely woman on the planet to be described as having “natural looks” 
Katie Price pictured with her third husband, stripper Kieran Hayler -
Lauren Bush Lauren (nickname: “LBL”)
President George H. W. Bush’s model and designer turned philanthropist granddaughter became “Lauren Lauren” when she married David Lauren, son of Ralph Lauren, in 2011. The union was described as the merger of two families who are “public but private” and of why she named her own fashion label “Lauren Pierce”, Princeton educated Bush Lauren commented: “Obviously my last name is associated with politics. But Pierce is my grandmother’s maiden name and my younger brother’s name. It’s not about downplaying my last name as much as it is about loving Pierce. And my brother is very flattered”. It’s most definitely all in the name.