Debbie Bancroft spends her days amongst the upper echelons of New York and Southampton yet considers the word “socialite” to be “meaningless”. She takes the view that “anyone with enough cash can hire a second rate PR agent – who will get them into enough pictures” but has herself “managed to become a fixture at fashion shows, movie premieres and fundraisers without being mega-wealthy” (according to The Wall Street Journal). A resident of “a sprawling Park Avenue pad that once belonged to the Gershwins [and Valentino]”, Finch College educated Bancroft told Page Six that “wife bonuses don’t exist” and that she “doesn’t know anyone who carries [a Birkin bag] under 80” in June 2015. She hates “snobbery, intolerance, selfishness, liver and Dick Cheney” and considers dining at home to be “like a lovefest”.
Two stories to keep beside you
Denis Doble
This party loving, gift bag collecting sort hails from SW18 and is often spotted at the very same gatherings as his Facebook friend David Pun.
Sara Vestin Rahmani
The Swedish born founder of the Bespoke Bureau staff-to-the-super-rich agency claims to “sound like one of the most British people you’ve ever met”.
Readers have their say
6 comments
She certainly comes out with some funny lines given socialising is her world!!!!!!!!!
A lady who likes to enjoy life. A great addition to the list Matthew.
Fun lady. Regarding socialites though, does a diamond need to be meaningful?
She is a an affable, amusing, woman, who likes socializing and charity work, but her remark about socialites is a throw-away line that comes from a long American tradition of people desperately climbing the social ladder without appearing to be desperate. She echos a tired refrain that money is all that is needed to be acknowledged as a socialite. The same was said of the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and Astors.
Let’s get real. The spending of money is, and always will be, the essential ingredient for entry into American, so-called, “High Society,” and more significantly, maintaining one’s place within it. That is, except for those who work at its fringes: male Interior decorators, party designers, columnists, floral designers. magazine editors, dress designers, models, the Hollywood crowd, “celebrity” chefs and gardeners, These people imagine that working FOR Socialites, magically transforms into BEING Socialites, each vying for the photographer’s lense. . Mrs. Mancroft is exceptionally gifted in this regard; she is one of the most photographed women in New York.
Somehow, she always manages to be in the exact place where the cameras are flicking: fashion shows at which she doesn’t buy and subscription charity events. She cleverly buys her “dress to impress” clothes at outlets, closeouts, sample sales, vintage shops, and she is occasionally given clothes from the designers she reviews and writes about. The optics are that she can appear to be running with the pack, but the fact is she is not. This woman who scorns upstart socialites and the parvenue, exists in a socialite world of her own making … the sidelines of fashion shows and subscription fundraisers. Society to her and her place in relation to it is indeed meaningless.
John I find your comments really interesting. You state what is NOT a socialite, but don’t define what IS a socialite in this current age. When I was 20 years of age I read Jilly Coopers “Class” and she had clear lines drawn on who belonged where in the social class pecking order. This book though was written ages ago and we have to admit things have changed because as we all know nothing can stay the same. When I think of “high society” I think of the Mitford girls (I used to read their books) and the 1920’s 30’s eras were a time of high society and easily identifiable. Not sure about today though. More and more foreign wealth like never before and some might say completely vulgar. The old money types are being swept aside to make way for these “new money” types. Further ahead we will not know the difference. For example does a socialite have pretend jobs to play at while really not at all needing to work. What of the people on Made in Chelsea? Are they socialites or just new money if they are not in Debretts or Burkes peerage or whatever. Now do you see what I mean?
Another lunatic with her head in the clouds!!!!!!!