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| Catherine Deneuve |
“Anyone with a fair figure,
ready cash, fashion savvy and a safecracker's nerve can buy the best that Fifth
Avenue has to offer on Seventh Avenue at half the price. The girls at Condé
Nast and Harper's Bazaar have known this for years. Likewise the ladies who
lunch at Restaurant X, although they'd rather be banished from the banquette
than admit they got their Beenes and Blasses on a bargain basis." – Merle
Rubine, 1970 New York Magazine
This is the quote that
brought the term “Ladies who Lunch” into our vernacular and the term has been
used ever since to describe women who lived leisurely lives, served on the
boards of museums and charities, and orchestrated the social calendar of the
high society crowd.
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| Marie-Helene de Rothschild & Mariella Agnelli |
“Power is the ability to do
good things for others.” ― Brooke Astor
Many times when people
think of ladies who lunch or high society women there's a condescending
undertone associated with the term as if these women flittered their time away
with meaningless activities, but I beg to differ and here's why. Although I'm
sure some of the things they're known for excessive shopping, neuroses
involving tea and sandwiches with the crust cut off I admire their respect for
and preservation of tradition and the history of our society. Not to ignore
their calculated sometimes-ruthless attempts to ensure their social success and
shut out those from their world they didn't feel fit, there is a pride in
American culture that is endearing, and besides nobody's perfect. Many of these
women started their careers at fashion magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s
Bazaar as editors and purveyors of style and used their experience to navigate
their way through society with great style and poise. I especially like the stories of
Brooke Astor, Gloria Guiness, Annette de la Renta and those like them because
they all were married to very successful, influential men yet established their
own significance in society through their ability to network and their
commitment to various social causes. Nothing is wrong obtaining power it's
what you do with it that matters and I admire these women for how they used
everything they had to enrich their life and the lives of others.
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| Babe Paley |
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