Social Climbing on Gilded Stairs

This week, Lucy and Ben take a trip to gilded age New York and rub shoulders with robber baron-socialites, the Vanderbilts. They examine a battery-powered costume and reflect on the trauma and tantrums of being one of the privileged ‘400’ to critique the parallels between America’s pioneering plutocrats and today’s popularity-seeking pin-ups. Just how does Kim Kardashian measure up against Cornelius ‘The Commodore’ Vanderbilt?

References

• Gilded New York: Design, Fashion, and Society, ed Donald Albrecht and Jeannine Falino (The Monacelli Press, 2013).
• What Would Mrs Astor Do? The Essential Guide to the Manners and Mores of the Gilded Age, by Ceceila Tichi (2018)
• Zac Posen's light-up dress
• Queen of Versailles, dir Lauren Greenfield (2012)