Meet the New It-girl Tribes
Stylist, art poseur, eco-bunny and socialite - the youth of today are rich, indulged and won't get a proper job
EURO SOCIALISTA
As the offspring of industry movers and shakers or Euro princes, the Euro Socialista bypasses any hint of an ugly-duckling stage and flies the nest as a ready-made swan. In Balmain. She’s papped at fashion shows and hailed as a socialite, but what she really wants is to be taken seriously. By day, to be found “working” at Marc Jacobs and Vogue (thanks to internships secured by magazine-editor maman) or staging photography exhibitions in warehouse spaces; by night, she takes to the decks, where she has pioneered the play-stop-play style of DJing. Mixing is so — ’ow you say? — passé.Poster people: Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Charlotte Casiraghi, the Dellals
What they say they’re doing: Working
What they’re actually doing: Work experience. Three days a week. Afternoons only
What they’d really like to be doing: Summering on the boat off Sardinia
ECO BUNNY
Forget the fast life, you’ll find the Eco-bunny foraging the fine-cheese stalls at farmers’ markets and bartering for bouquets at Columbia Road flower market, in east London, instead. This tribe has already grown weary of partying and turned its attentions to a wholesome home life. Gardening with the long-term boyfriend, and hosting barbecues and film nights have replaced queuing for clubs and kebabs for a brief former party animal. Now it’s all about her new-found ethical credentials.
Poster people: Tamsin Omond, Pearl Lowe, Savannah Miller.
What they say they’re doing: Only going to Ibiza this summer for the yoga retreat.
What they’re actually doing: Not much yoga. And working in publishing. While they don’t write their novel on alternative living.
What they’d really like to be doing: Living off the proceeds of their wildly successful ethical clothing line in a huge eco-friendly pile in the country. With a husband who runs a green hedge fund.
CREATIVE ASSISTANT
Never knowingly underdressed, and permanently overladen with bags, camera cases, tripods and coffees, the “creative assistant” (read photographer/stylist’s lackey) is recognisable by her platinum plumage and early acquisition of next season’s shoes. Living off Cup-a-Soups in order to fit into those sample sizes, she attacks her duties — memory-card provider, tit-taper, Starbucks-fetcher — with equal seriousness and barely perceptible enthusiasm. Smiling is so last season.
Poster people: Anyone working for Katie Grand
What they say they’re doing: Styling a shoot with an “up-and-coming” photographer
What they’re actually doing: Getting coffee for someone who is styling a shoot with an “up-and-coming” photographer
What they’d really like to be doing: Shopping
ART POSEUR
A perennial presence in London’s art schools, this sloaney subset is fast migrating. While the timid seek out their bohemian education in the friendly environs of Chelsea College of Art, the more adventurous Art Poseur, or Raartie, has been sighted as far afield as — shock, horror — southeast London, heading to Camberwell and deepest, darkest New Cross. She likes the frisson of visiting local kebab shops and pubs (everyone is sooooo friendly), and frequenting Hoxton art openings. Just don’t tell her new friends that she actually weekends in Gloucestershire.
Poster people: Dasha Zhukova, Olympia Scarry, Tyrone Wood
What they say they’re doing: Creating an art installation that explores notions of beauty. Via the medium of mirrors
What they’re actually doing: Work experience at White Cube
What they’d really like to be doing: Travelling around in the back of Dasha’s PJ
from timesonline february 3, 2010
