They don’t call New York City the centre of the world for nothing. For decades, the movers and shakers of the Big Apple have shaped our world’s music, art, fashion and society, introducing seismic political, economic and cultural shifts that have influenced the entire planet.
Now, a new crop of social mavens have emerged to take on the baton for the next generation – DDW takes a look at who they are and why you should keep an eye out for them:
Alessandra Ford Balazs
Born the heiress to both a hotel and a model-agency empire via her parents André Balazs (hotelier owner of Chateau Marmont, The Mercer, Chiltern Firehouse, The Standard Hotels and many others around the globe) and Katie Ford (founder and former CEO of Ford Models); Alessandra is cool-kid royalty. Despite being a regular fixture of the NY and international scene, she has not rested on her laurels; instead making her own way as an actor and making a splash on screen alongside box-office regular such as Ben Stiller.
Charles Schaffer
Anna Wintour’s son is the chief resident at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. No doubt inspired by his father, a fellow doctor and world-renown child physiatrist, Charles has been fighting the good fight on behalf of his fellow New Yorkers, staying on the front lines of the battle against the Corona virus.
Quincy Morgan
Daughter of RHWONY reality-star Sonja Morgan and financier John Adams Morgan (heir to the J.P. Morgan banking fortune and descendent of US President John Adams), Quincy is anything but a regular young New Yorker. Raised in the South of France and Greenwich Connecticut, she is a painter dedicated to bringing a lifetime of colourful experiences to her canvases. We may well see her works at the family Morgan Library and Museum soon.
Caroline Vreeland
Although Caroline (granddaughter of the famed Vogue editor Diana Vreeland) recently married Mural Festival founder Nicolas Rico (at Art Basel, of course) in the City, she has been breaking hearts all over New York and Palm Beach for years. As a singer, her blend of bluesy pop music has an ethereal resonance as she plays with themes of love and heartbreak that are as catchy as they are deep.
Sean Gale Burke
If the Ralph Lauren brand could birth a person, Sean would be the likely preppy result. Am accomplished photographer and marketer (fittingly for Ralph Lauren Polo), he brings old-world New England style to everything he does. A well-known face in across Madison Avenue and the Hamptons alike, you can find Burke perfectly dressed in pastels any day of the year. No doubt he will continue to be the standard-bearer for RL for many years to come…maybe even its future President?
Tatiana Schlossberg
Speaking of Presidents, Tatiana is the Granddaughter of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Onassis and the daughter of Caroline Kennedy and designer Edwin Schlossberg. Her society credentials run deep but with a Yale education and a talent for the pen, she has steered away from the limelight, dedicating herself to writing for The New York Times on environmental reporting.
Peter Brant II
The son of famous/infamous businessman and art collector Peter M. Brant and supermodel Stephanie Seymour; Peter Jr. is anything but a wallflower. Born into the limelight from the start, he has embraced his notoriety and true-blue NYC ancestry (his father was close with Andy Warhol and his ‘Factory’ gang, to say nothing of Seymour’s indelible stamp on the NYC fashion scene) by pursuing entrepreneurship and modelling.
A cornerstone of young society in the City, he is also a champion for gender-fluidity alongside his younger brother Harry, launching a unisex cosmetics line aimed at the gender-fluid youth movement with Mac Cosmetics.