By Drew Grant 6/15/12 3:30pm

galas

Maria Cornejo, Cindy Sherman, and Nicole Phelps at the WSC Gala (Patrick McMullan)

Sea Lions, Cindy Sherman, and Tinsley Mortimer at the Wildlife Conservation Society Gala

“Sea lions are covered by a fine layer of fur,” a woman announced over the loudspeaker as guests noshed on appetizers of smoked salmon and potato gratin at the Central Park Zoo Thursday evening.

“They are mammals and they eat mackerel,” The Observer exclaimed, having learned a similar speech by heart during a recent run-in with dolphins in Jamaica.

“Whoa, how did you know that?” A reporter from The Wall Street Journal asked us. We were just that good.

As part of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s 2012 gala–this year the theme was The Coasts of Patagonia, prompting more than one party-goer to ask where in the world that was–a pre-show involving the sea lions doing tricks was par the course. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 4/12/12 9:00am

the eight-day week

Tinsley Mortimer (Getty Images)

To Do Thursday: Fur a Good Cause

Were any moths harmed in the filming of The Moth Diaries? We know just the people to ask! Designer (in theory) Isaac Mizrahi is hosting the ASPCA Bergh Ball, where he is to joined by novelist Tinsley Mortimer and munchy monger Dylan Lauren in raising funds for the prevention of cruelty to animals. The whole Read More

By Tatiana Boncompagni 4/05/12 8:00am

As Seen in SCENE

Good Days by Unruly Heir

Tattle Tales: Tinsley’s Tell-All Tome

There are a few things you don’t expect to see on the cover of a novel. Socialite Tinsley Mortimer’s name is probably one of them. And yet next month, Mortimer, the “It” girl-turned-handbag designer-turned-reality star, will publish her first novel, Southern Charm, about a “Southern Belle thrust into the frenzied world of high society in New York City.” In other words, it’s a roman à clef, and not a very veiled one at that. The book’s plot couldn’t any more closely mirror Mortimer’s real life (or that which she is somewhat public about) without having to be marketed as a memoir. Read More

By Drew Grant 4/04/12 9:00am

Menace to Society

SAVE VENICE Inc. A Night on the Lido

Menace to Society: Tea with Tinsley

As I approached the steps of the Plaza, a frightening thought occurred to me: I couldn’t remember what Tinsley Mortimer looked like. Of course I’d seen her before. Who hadn’t? But there are so many pretty blonde socialites these days, they all sort of blend together. It didn’t help that Ms. Mortimer had taken a two-year sabbatical from the New York social scene, and was only recently reemerging. Maybe I should just quickly check my smartphone for her photo…no, that would be too obvious, what if she turned out to be standing right next to me? Read More

By Ted Gushue 4/03/12 3:05pm

Party Report

8 Photos

Save Venice's A Night On The Lido

The UES Saves Venice While Decimating a Cache Of Champagne

Midway through a Google chat at around 5 p.m. yesterday afternoon, The Observer caught wind of the Save Venice gala, and that it would be happening that very night – an illustrious masquerade that was “un-missable,” at least in the parlance of our chat companion.

Donning our tuxedo, we rushed out the door and picked up the cheapest harlequin mask we could find at Ricky’s – we had been told the event was mask-mandatory, a remarkable understatement considering the extravagance of the oceanic costumes seen strutting about the red carpet at 583 Park Avenue. Read More

By Drew Grant 3/23/12 11:02am

Philanthropy

7 Photos

634680689350140000940482_55_Frick_20120322_SMM_010

The Frick Collection’s Annual Young Fellows (and Ladies!) Ball

(Claiborne Swanson Frank, Joann Pailey, Olivia Chantecaille, Sloan Overstrom, Lydia Fenet, Clare McKeon)

If a tree falls in the woods and no one puts it on the Frick’s benefit board, does it make a sound? Certainly not a splash: the art museum boasts some of the biggest names on the charity circuit, and their Young Fellows Ball boasts some of the cheapest tickets to rub elbow with these European art swans. Read More

By Drew Grant 3/15/12 4:50pm

Socialite

Custo Barcelona - Front Row - Fall 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

The New York Times’s Edith Wharton-ing of Tinsley Mortimer

Today’s Thursday Styles in The New York Times profiled  Tinsley Mortimer, former reality show star and legitimate socialite.  Speaking of which: can’t we think of a better term to apply to her? “Socialite” almost seems too ubiquitous a rank–like hipster–to qualify anymore, since anyone who is photographed doing anything above 43rd st. is now deemed a socialite. Though Ms. Mortimer might embody the definition of the word as “a person who attends many fashionable upper-class social events and who is well known because of this.”

Especially now that Ms. Mortimer has returned from a self-imposed hibernation to re-brand herself. Tinsley returns! Read More