That first guy's pants are way too small for him. That last woman's shoes don't really go with the outfit and the second guy is just showing off that he's been to Australia.
And then there’s social climbing. “A lot of families, especially new money, are really concerned about their children getting close to other very affluent children,” Greenhouse says. “How do they do that? They find a superstar nanny who already has lots of contacts, lots of other nanny friends who work with other high profile families.” There are the intangibles too. “I’m working with a phenomenal Caribbean nanny right now,” Greenhouse says. “She is drop-dead beautiful. Her presentation is such that you’re proud to have her by your children’s side at the most high-profile events.”
And then there’s social climbing. “A lot of families, especially new money, are really concerned about their children getting close to other very affluent children,” Greenhouse says. “How do they do that? They find a superstar nanny who already has lots of contacts, lots of other nanny friends who work with other high profile families.” There are the intangibles too. “I’m working with a phenomenal Caribbean nanny right now,” Greenhouse says. “She is drop-dead beautiful. Her presentation is such that you’re proud to have her by your children’s side at the most high-profile events.”
Die in a fire.
"You know, she's not too, well, um—what's the word I'm looking for?—urban, if you follow me."
ON a Thursday evening last month, Harry Brant and Peter Brant II sat on the stoop outside the Jitrois boutique in SoHo. In a cross-platform coup, they were hosting an Interview magazine fete for the clothing label, a new advertiser.
It was the brothers’ first promotional gig for Interview and a savvy foray in utilizing their increasing fame. They were decked out in Jitrois jeans (leather for Peter, denim for Harry). Peter’s outfit was rounded out with an Armani shirt. His slicked-back pomaded hair accentuated his strong-jawed model looks. Harry was working a designer armed forces look in a Louis Vuitton military jacket and Saint Laurent combat boots. Harry’s style has evolved.
“I used to only wear overalls, Alaïa T-shirts and my mom’s Manolo Blahnik loafers,” he said. “That was my uniform.”
Harry, 15, and his 18-year-old brother are the well-spoken product of cross-pollination of the Übermenschen. Their father, Peter M. Brant, is the industrialist, art collector, polo enthusiast and publisher of Interview. Their mother is the supermodel Stephanie Seymour.
Both are wisp thin. Peter’s deadpan, detached demeanor contrasts with Harry’s livelier, impish quality, a witty rejoinder ever ready. The Brant brood is rounded out by a younger sister and an older brother in college, plus five half-siblings from Mr. Brant’s previous marriage to Sandra Brant, but Peter and Harry are the nearest in age and have always been close.
Despite their youth, the boys are omnipresent on the social scene and staples of Patrick McMullan party photographs. Their every move is tracked on assorted fashion blogs. Earlier this year, Refinery29 touted, “Meet NYC’s Most Beautiful Teenage Brothers.” Their comings and goings are chronicled on the New York magazine blog The Cut.
“Everybody loves celebrity children,” said Stephanie Trong, the editorial director of The Cut. “But perhaps the biggest appeal is that these guys live in the lap of luxury and they’re extremely open about their exploits. How many teens go to couture shows or fashion parties, much less document them on their joint Twitter feed, in such a hilarious, uncensored way?”
The Brants have almost 70,000 Twitter followers, a fraction of whom appear to be their age.
“Most of my tweets happen between 1 and 5 in the morning,” Harry said. “I’m a night owl, and random thoughts pop into my head. I’ll be watching ‘Mommie Dearest,’ and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, my God, Joan Crawford is amazing.’ ”
This sets off a film tangent.
“ ‘Cocktail’ is the best movie of all time,” Peter said.
“You hate ‘Troop Beverly Hills,’ but you love ‘Cocktail?’ ” Harry countered. “You are a tacky European man!”
But this was a brief low-culture aside. For a teenager, Peter Brant can sound like a been-there-done-that dowager countess, not that his Old World pretensions aren’t refreshing in the Internet age.
“I’m interested in 18th-century furniture, late-19th-century art, the Arts and Crafts movement and history of the mid- to late-19th century,” he said. “I bounce around a lot, but I usually stick with the same three centuries.”
Harry has similarly lofty passions. “I become obsessed with things like DNA or old Valentino shows or the Qing dynasty,” he said. “I have a love of opulence.”
Peter interjected, “He gets that from me.”
Harry admitted, “I definitely learned that from you.”
The brothers, who live with their family in Greenwich, Conn., seem well on their way to transitioning from Internet to general fame — all for just being ... well, fabulous. They are the perfect harbingers of the “It boy,” young enough that it isn’t emasculating that they don’t yet have jobs, and fashion-forward enough that they don’t water down their straight-from-the-runway looks.
It could be said that the Brants have taken the torch from the Hilton sisters, that they are the next generation of to-the-manner-born siblings in the public eye.
Fuck you for wanting us to care about these people, New York Times.
Not everyone was ready to put it all out there, of course, but this was the vanguard. Call them the Gatsbabies: three dandyish gentlemen—but straight, mind you, very, very straight—who seemed to come out of nowhere. In this, they were not unlike the former James Gatz himself, on whom they unconsciously styled themselves, the emperor of West Egg, the subject of a million high school book reports and any minute now, a glistening slice of Oscar bait starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Baz Luhrmann.
“They’re products of the zeitgeist right now, and that zeitgeist is one of social media and ability to be your own kind of publicist,” said Rachelle Hruska, the founder of Guest of a Guest, which has helped cultivate the personas of both Mr. Lee and Mr. Brady.
We saw a preview for that Luhrmann mess just last night. It looks like a high budget, glittering travesty, and will likely make an absolute fortune. About the only things I actually recognized from the book are the long dock and the optometrist's sign.
I'm optimistic about the new Great Gatsby film because the casting looks pretty good. It does look to be a bit OTT on the roaring twentiesness. I recently watched the Robert Redford version, which was too flat and slow, I think. There was a more recent version on tv that was better. It had Paul Rudd and Miro Sorvino.
Not everyone was ready to put it all out there, of course, but this was the vanguard. Call them the Gatsbabies: three dandyish gentlemen—but straight, mind you, very, very straight—who seemed to come out of nowhere. In this, they were not unlike the former James Gatz himself, on whom they unconsciously styled themselves, the emperor of West Egg, the subject of a million high school book reports and any minute now, a glistening slice of Oscar bait starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Baz Luhrmann.
“They’re products of the zeitgeist right now, and that zeitgeist is one of social media and ability to be your own kind of publicist,” said Rachelle Hruska, the founder of Guest of a Guest, which has helped cultivate the personas of both Mr. Lee and Mr. Brady.
Yes, I saw that also. I have to admit to only seeing that and the brothers article because of Drew Magary's posts about them on Gawker (he's moving on up from Deadspin!)
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