Dumbo-based Brooklyn imprint Powerhouse Books' latest, Inheriting Beauty, is out. The photos are a bit lifeless, but the most interesting aspect of the book is its subject matter: "the women who rule the world." There are fashion royalty scions and spouses -- Armani, Arnault, Ferragamo, Hermes, Lauren and Herrera -- not to mention your Rockefellers and Hearsts. Captured in their penthouses overlooking the city skyline, or the Thom Bar in NYC, these women seem more powerful than Angelina could ever be.
Given the success of The Real Housewives series on Bravo, not to mention the fact that MTV's The Hills is still going strong after three seasons, it seems the power of the socialite has never been stronger. Many of them have strong entrepreneurial tendencies -- everyone from Tinsley Mortimer to Lydia Hearst has handbag lines (the latter recently collaborated with Puma on one), while Fabiola Beracasa is doing jewels, and Paris Hilton has a clothing line in LA's Kitson boutique. Her sis, Nicky, is showing hers at LA Fashion Week this weekend. In fact, some socialites are among the hardest working girls in Hollywood; Nicole Ritchie, whose fame is directly due to her social life, was out and about two weeks after giving birth, putting in necessary face time at a producer's birthday party. Brooke Astor may be turning in her grave, but even the resolution of the writers' strike may not be enough to put Hollywood back above the modern socialite.
