Celebutante
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Celebutante is a portmanteau of the words celebrity and debutante. It is generally used to refer to a young woman from a rich family who has received a large amount of media attention, primarily for her wealth and lifestyle. The term is currently used to describe individuals such as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in entertainment journalism.[1] However its coinage can be traced back to a 1939 Walter Winchell society column in which he used the word to describe prominent society debutante Brenda Frazier.[2] The word appeared again in a 1985 Newsweek article about New York City's clubland celebrities, focusing on the lifestyle of James St. James and Dianne Brill, who was crowned "Queen of the Night" by Andy Warhol.[3]
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[edit] Individuals who have been called celebutantes
- Lisa Edelstein
- James St. James[4]
- Casey Johnson (heiress to Johnson & Johnson fortune)[5]
- Paris Hilton
- Nicole Richie
- Edie Sedgwick[6]
[edit] Books, films and television shows about celebutantes
- Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland (1999 memoir by James St. James)
- Party Monster (2003 film based on the novel Disco Bloodbath)
- Party Monster: The Shockumentary (1998 documentary)
- Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose (2004 book by Paris Hilton and Merle Ginsberg)
- Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All to Me (2005 book by Paris Hilton and Merle Ginsberg)
- Factory Girl (2006 film about the life of Edie Sedgwick)
- The Simple Life (television show starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie)
- Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive (television show)
- The Gastineau Girls (television show)
- Keeping Up With The Kardashians (television show)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
Look up celebutante in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- ^ ABC News describes Paris Hilton as a "celebutante"
- ^ Winchell, Walter. "On Broadway (syndicated column)", Daily Times-News, April 7,1939.
- ^ "James St. James profile", Newsweek, June 3, 1985.
- ^ Kurth, Peter. "Disco Bloodbath", Salon.com, August 18, 1999.
- ^ Andrews, Suzanna. "Heiress vs. Heiress", Vanity Fair, September, 2006.
- ^ Hartman, Darrell. "Separating the Myth From the Reel", The New York Sun, March 30, 2007.
