Season (society)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.
Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

The social season or Season has historically referred to the annual period when it is customary for members of the social and political elite of society to hold debutante balls, dinner parties, and large charity events, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was also the appropriate time to be resident in the city rather than in the country, in order to attend such events. The social season typically occurs during the warmer summer months.

1870 cartoon satirizing the coming of the London season

1 The Season in London
2 The Season in the United States
3 The Season in literature
4 Further reading
5 External references

[edit] The Season in London

The original Season is the "London Season", coinciding with the sitting of Parliament, and beginning some time after Christmas, and running until midsummer (ie. around late June). Historically, the Season comprised innumerable social and charity engagements, including lavish balls and dinners and evenings at the opera or theatre. The most exclusive events were held at the town mansions of leading members of the aristocracy. In effect, this series of events served as a courtship ritual for the children of marriageable age of the nobility and upper gentry. The season began with the presentation of debutantes to the monarch.

The traditional season went into decline after the First World War, when many aristocratic families gave up their London mansions. From this time on an increasing number of society events took place at public venues, making it harder to maintain social exclusivity. The presentation of debutantes at court ended in the nineteen fifties. The events which today comprise the London social season are increasingly hosted or sponsored by large companies (ie. "corporate hospitality").

Although there is no official organisation of the season, according to the peerage guide Debrett's, the season runs from April to August and includes the events listed below.

Arts: Edinburgh Fringe — Glyndebourne — The Proms — Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Horticulture: Chelsea Flower Show
Equestrianism: Royal Ascot — Glorious Goodwood — Badminton — The Grand National — The Royal Windsor Horse Show
The Crown: Trooping the Colour — The Garter Service
Sport: The Boat Race — Henley Royal Regatta — Wimbledon — Cowes Week — The Lord's Test Match

Although several of these events are not actually held in London, the organisers of most events attempt to avoid date clashes, so it is generally possible to visit all of them in the same year (given sufficient leisure time, disposable income and stamina).

[edit] The Season in the United States

Many large American cities have a more-or-less official social season, although only those persons on the social register may be aware of its existence. In the US, timing of the social season is adapted to the climate, rather than to the sitting of Congress, and may start as early as the autumn and end in the early summer when the upper classes traditionally fled the hot and sticky cities for the so-called camps of the Adirondacks, seaside retreats such as the Hamptons, or, in California, the Napa and Sonoma Valleys.

In New York, the opening of the Metropolitan Opera in September is a major event of the early social season; in Los Angeles, it is the Las Madrinas debutante ball; and in San Francisco, the Opening Night Gala of the San Francisco Opera.