Tinsley Mortimer March 7, 2007
Posted by 68thandpark in Profiles.trackback
Tinsley Mortimer was born Tinsley Randolph Mercer in Richmond, Virginia to George and Dale Tatum Mercer. Her great-grandmother’s maiden surname was Tinsley; her middle name Randolph is a reference to her ancestor Thomas Jefferson; and their family is descended from John Mercer, the writer of the first Code of Virginia. She spent her childhood at Graymont, the Mercer family house in Richmond. Tinsley was presented at the Bal du Bois and led that debutante ball with her only sister Dabney Winston Mercer.
She showed an intense aptitude in tennis, having been nationally ranked, and was trained in Florida by Nick Bollettieri. She finished her secondary education at The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. She graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University with a baccalaureate degree in art history.
Tinsley stayed in New York and went to work at Vogue, where she was the assistant of editor Amy Astley, and left her post there to plan events for Harrison & Shriftman until marrying her high school sweetheart Robert Livingston Mortimer, also known as Topper, in 2002.
Her husband is the son of Senga and John Jay Mortimer. His family is considered one of New York’s oldest, establishing themselves in the state in the seventeenth century. They are descended from the colonial leader Robert Livingston; John Jay, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court; and Henry Morgan Tilford, a former president of Standard Oil of California. Topper is a hedge fund executive at Guggenheim Partners.
Beyond being New York’s preeminent socialite, Tinsley is a fashion designer. She launched her own handbag line, Samantha Thavasa by Tinsley Mortimer, in winter 2006 with the American flagship store in her very own neighborhood, the Upper East Side of New York. In summer 2007, she was installed as the beauty ambassador of Christian Dior. In fall 2007, she introduced her first clothing collection, Riccimie by Tinsley Mortimer, which is sold exclusively in Japan.
Tinsley is a beautiful girl inside and out. Anyone who has ever met her loves her. Do not fall for unwell-born girls.
I am so glad to see a site which recognizes REAL socialites. Tinsley and Dabney are lovely girls and direct descendants of Thomas Jefferson. I have met both girls in Newport and was very impressed with their charm and manners.
GO TINSLEY!!!
Excellent bio! Tinsley deserves all of her success.
OH GOD.
Socialite 101: Tinsley’s aunt (through marriage) was Babe Paley, one of the famous Cushing sisters.
I just moved here and have recently caught on to the “socialite” craze. I didn’t know anything about Tinsley beyond her clothes in Vogue until I read this. And by the way there are many well dressed girls in New York but Tinsley does have a very cute, feminine style about her.
Congratulations on this new site. However, I find it incredibly distasteful that you made your premiere with Tinsley. I would have suggested someone classier… oh wait, in the circus of New York, Tinsley is the classiest!
i actually like tinsley. she has a really good fashion sense. chanel, lanvin, dior… she always knows how to work it!
Tell me this is a joke.
p.s. people ALWAYS forget that tinsley was a voguetta too right after columbia. she is more than just a girl with an endless credit limit on her amex!
I like Tinsley Mortimer. She’s adorable and that pale dress is divine!
she was at vogue less than 6months and harrison-shriftman less than 6months… i think that makes her a socialite automatically
actually delovely she was at h&s for about two years.
she was at harrison & shriftman for over a year.
What a strange parallel universe I seemed to have stumbled across.
I’m so glad the government cut the funding for all those poor elderly people’s programs so they can give you a giant tax cut. It makes me proud to be an American.
All idiots. These are “made up” socialites. Tinsley Mortimer is a commoner just like the rest of us. When the revolution comes she goes first.
Didn’t Andre Agassi go to her tennis school?
I have a question - why do people care so much about socialites? After reading this biography, it seems to me she has accomplished nothing in her life except for being seen by photographers. Is that worthy of posting?
Why is it that New York and Los Angeles are so keen on people who are famous for no reasons?
I’m glad I live in Chicago.
Tinsley,
If you read this, I admire your style. In fact, I style my hair and make up like yours. I see you as an inspiration, as I just turned 30. I will look forward to seeing more pictures.
Tennis and equestrian skills. Along with all of the private schools, she’s another product of the rigid Code of the Upper Class.
People, people, puleeeeeeeeeez!!!!!!!!
Hey Tinsely—you go, ho!! You’re hot.
i’ve just recently met tinsley, and i really enjoyed her. she was very down to earth, and quite genuine, confident, at ease, and actually lots of fun. she has a terrific sense of humour and is making the most out of her life.
I am from Richmond also. I don’t know if you were reading when the George Mercer letter blew up, but it seemed like a lot of the meanest comments came from Richmonders. Really, shouldn’t we be trying to make our own look their best? I think people are just mad because Tinsely is the St. Catherine’s girl who made it (at least out of Virginia), while many of us are still stuck driving Suburbans up and down Libbie Ave. day in and day out. Which is fine if that’s what everyone wants, but it doesn’t make Tinsley wrong.
This whole NYC socialite thing seems so very vacuous, so middle school. You go, Tinsley!
LG I love your comment!!! We are jelous of the clothes and that we are stuck in those damn Suburbans’s that need gas every other day.
I say “go Tinsley” too. A lot of girls love to gossip and bash her around here, and they do not even know her (I do not either…I just find this all entertaining). I would not even know to look her up until I heard about the thing that her father wrote in the tabloids. What a pity.
At least she has an ivy-league degree, which is quite impressive considering all the other “socialites’” pedigrees…
Are these girls worth anything in the grand scheme of things? Aside from spending copious amounts of money on trivialities like champagne facials, are they really leaving anything behind aside from brats who will continue their lifestyles and being food for worms or fertilizer?
Girls, get some advanced degrees and put your brains to work in order to improve conditions in this world. Spending on $10 000/plate charities and showing up in $30 000 dresses is doing nothing for no one except feeding this vulgar celebrity culture which the Hilton sisters inaugurated. Take a cue from Angelina Jolie and go work in refugee camps and stuff.
Honestly!
Who in their right mind would name a child Tinsley? Who in their right mind would care what someone named Tinsley was all about? That is about as worthy as being concerned with what Paris Hilton is all about. NEWS FLASH::: no one cares
Metro West - you’re so stupid. as a southerner, i can tell you that the tinsleys were pretty big. tinsley was her grandparents last name. people in the south always use last names for their kids. i know lots of peytons, armisteads, carringtons, etc. — girls and boys.
Catherine S. is right- it is totally normal in the south to name your children last names. It is NOT considered particularly pretentious either. It is simply a way of showing respect for family.
This is lovely!
I am composing a novel and came across this site by accident while researching the names “Mortimer Livingston / Livingston Mortimer.”
Move over Paris Hilton here comes Tinsley Mortimer is a good way of course!
Look for her in the “Manny” video on YouTube…it should be hilarious!
Does she ride in a “Bentley”??.. Yes, so move over biatch!
was just reading online about the floods in UK and surprise, surprise, in a map of the area flooded was a small town called Tinsley. Well now the origins become clear. Where the town of Dabney is, is anyone’s guess!
You plebians obsessed with this stuff need to wrap your mind around some real issues. You’re wasting your time. This site is a good argument for Socialism.
I’m from Richmond and about to marry one of Tinsley’s distant cousins. Let me tell all of the cynics and haters of Tinsley, that she is a nice girl from a nice family! She is smart and well educated, you do not get into Columbia if you are an idiot.
P.S. Tinsley is a family name, it has been in the family for generations. It is a beautiful name and I’m sure she is proud to have it!
She’s pretty and stylish. Love her already!
Gals like Tinsley are a New York neccesity.
Perrenial and forever on
Lexington, Park and Madison
Shining in the rain
To shop for a trifle or two
bright against the gray
Thanks for the vision
You brightened up our day!
You go Tinsley!! You are beautiful and smart and everyone else is just jealous!!