What “It” Takes August 14, 2008
Posted by 68thandpark in News.trackback
This is a tongue-in-cheek promotional video for Tatiana Boncompagni’s “Gilding Lily,” which comes out through William Morrow/HarperCollins on September 9, 2008. The book follows the exploits of the fictional Lily Bartholomew, a girl from the South who marries into a prominent, old money New York family. Lily, once an “It” girl, loses it all when she loses her figure but carves her own niche in the bon ton again as a lifestyle and fashion reporter.
Tatiana is married to her fellow Georgetown alum, Maximilian Hoover, heir to the Hoover vaccuum fortune and the president of alternative energy company Good Energy. Together they have two young children, Enrico and Valentina.
She is a freelance writer for both the Financial Times and the New York Times’ Style section and has also written for Vogue, InStyle, and Cookie. (One of her most lauded pieces for the Times was about socialite branding.)
Actress Emmy Rossum and a kind of real-life Lily, Tinsley Mortimer, are hosting a party with Vogue, in honor of Tatiana’s book of society allusions the day after the tome’s official launch.
LOL! I LOVE this video!!!
this is amazing. so right on. i love the “instafame” bit. juicy!
She’s really pretty. And she sounds like she has a good humor about all of this. Just for that alone… I am placing an Amazon order right now. Too many girls are too serious about all of this fluff. Go Tatiana! May this book bring you many more successes in life.
this is why i love the italian girls… in love with cute dress too…..
So great….
“Tongue-in-cheek” is an understatement.
Interesting. I wonder how Tinsley feels about being fictionalised by her social friends who write books. I remember in Plum Sykes’ Debutante Divorcee how there was a character named Tinsley and how another character in the book had the last name of Mortimer.
Want to be a socialite? Write a book about them! This pattern is getting all too familiar…
She looks and sounds great. Congrats Tatiana!
I wonder who really wrote it. This broad doesn’t sound like she knows how to put one foot in front of the other.
Actually, she seems like one of the few that have a brain… and a good sense of humor. It’s sad/funny how so much of her recommendations are true. I was on her website and her articles are good and social/fashion/parenting-related. The Times article she wrote more than two years ago really “launched” a lot of girls into a whole other stratosphere in terms of name recognition.
Ballsy to name your character “Lily Bartholomew” in your first book about a socialite in New York City. Is this like “The House of Mirth” for a generation too dumb to read real books?
I just cancelled my subscription to Vogue. Endorsing a paperback? Just checked amazon - this book does not even debut as a hardcover. So much for princesses and hoovers. . .
I’ll bet this princess knows plenty about suction and hoovers.
Rose, I was surprised about that too. Vogue has become ridiculous. Articles about armpit surgery? This is what we’ve been reduced to (supposedly)caring about? Yuck.
I picked up an issue of Vogue not long ago, for the first time in a while, and I could barely read it. It seemed to have a strong sense of self-congratulation about it.
What an opportunist.
there’s been a gaping hole since Plum Syke’s last book that this one is sure to fill… T-minus 26 days and counting!
HaHaHa - I could not agree with you more. I canceled my subscription years ago and only read it when I am having my hair cut. zzzzzzz…..
She says it all — its all about being skinny and mean,
just as we suspected.
Yet ANOTHER book about socialities!?!? Just what everyone needs. What a desperate aim at social press. Doesn’t she realize she is no better or less attention seeking than the people she kisses ass too - oops, I mean, “satirizes?” The joke’s on her, I’m afraid.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Plum’s books. Bergdorf Blondes is one of my favorite easy reads, but let’s get real. The Debutante Divorcee was fun to read, but on the depth level, it ranked at about a 2. And on the Tinsley note, that is actually where I first heard of the Tinz.
This book sounds pretty good, and how shallow are you to complain about hard vs. paper. OMG..you’re going to get the book for cheaper!!! Snobbiness is so not becoming.
I’m literally gagging. I’ve had it with 30-somethings who are still doing the “I’m so cute” routine. Get real, go play with your kids or something. This is just irritating.
did amanda and winston break up???
I’m telling all the girls on this site to boycott this book and others like it….agree with the earlier poster, read LITERATURE and fill your brain with INTELLIGENCE, maybe explore reading about another culture or travel or art or business…all these dumb chick lit books are just for the fat girls in the Midwest sitting home and eating junk food in front of the TV and fantasizing about some Hollywood la-la land vision of New York and socialites.
Babe Paley and her crowd would never write books like this let alone talk on a video like this and sound so stupid
i thought tatiana was better than this…seriously. I would have respected her much more if she had written an interesting historical book, or told a new story that we hadn’t heard ad nauseum
UpperEastSide before you make judgments about a book you’ve never read, I’d like to point out that Boncompagni uses real “LITERATURE” as her inspiration: the title character of Lily Bartholmew is a reference to Lily Bart in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth.
As an advanced reviewer I was sent this book and amazed with its “INTELLIGENCE”- it is teeming with literary allusions and manages to be a fun read while simultaneously incorporating Veblenesque social commentary.
In the future, I’d recommend doing your homework before rushing to dismiss a “dumb chick lit book”
There’s this book a saw on Amazon called “How to Catch a Baller”, or something like that. Basically, what to do to get a ball player (or a rich sports star/actor, ect.) Sounds sleazy, doesn’t it?
This book sounds no better. Don’t attempt to be satirical, at least admit you find it fascinating (and desirable for yourself) & I’ll respect you more, Tatiana.
Ugh.
PS- Way to stereotype gay males. I’m sure the ones that got beat up in high school or disowned by the family, or gay/lesbian actors who lost their careers in the early days when being gay wasn’t cool will SINCERELY appreciate what you just said.
And just because she’s truly disgusted me- I love how the camera stays far away from her face. Guess she’s “not that pretty”.
Really sad that she’s so old, and this is the best thing she can write about…..
I don’t know, I think she’s sort of pretty, and funny. I’d be surprised if she doesn’t get booked on some tv shows because of this. and i like that she’s got a sense of humor about everything and that she’s actually DOING SOMETHING like writing a book instead of just going to parties like the rest of the girls.
PB Baby you clearly don’t get it. She wrote this book precisely so she can have access to this social scene. She is doing exactly what her “branding” article says. Personally, I would rather see people who are doing nothing than going to parties. At least its honest.
She has a glorious rack.
That is all.
Well, I’ll say this for you Gmansachs. You can always be counted on for the consistency of your comments.
UES, you obviously don’t get it. This IS what is considered literature these days. Remember “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and “Mr. Darcy”. Same thing, don’t you think?
Sanddollar, fyi, her “branding” article was about girls using their access to launch careers, not the other way round. and tatiana is married to a hoover and already had access, so she obviously didn’t have to write a book to get it. some people are motivated by other things than social status, you know.
Miss Palm Beach I know people who are Pells and Fields who have no access to this social world, mainly because they are not interested. Anyone who is in this scene is because they WANT IT. It doesn’t just happen.
Anyway, you totally misunderstood the article. It is about how having a “business,” one that is usually 95 percent bullshit, is used as a ruse for social climbing. Look at Zani’s quote. Its just an excuse.
Of course the irony is that T is doing this exact thing. If socials are super nice to her, its only because they want her to write them up. And, in return, T gets access totheir committees and little hosting events don’t you get it?
“Fat girls in the Midwest”?
You really mean ANYONE outside the tiny little circle of mostly meaningless Manhattan “socialites” and their acolytes.
Being married to a Hoover is meaningless. Look at that Russian billionaire girl…she had more money than 10 Hoovers and couldn’t penetrate the inner circles of Manhattan society, just like countless arrivistes before her. Especially among the younger crowd, if you don’t know these girls, didn’t grow up with them going to the right schools and camp and colleges, or know someone who’s got real social pull, forget about it. It’s just an extension of high school, really.
#35 , i get what your saying, but i don’t agree 100%.
I assume you are referring to Anna annisimova, well i dont think she was interested in hanging out with the “social girls”, she is more hip than social, and IS connected. she is not quite like dasha zhukova but she does know people.
And as far as going to school and camp with these girls, yes it helps, but look at the one and only tart of them all Dayssi, Valesca(dirt poor tramp) who married it, and the bisexual rena sindi who had the cash, but didnt know any of these girls until after she opened doors with alot of hardwork, dont forget she was a nouveau riche arab from london.
And speaking of camp…. what are the good ones these days?
I have met Tatiana out a few times. She is as big a striver/social climber as they come, painfully obvious.
Are you kidding me? Don’t waste our time. No new info here. Way to call out Palermo. But kidding aside. nobody wants Topper anyways. As Michael Scott says…Ouchies.
yes school and camp do matter… cristina G and aerin L went to chapin together, helen lee S and alex Kramer to exeter…. this tatiana B is a bit sad. just another hanger-on, trying to make a splash and a buck?
Read a real book people.
Tatiana’s cousin Prince Bante is married to Delphina Lapham, erstwhile BFF of the great Tinz herself, so it should be no surprise that she is hosting the book party…
How about a new picture and new topic PAP? This one is clearly not a winner.
no news among the wanna-bees apparently
why doesnt tatiana use her fathers last name? i have heard that its because he is jewish and she is embarrassed about this.
a reliable source no doubt.
that’s ridiculous. tatiana doesn’t use her dad’s name for the same reason Lydia and Jillian don’t use their dad’s name.