Jules Kirby has been a fixture in the New York junior set, and for that matter, the junior sets of London and Paris, since she (and we) could remember. She’s the champagne-swilling daughter of power lawyer Roger Kirby, the boyfriend of House & Garden’s Dominique Browning, and with that, carries the notoriety of any Bryan sibling. Her mother Irène Kirby is the former French model and ballerina.

Jules herself is a former model and has done print campaigns for Calvin Klein. She was educated at Hewitt, Indian Mountain, Kent School, and NYU. She’s the quintessential heiress: a month in New York, two weeks in Paris, fall in London, skiing in Gstaad, and January in St. Barth’s, and to boot, she has residences everywhere. At 25, she’s a philanthropist and volunteer, and has particularly supported Operation Smile and Riverkeeper.

Lady Victoria Hervey, Jules Kirby, Ben Mulroney

She is a part of the infamous social set of Prince Harry in London, with Harry’s hunky cousin Lord Frederick Windsor at its very helm. She is a charter member of London’s jeunesse dorée which includes such eligible bachelors as Julian Rufus Isaacs, Viscount Erleigh, Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, Piers Beckwith, and Alexandre de Rothschild and such society beauties and alleged Prince-hunters as Lady Rose Innes-Ker, Lady Emily Compton, Hon. Sophia Fermor-Hesketh, Lady Victoria Hervey, Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, the latter of whom was the stunning blonde Prince William might have left Kate Middleton for according to the British tabloids.

Jules is also a member of the unofficial Junior International Club and has partied with Sandrine Roussel, the sister of Athina Onassis de Miranda, Tatiana Santo Domingo, Fiona and Olympia Scarry, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Camilla Fayed, and Charlotte Casiraghi. She is good friends with the young Monagesques as Olympia is the girlfriend of Pierre Casiraghi, and and she also counts Andrea Casiraghi as one of her closest friends.

Nicole Hanley, Dabney Mercer, Jules Kirby

And in New York, Jules is friends with Dabney Mercer and Nicole Hanley. She has been in the circuit of bright young things like Byrdie Bell, Serena Nikkhah, and Chessy Wilson through her childhood friend, Byrdie’s boyfriend Bingo Gubelmann.

Jules loves to surf and shop. Her favorite fashion houses include Chanel, Dior, and Derek Lam, and she enjoys the designs of social Tory Burch just as well. Our girl loves heels and dies for Louis Vuitton shoes.

We love Jules! She’s gorgeous, glamorous, and completely international. We’re definitely going to watch her as she takes her place in New York’s blooming younger social scene.

Katrina Caro, Catarina DeBarros, Sami Swetra, Jules Kirby, Jena Mullen

And for her hook to Olivia Palermo (because you knew it was coming), Jules is the former girlfriend of Olivia’s cousin Nevan Donahue. She escaped to Belle-Île-en-Mer, an island off of the French coast, after breaking up with Nevan, who is being prosecuted for soliciting a prostitute in Palm Beach, just as Olivia is escaping New York for L.A. Olivia was overheard with a friend in Central Park last weeking saying, “I’ve had enough of this. I can’t handle any of this stuff in New York. I’m moving to L.A.” She aspires to be an actress and “pop singer” in Hollywood, where she has secured an apartment, and has written a draft for a guidebook on how to be a socialite, a la Paris Hilton, who, we’re certain, Olivia is modeling her career after.

Fabiola Beracasa was born Maria Fabiola Beracasa in Caracas, Venezuela to the former Veronica de Gruyter and leather goods magnate and banking heir Alfredo Beracasa.

Fabiola Beracasa
Chanel, October 16, 2006
Photograph © Style.com

Her mother Veronica Hearst was born in Monte Carlo as the daughter of Princess Fatemah Khanoum and the Dutch aristocrat Wilhelmus de Gruyter. She is fluent in six languages and was raised primarily in Lausanne, Switzerland. Her first marriage was to Fabiola’s father Alfredo, the son of Alegria Beracasa, a philanthropic grand dame of Venezuelan society. With Alfredo, Veronica also had a son, Carlos Alejandro Beracasa in 1968. Veronica later married Randolph Apperson Hearst, chairman of the Hearst Corporation and grandfather of thriving socialites Lydia Hearst, Gillian Hearst-Shaw, and Amanda Hearst.

Fabiola is known for her impeccable style. Her mother Veronica was fitted for Balenciaga couture at the age of 16 and Fabiola is no exception. While a student, Fabiola was a summer intern to Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel in Paris.  She worked in the special events department of Christian Dior, which she left to work for Circa, the estate jeweler, where she is creative director.

In press interviews, Fabiola has has attributed her socializing to spreading the Circa business image and was significant in claiming that socials no longer mingle without reason: behind every trust-funded woman of social acumen is a business enterprise. Fabiola is a grand connosieur of fashion and reputedly has 14 closets of couture and countless more through her mother.

Tinsley Mortimer, Fabiola Beracasa, Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss, Eleanor Ylvisaker
Chanel’s Rouge Allure Party, January 11, 2006
Photograph © Style.com

Becca Cason Thrash, 56, is a dazzling Houston socialite who is trying to take a more permanent take on our New York “social.” She is the wife of Dr. John Thrash, the multimillionaire chief executive officer of Texas energy company eCorp. Becca used to be in the public relations business and included Saudi Arabian oil magnates as some of her clients.

She was born in Harlingen, Texas to television sportscaster James “Slim Jim” Cason and his wife Rebecca. Becca met her husband John when his family company was first developing; she is not an oil-digger. Since then, she has been a constant fixture of Houston society columns and was famously dubbed by the New York Times as the “next Lynn Wyatt,” the Houston department store heiress and major Republican fundraiser.

Becca is famous in the New York fashion scene for being a grand connoisseur of haute couture. Guided by Suzanne Saperstein, the woman who some claim to have a couture collection rivaling even Nan Kempner, Becca has collected the likes of Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and her favorite, Ralph Rucci. Becca acquired the nickname “TriBecca” for changing costume three times at every party she hosts at her 20,000-square-foot Houston mansion, which Preston Bolton designed, where countless “Texas excess” parties have been thrown. Her friendship with American designer Diane von Furstenberg is well known and guests at her lavish events are as varied as former socials Paris and Nicky Hilton, Vogue editor André Leon Talley, and writer Plum Sykes. She is a leading member of the Prince of Wales Foundation, whose American membership is usually limited to princes of industry.

In New York, Becca is very good friends with male power-duo Daniel Benedict and Andrew Saffir, and keeps acquaintanceships with Sarah, Duchess of York and Sharon Bush. She has been making many appearances in Manhattan and her social force will be one to be reckoned with on Park Avenue.

Daniel Benedict and Becca Cason Thrash
Vacco Celebrates Zac Posen, Istanbul, October 3, 2006
Photograph courtesy of Style.com

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.