The Outsourced In Crowd
Private clubs are turning to Contra for beautiful, influential partygoers on demand. So much for exclusivity
James Franco, the Alien, and the Re-Invention of Celebrity
Perhaps for the first time, a major movie star is pursuing our attention as shamelessly as any other wannabe influencer
Papers, Please!
What’s in your wallet? If you’re a 21st-century tech baron, a growing stack of passports
Battle of the Boxes
In Montauk, a towering sculpture of stacked shipping containers has sparked a fight between local officials and an art-world scion
Ins & Outs, Wedding Edition
From thank-you letters and short ceremonies to sweetheart tables and weekday weddings, our list of dos and don’ts for this wedding season
Nicola Peltz’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year
As the Beckham feud rages on, the private dramas of Brooklyn’s wife are threatening to eclipse her long-frustrated acting career
Eyes Wide Shut
Madonna wants us to put “our fucking phones down,” but the algorithm is an intoxicating drug. As nightlife surrenders to the digital gaze, our columnist asks: Can the unrecorded night out survive?
Heeere’s Hunter!
Joe Biden’s ever problematic son has launched a Substack featuring everything from Anchorman comparisons to open letters to Joe Rogan
The Hora Hubbub
The traditional Jewish dance has become commonplace at gentile weddings. Is it appropriation or appreciation?
Journey to The Odyssey
Scenes from the first 2:00 A.M. screening of Christopher Nolan’s 70-mm. epic at New York’s movie mecca: the IMAX at AMC Lincoln Square 13
Flocked and Loaded
An $8 billion surveillance start-up is turning the roads on the eastern tip of Long Island into a searchable police database. Not everyone is grateful for the protection
How Much Is That T. Rex in the Window?
With collectors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicolas Cage, and Ken Griffin, dead dinosaurs have become supersize status symbols
Faux Fighters
As the U.F.C. lands at the White House this weekend, young men are flocking to Thailand in search of authentic violence. What they’re getting is something oddly Trumpian: part spectacle, part grift, part fraud …
Flipping ’Ell!
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi’s attempt to flip a $30 million Cotswolds farmhouse has been thwarted by floods, planning battles, an anemic property market—and the Romans
The Womb Boom
Once merely expensive, surrogacy has become a luxury arms race, with private equity snapping up clinics, agencies, and egg banks. Can a new $600,000 white-glove service really be worth it?
Golden Balls
Ticket prices for this year’s World Cup are already sky-high. But some luxury packages—complete with police escorts, cigar rollers, and Tibetan singing bowls—can turn a trip to the game into a seven-figure spectacle
An Offer They’d Like to Refuse
Dua Lipa and Callum Turner’s Sicilian wedding celebrations are bringing pop stars, private jets, and security cordons to Palermo—but some locals are fingering their knives
The Joy of Missing Out
After decades spent optimizing their lives, the affluent are now paying to be bored, silent, and uncomfortable
Home Away from Homes
Seemingly undeterred by record real-estate prices on the eastern tip of Long Island, the ultra-wealthy are complementing their second homes with … more homes
Where Have All the Teenagers Gone?
New York’s streets and parks used to be teeming with them. Now they’re inside on their phones—and the city’s culture is all the worse for it
Inside the Wiki Laundry
Wikipedia is the world’s most influential information source—and one of A.I.’s key training grounds. No wonder reputation-launderers everywhere are trying to hijack it
Etiquette for Befriending a Friend’s Friend
If you want your friend to welcome your friendship with her friend, it is essential that you follow these rules
Pied-à-Terror!
A new annual surcharge on New York’s luxury pieds-à-terre has the 1 percent crying robbery. But when has a tax ever actually driven the rich from Park Avenue?
Once upon a Time in Gala-Land
How a midnight dinner for fashion insiders became a multi-million-dollar media spectacle, culminating with this year’s sponsorship by none other than the Bezoses
