New York Magazine

CULTURE, POLITICS, FOOD, FASHION: A NEW YORK POINT OF VIEW. With assertive reporting and sophisticated design, New York chronicles the people and events that shape the city that shapes the world.

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Dynasties: Ryu Spaeth • Settling for Less What Succession gets wrong about Rupert Murdoch.

The Group Portrait: Playing and Praying Together • The de la Mottes are big on TikTok. But can they make the rent?

91 MINUTES WITH …The Justins • Two Tennessee lawmakers are demonstrating a new way to do opposition politics in red-state America.

The Inside Game: Gabriel Debenedetti • Gavin Newsom Isn’t Supposed to Be Doing This The Feinstein dilemma looms over the wannabe face of Democrats.

THE Yesteryear ISSUE When She Was ’’It’’ • In April, this magazine celebrates its anniversary (it’s our 55th) with a “Yesteryear” issue. This year’s looks back at a particular New York phenomenon, the “It” girl: who anointed them, what it was like to be them, and where they are now.

The 60s • You could find the “It” girls … at the Peppermint Lounge as teenagers before they moved on to the Scene a couple of years later, shopping for minidresses at Paraphernalia and Betsey Bunky Nini, getting up with Obetrol and down with Valium, rooming at the Barbizon Hotel, popping in to see Andy Warhol at the Factory on 47th Street, peering at the vintage racks of Limbo, buying their makeup at Cambridge Chemists, attending Be-Ins in Central Park, stopping for a 2 a.m. omelet or shrimp-and-lobster salad at the Brasserie on Park Avenue.

The Factory Girls Who Followed

Ali MacGraw • In the early ’60s, the actress was Diana Vreeland’s assistant-about-town.

The 70s • You could find the “It” girls …visiting Halston at his salon in Olympic Tower and his house on East 63rd Street, shopping at the Biba counter at Bloomingdale’s and the Courrèges store on 57th, after hours at Maxwell’s Plum and Max’s Kansas City or coupled up on Fire Island or at a New York Dolls show at the Mercer Arts Center, dancing at Studio 54 (or Xenon, if it was just too hard to get in that night), getting one of the dozen burgers served every night at Raoul’s, having lunch with their mothers at La Côte Basque or La Grenouille, where they discussed Fear of Flying.

Maripol REMEMBERS Edwige Belmore • The six-foot-tall Parisian “Queen of Punk.”

Diane von Furstenberg • In conversation with MICKEY BOARDMAN, editor-at-large of Paper magazine.

Val LeGaspi ON DRESSING Grace Jones • At Studio 54.

Pat Cleveland • The trailblazing supermodel who made spaghetti with Halston.

Robin Platzer ON PHOTOGRAPHING Bianca Jagger • At her 32nd birthday party, the first one ever thrown at Studio 54.

The 80s • You could find the “It” girls …Dancing with Madonna at Danceteria before she got big, then sitting at the next table over from her at the Odeon a couple of years later; going to AREA and the Palladium and, before it went all bridge-and-tunnel, Limelight (but not the briefly reborn Studio 54); working out at the Vertical Club; hanging out at Elaine’s and Indochine; shopping at Charivari and the Antique Boutique; staying up with cocaine and coming down with Quaaludes; (barely) eating macrobiotically; ordering Absolut on the rocks; reading about themselves in Michael Musto’s column and Stephen Saban’s and Liz Smith’s after they turn up at the same East Village parties as Basquiat, Keith Haring, and (still) Andy Warhol.

Connie Fleming • The East Village drag star (a.k.a. Connie Girl) turned Mugler model turned legendary doorwoman—who still runs a tight ship at the Standard.

Elizabeth Saltzman • The Upper East Sider who came downtown.

Cornelia Guest

JOHN WATERS REMEMBERS Cookie Mueller • Baltimore-bred writer–actor–designer–director–barmaid–leg model–drug...