Soros v Bezos: What battle of billionaire weddings tells us about America

Times

a day ago

Summer is finally upon us. It ushers in not only the two biggest weddings American society has seen in decades, but with them the perfect encapsulation of the new gilded age.
'It's old money versus new,' one socialite tells me. 'One will be quite classy and elegant … the other will likely be a spectacle full of people who have just had their boobs and faces done.'
Just as the industrial revolution kicked off America's first massive gold rush — creating a schism in New York society circles between old and new money, brilliantly brought to life in the HBO series The Gilded Age — so the technological revolution has split America's wealthiest into two camps: tasteful versus tacky.
And nothing sums up this new dynamic more than the two billionaire unions happening this month. Alex Soros, heir of the billionaire George Soros, marries Huma Abedin, the Democratic Party operator who served as deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton, this weekend. Then Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, ties the knot with the journalist Lauren Sánchez.
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Conveniently, the nuptial extravaganzas are a week apart, so one could conceivably attend both. But I'm told there is little to no crossover, with the exception of Anna Wintour, who has a double invitation after promising both brides coverage in Vogue.
The Soros event, to be held at the family's massive Southampton beachfront estate, is expected to be a powerhouse melding of demure champagne toasts and covered cleavage. The guest list includes the Clintons, George and Amal Clooney, possibly Kamala Harris, and fellow Democratic billionaires such as the Tisch family.
A few photos may trickle onto Instagram, but few guests will be so gauche as to brag about their attendance or reveal the identities of other attendees.
All will probably be nipped and tucked, but discreetly, appearing as though they just took a long, refreshing nap that somehow makes them look ten years younger.
Meanwhile, the anti-Soros wedding will feature an ostentatious parade of celebrities, models and … Republicans.
The made-for-Instagram Italian bash, which will set Bezos back at least $11 million, is taking place in Venice and the guest list is a hodgepodge of actors, singers, models, reality stars, film producers and other Hollywood flotsam all dying to get closer to Bezos — who through his ownership of Prime Video, and purchase of the rights to James Bond, is the new king of their town.
Also due to attend?
The Maga heirs Ivanka Trump, her husband, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka's brother Donald Jr.
The affair is 'intimate — for them', an associate of the couple told me, with fewer than 200 friends and family shacking up at luxury Venetian hotels including the Aman, the Danieli, the Belmond Cipriani, the Gritti Palace and the St Regis.
While the actual wedding is said to be taking place on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, there will be grandiose dinners and trips on Bezos's yacht, the Koru, among other entertainments.
You can expect guests, with fortunes as new as their faces, to post freely on Instagram and brag about attendance. Think of it as the Playboy mansion version of the Soros-Abedin black and white ball.
And though Sánchez may get second billing in Vogue magazine this time around, she will eventually eclipse the old order. Because while both Sánchez and Abedin are modern-day versions of Undine Spragg, the social climbing protagonist in Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country, this is, after all, America — where wealth eventually blasts snobbery out of the water.
Soros is verifiably wealthy, in charge of his father's $25 billion Open Society Foundation, but his money pales in comparison to Bezos' self-made $221 billion. Within the next decade, Bezos and Sánchez — and all those who inherit their wealth (Bezos has four children with his first wife, Mackenzie Scott) — will be considered old money and chairing all the most desirable events.
Just look at Estée Lauder, who spawned the 'blue blood' Lauder clan that yet wields white-glove power in New York City. Seventy short years ago, she was cooking up creams in a housecoat in Queens.Paula Froelich is a commentator on power, money and society for News Nation and the author of It!: Nine Secrets of the Rich and Famous That Will Take You to the Top. You can follow her own adventures with the rich and famous on Instagram @pfro.