This week’s New York features a story by Isaiah Wilner that unmasks the Russian siblings who created Socialite Rank, the website that tracked the ebb and flow of New York’s socialites for a hypothetical book. Meet emigré stepsiblings Valentine and Olga Rei, two former media stars in their native Russia who “arrived on the scene three years ago, party crashers cadging invitations, handing out business cards, and sidling up to the most famous people in the room.”
From Wilner’s article:
“‘Two thousand and six was the year of the socialite,’ [Valentine] said proudly. “We’re just starting. You know we’re going to be like Rupert Murdoch.”… The idea arose last year, just before the Met’s Costume Institute Benefit Gala, as Olga and Valentine dined at The Four Seasons. They had fallen in love with the PYTs. They wanted to give the girls a platform, put them in lights—and have a little laugh at their expense. ‘We’re not evil,’ Olga assured me. ‘We just thought it would be fun.'”