A Canonical List of Rich People Shit: January Edition

Plus: some things to catch up on before the week begins.

It’s February 1, which felt like the right moment to look back at what quietly (and not so quietly) took over January. The things people were whispering about, arguing over, trying to buy their way into, or pretending they’d clocked months ago. Some of these were genuinely new. Some were holdovers from December that refused to die. All of them had a moment.

From wealthy New Yorkers attempting to strong-arm their way into Hori’s 14 seats like it was a competitive sport, to fashion VICs (the top sliver of spenders who quietly account for roughly 40 percent of luxury revenue) suddenly very vocal about the so-called designer reset. Patterns emerged. So did tells.

Consider this the January tape. What did I miss? What did you notice bubbling up last month that felt like more than noise? And what do you want me to pull apart, contextualize, or take one step further in the next month? You tell me. That’s what I’m here for.

Besides being the first of the month, today also marks my 15th day on Substack, the halfway point to thirty days. I’ve been stumbling around more than a little, learning in public, and enjoying it far more than expected. Give me a couple more weeks, and let’s see where RPS lands, who’s still here, and what it’s starting to look like. I’m in this for awhile.

Today’s letter includes: Met Opera, Andrew Zucker, Financial Times, Louis Vuitton, Costco, JFK Jr., People’s and more

• Who knew that call screening was aggravating the rich and powerful? Andrew Zucker did apparently. He wrote this story about it over the weekend for the WSJ that had some great quotes in it. I didn’t even know this was a thing.

• My story on JFK Jr, The timeless, effortless style of John F Kennedy Jr, came out in the Financial Times yesterday. If you didn’t pick up a paper, check it out online.

• Is anyone else following the Chagall murals the Metropolitan Opera is trying to sell? I somehow missed the fine print the first time around: the works can’t leave the building. The buyer pays $55 million and, in return, gets a plaque on the wall at the Met with their name on it. In theory, someone could buy them, “hold” them for a year, then donate them back and make the whole thing fully tax deductible. If that doesn’t happen, though, the upside is less clear. I’m curious to see how it plays out, but I suspect the Met Opera will survive regardless.

• Speaking of art, this is the sort of thing modern-day Gossip Girl types tend to notice early: People’s, the invitation-only Greenwich Village evening club, has released its first art collaboration with House of Mason Olivier. The limited-edition, signed Liquitex-on-linen works are priced at $1,250, previewed on the venue’s private, approval-only Instagram, and available for presale through February 3 at art@peoplesny.com

• Costco is now selling the Louis Vuitton Horizon 55 hard-case carry-on for $2,999.99 to $4,799.99, roughly $500 less than the official site, across three designs. This has, predictably, triggered a small internet status audit. “Now when you see one in the Delta One lounge, you know somebody bought that thing at Costco,” one commenter wrote on @drinksforgayz, laughing emoji included. Apparently, to some people, where you bought it still matters.

If you haven’t wandered over yet, consider this your nudge: @readrps on Instagram