High society

Reader question: Please explain this sentence, with “high-society” in particular: The editor was not born into high society, but somehow broke into New York’s. My comments: The editor, whoever that is, was not born into a family of aristocracy or extreme wealth, but worked their way into New York’s high society. Nonetheless, Donald Trump’s life in the late 1970s through the 1990s was like a cartoon version of wealthy New York: gaudy apartments on Fifth Avenue, deal-making, nightclubs, gallivanting with models and schmoozing with the rich, famous and powerful – all made possible by inherited wealth. During author Truman Capote’s time in New York high society, he assembled an inner circle of socialite women he dubbed his “swans” – elegant, poised, and presenting a finely curated image of perfection.