Years active: 1945-2009.
Known for: daughter of Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post.
Net worth: $5 billion.
Dina Merrill will likely turn out to be the richest It Girl on the list, thanks to a nearly unbelievable fortune that will pop your eyes right out of your head even in today’s money. From her birth in 1924 to her death at the age of ninety-three, she never wanted for anything, being the only child of a rich heiress.
Her life of luxury led her to an acting career, where she would use her famous beauty and relentless charm to star opposite actresses like Elizabeth Taylor.
Evelyn Nesbit
Years active: 1910-1967.
Known for: model, wife of Harry Kendall Thaw.
Net worth: $500,000.
Long before the years of Giselle Bündchen, Kate Moss, or even Twiggy, there was Evelyn Nesbit. She became the poster girl – quite literally – of the early twentieth century, and in her late teens was posing for artists such as James Carroll Beckwith.
She was a model, an actress, and a chorus girl, and all of it combined to make her a star, but a scandal wasn't far behind. In 1906, her husband, Harry Kendall Thaw, killed socialite Stanford White in Madison Square Garden, which became the “Trial of the Century.” Thaw's anger was due to White's former romance with Nesbit...who had to testify at the trial.
Eleanor Lambert
Years active: 1920-2003.
Known for: Fashion, publicist.
Net worth: $8 million.
The New York fashion industry seems almost set in stone, but it wasn't always so. Thanks to Eleanor Lambert, institutions such as the International Best Dressed List, and the City Fashion Critics' Award are still running. Without her, there wouldn't even be fashion week, which even the rooting plebeians of the world, who will go outside in an outfit of bright maroon long-sleeved t-shirts with charcoal cargo pants, ugh, recognize.
She became a worldwide tastemaker thanks to all her work in the fashion world. Lambert passed away in 2003 at the ripe old age of 100, only a few years after receiving a lifetime award for her contributions to the industry.
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Years active: 1934-1998.
Known for: Moulin Rouge (1952), extravagant lifestyle.
Net worth: $40 million.
This Budapest-born actress made her mark in the movie industry starting in the fifties, but she was much better-known because of her high spending, beauty, and her off-screen antics. Her undeniable good looks and electric persona led her to be married almost ten times, including once to Conrad Hilton Jr., heir of the Hilton hotels fortune.
In a perfect display of everything that is Zsa Zsa Gabor, she once said: “I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.”
Caroline Astor
Years active: 1853-1903.
Known for: Marrying William Backhouse Astor Jr.
Net worth: $5 million.
Thanks to the money her family already had, Caroline Astor had plenty of freedom compared to women of the day. After marrying William Backhouse Astor Jr., she suddenly had the money, the clout, and the knowledge – her father had paid top dollar for Caroline's education – to do what she wanted.
Her place in high society grew so powerful that it was only at her word that the Vanderbilts were allowed entry into that same high society – which she did begrudgingly. They were new money, after all.