Rich was helping socialite Judy Peabody with a soiree and Radziwill arrived early and waited in the lobby. Onassis’ younger sister, Princess Caroline Radziwill (via her second marriage to Polish aristocrat Prince Stanis?aw Albrecht Radziwill), better known as Lee Radziwill, once borrowed Jackie’s walker for a brief, shining moment. “She would look deep in their eyes, and in a whisper, ask something personal.” When she was ready to go, she would lightly tap twice on the right side of her head. “She would give them the ‘Jackie experience,’ which only lasted a minute or two but was very powerful,” he says. Onassis favored and whom she was less fond of, though to most she was very cordial. Rich says he was acutely aware of which journalists Mrs. “If an actress is going out on the town, any Huvane will do.”Īcting as a gatekeeper numbers among a walker’s duties.
“After Gwyneth Paltrow broke up with Chris Martin, she arrived at an event one night with a man, and everyone wanted to know who her new boyfriend was, but it turned out to be her publicist, Stephen Huvane,” recalls photographer Patrick McMullan. Today, many of the walkers are publicists, seeking attention for their current clients as well as courting new ones. “But the rule is, never give them enough money so they can leave.” One notorious case of a mistaken walker with benefits occurred in 2001 when hotel mogul Leona Helmsley fired her walker, Patrick Ward, also an employee, when she discovered he was gay Ward won a $10 million suit for wrongful termination. “Many of these women are wildly attractive and rich, but don’t have someone at the time, so when a handsome young man comes along, he might be given watches and trips to Aspen or St. “Some models charge $2,000 a night to escort women and it helps them to be photographed,” says Hay. “There are walkers with benefits,” says Jedell. Occasionally, there are women looking for more than an amusing friend. She asked if John Richardson and I would take her, so she arrived with one of us on each side and the paparazzi went crazy! The society girls were the stars of the Met Ball then, not Hollywood.” Says Mazor: “Once, before the Met Ball, Diana Vreeland called and said Cristina Ford was going through the divorce with Henry Ford and needed an escort. “I absolutely adored to be with a beautiful girl who knew how to dress, and it gave me enormous pleasure to go out for a great evening,” recalls Mazor, who squired Ivana Trump, department-store heiress Lynn Wyatt and Kempner, the fashion-plate daughter of California car dealership mogul Albert “Speed” Schlesinger. Peter, deciding by whim who at Le Cirque or Mortimer’s would ascend into Nancy Reagan’s circle.”įor some walkers, the appeal was just a love of glamour. He would guide women socially, a self appointed St. “You had to obey him or he could be vicious.
“He set impossibly high standards for his society swans,” adds Mason. Zipkin advised his female friends on details down to their lipstick. Guest, who was married to Winston Frederick Churchill Guest. Publisher John Fairchild coined the term “walker” in reference to Jerry Zipkin, who escorted Nancy Reagan, Betsy Bloomingdale and C.Z. In the ’70s and ’80s, though, fascination with New York society was at a high point, and socialite Nan Kempner was more likely to appear on Page Six than a Cardi B. Boaz Mazor, Oscar de la Renta executive at large and a former walker himself, adds that the women “don’t care about society anymore - they are happy to go out with their iPhones!” Men, too, are not as eager to attend galas, says social chronicler Christopher Mason: “A lot of walkers are happily married to each other now and have satisfying home lives.”
“More divorced women are going out with each other instead of the decorator du jour,” says Gross.
Now a dying breed, walkers have gone by the wayside as social norms have changed, with gay male couples and solo women hitting the town.
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