beautiful people, the

The fashionable social set, individuals who are in vogue and widely emulated and envied. Although general use of this term began in the mid-1960s—Diana Vreeland, the editor of Vogue magazine, is often credited with inventing it—it appeared even earlier as the title of a William Saroyan play of 1941. It was given further currency by the Beatles song “Baby You’re a Rich Man” (1967) by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, which contains the line, “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful peo- ple?” Katherine Hall Page used the phrase in her mystery The Body in the Big Apple (1999), with its numerous descriptions of expensive New York restau- rants and elegant parties. Also see JET SET.