Wall St crash ruins the party for NY swish set

NEW YORK: New Yorkers who frequent Gotham’s most lavish parties fear the good times are over. The economic downturn of the past year left many of the city’s richest unscathed.

But the swift demise of some of Wall Street’s most historic firms has erased immense wealth and challenged a sense of security for even the moneyed classes. “It’s the end of an era,” said party-goer Melissa Berkelhammer. “Everything was going so sky high that everyone had to keep redefining what luxury was.”

The reality check may even affect the way the city’s top socialites appear in public, regardless of whether their own billions are safe. “Being an unemployed heiress and going to a party and wearing a pretty dress is not the image people want to see right now,” said Remy Stern, founder of Cityfile.com, which profiles people it believes are the city’s most influential.

David Patrick Columbia, editor of the New York Social Diary website, which chronicles the city’s wealthiest and their satellites, said: “We’ve entered a hurricane, maybe combined with a monsoon and cyclone.” “We save nothing, so we’re not at all prepared,” he said.

New York’s financial industry laid off more than 49,000 people through late August, according to state data. That number is bound to rise, and New York’s nightlife industry is bracing for a slowdown as the bankers or hedge fund managers, who once plunked down thousands of dollars to secure a private table at the hottest clubs, lose jobs or fortunes. “Who is going to spend $600 to $800 for a bottle of vodka?” Stern said.

Other analysts said it is too soon to judge how extensively the shake-up will tame the decadence of New York, a city known for its ability to reinvent itself.