Daily Style Phile: Whit Stillman, "Urban Haute Bourgeoisie"

Whit Stillman Trivia

Here's some little-known facts about Whit Stillman, his films, and his prominent, somewhat scandalous, family history. - Coined the term UHB, "Urban Haute Bourgeoisie," to describe upper class WASPs - Sold his Upper East Side apartment to finance his first film, Metropolitan - Metropolitan was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay - His freshman year at Harvard, Whit was asked at last minute to be a deb escort, an experience that may have inspired his first film - Lived in France since the 1990s - Wrote a novel: The Last Days of Disco, With Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards - His great-great-grandfather, James Stillman, amassed a huge fortune during his lifetime, and ranks among the 100 richest Americans. James Stillman's two daughters married two sons of William Rockefeller, tying the two families together. -His great-grandfather, James Alexander Stillman, served as a president and chairman of Citibank, and made waves with a scandalous divorce suit, claiming that his youngest son was the bastard child of a "half-blood Indian guide of Quebec." His wife denied the charges, and accused James of fathering two children with a chorus girl. They eventually reconciled, and Stillman gave his wife a $500k necklace before the pair received marriage counseling from Dr. Carl Jung. [NYTimes] [Adam Brody, Analeigh Tipton, Whit Stillman, Greta Gerwig, Photo via]