It looks like James Kurisunkal has been so busy gobbling down the cookies that socialites send him in exchange for coverage on his blog Park Avenue Peerage that he hasn't had time to register the website ParkAvenuePeerage.com. A porn website occupies the domain, although if you look at the two sites side-by-side, you may have a tough time telling the pretty young socials from the pretty young adult actresses.
James Kurisunkal is the boy wonder behind Park Avenue Peerage, the blog that breathlessly catalogs life in the 10021 social bubble. If you keep up with the Upper East Side hierarchy and you've ever wondered how Kurisunkal (pictured here with the Tinz) interacts with the young ladies he showers with attention, a look at the lengthy email correspondence between James and embattled novelist/socialite Tatiana Boncompagni may enlighten you. The email was forwarded to us as evidence that Tatiana has been passing herself off as the daughter of an Italian princess. More interesting, though, is how Kurisunkal asks Tatiana to change a reference in her novel from "Park Avenue Peerage" to "Fashion Week Daily" (the passage in question is describing a website that gets fed items by publicists), how the PAP founder says he holds his "website to a higher standard [than] Vogue [and] W," and just how much leverage you can get from sending James big boxes of cookies on a regular basis. Also? He's no fan of Anisha Lakhani and Kristian Laliberte, in case you're keeping track at home. The full email below.
Remember James Kurisunkal, the Illinois college student behind Park Avenue Peerage? It's the other formerly anonymous socialite website, along with the now-defunct Socialite Rank. (He updated it from his dorm room and had never been to New York when he started it—but once New York magazine came sniffing around for a story, they gave him an internship.) "I suppose they spend a lot of time in the Hamptons in the summer," he told the New York Times about the socialites he wrote about from afar. Well, now he can find out for himself—we spy his byline over on Hamptons Style! Aww; we hear he's an associate editor there now. What's he writin'?
"Over a poulet de grain rôti at La Goulue, on Madison Avenue, he added: 'I'd always loved New York and felt like I knew it, but I'd never actually been here. My main exposure to it came from 'Sex and the City' and 'Friends.' " That's parkavenuepeerage.com blogger and New York magazine fact-checking intern James Kurisunkal, batting his lashes at the Times today. But is he really a hayseed who knows nothing about NYC that he didn't glean from Carrie and Rachel?
Fairy tales can come true. It can happen to you! If you're young at heart, mind, and writing ability. At least, that's our takeaway from Park Avenue Peerage blogger James Kurisunkal's account of his meeting with socialite Tinsley Mortimer, who we call Ashley Winksdale now because that's what Lily Allen does. He journaled the moment for New York mag!
In the Times magazine this weekend, we learned that "it is possible to move out of the class you were born into, either up or down... but the transition almost always means a great disruption to your sense of self. And you can ascend the class ladder only if you are willing to sacrifice many of your relationships and most of your values—and only if you first devote yourself to careful study of the hidden rules of the class you hope to enter." Also, we hear that rising U of Illinois sophomore and Park Avenue Peerage blogger James Kurisunkal has transitioned from New York magazine profile punchline to New York magazine intern. Congratulations, James!
Tinsley Mortimer spent her Memorial Day helping The Gays out by wearing spangly Heatherette costumes! We know this courtesy of Illinois teenager James Kurisunkal, who is the (cough) sole force behind Park Avenue Peerage. His latest post was brought to our attention by not one but two tipsters, both of whom probably do not exist.
In a photo that ran in New York on Monday, Park Avenue Peerage's James Kurisunkal appears to be wearing a $200 seersucker hoodie made by Unruly Heir, the company at which socialgay Kristian Laliberte, who we'd once suspected of being behind PAP, is a creative director. Maybe it's a total random coincidence! Or maybe Kristian sent James the hoodie as a thank-you gift after he posted a fawning writeup of Kristian's "busy" lifestyle, complete with candids from a photoshoot for a Japanese magazine, on April 16. Hey, now that we think about it, how did Illinois-based James get those photos of Kristian anyway? Hmm.
Update: Kristian sez: "He purchased a hoodie just like everyone else. Just fyi."
Sure, Olivia Palermo is on the cover of New York magazine. But Isaiah Wilner's hotly anticipated article isn't really about her at all. Nor is it really about Valentine and Olga Rei, the Russian stepsiblings who have finally officially outed themselves as the creators of now-defunct website Socialite Rank, which "wiped out what little dignity New York society had left." (Hilarious!) It's especially not about Lydia Hearst, who had complained to Socialite Rank that she'd been told the article would be about "my career as a model and entrepreneur and success and my handbag"—she is mentioned in the article only as a "nonstop e-mailer" of the site. And it's not about Tinsley Mortimer, and it's not about Fabiola Beracasa. It's not even about unearthing the truth about Olivia's shameful, and possibly fake, letter ("there are four basic theories") to fellow socials, or whether or not Tinsley really elbowed her at that charity fashion show ("the alleged incident"). Turns out, it's all about the mastermind behind Park Avenue Peerage, Socialite Rank's successor-site. He's a University of Illinois freshman named James Kurisunkal. "I live in Urbana, near a farm... I'm like—I'm not even white!" It gets better.
