Last month we reported on a quasi-exclusive event called The Influencers Dinner, hosted by thirty-something New Yorker Jon Levy, where self-assessed Influential People attempt to Influence each other, over dinner. “As a reminder,” Levy’s “concierge” warned invitees, “a journalist from the New York Times will be present and covering the event for the Sunday Style section.” And just look at what the paper published today (on Thursday, not Sunday):

For the last three years, Mr. Levy, 33, has hosted a twice-monthly dinner, in which he gathers a dozen or so influential strangers to cook together and mingle. After the meal, he opens his home to the growing “Influencers Network” for a celebratory cocktail party. And what were the guests celebrating on this Wednesday night? Why, themselves of course. And one another. And Jon, as he is known, who introduced them.

Among The Influencers noted by reporter Jennifer Miller:

  • “A former cast member from The Real World: New Orleans”
  • “Opus Moreschi, the head writer for The Colbert Report”
  • “What Not to Wear co-host Stacy London”
  • “Fern Mallis, a key figure in New York Fashion Week”
  • “Bre Pettis, the chief executive of MakerBot”
  • Kevin Corrigan
  • “Kevin King, the global chairman of the P.R. firm Edelman Digital”
  • “Dan Schechter, a director”
  • “Kristin White, the former Princess Khaliya Aga Khan”
  • Grizz Chapman

A few of the guests were so influential they didn’t get along:

It wasn’t long after dinner that Mr. Corrigan stumbled upon Ms. London talking about her new Burberry clutch and how Mr. Levy’s network could help influence people’s style choices. Mr. Corrigan was wearing a nearly monochrome outfit of brown T-shirt and slacks. “We have Fukushima polluting the entire Pacific Ocean and we’re talking about how people should be dressed?” he demanded.

Of course, Levy shouldn’t blame himself for inviting people with differing opinions on the relative importance of sartorial decisions, or on the basic decency of calling oneself an Influencer. (Moreschi, the Colbert writer, told the Times: “The whole thing is fairly bold in its brazen self-congratulatory nature.”) Indeed, Levy actively courts dissent: After we published his dinner invitation, Levy invited this reporter out to coffee.

[Photo credit: Associated Press]