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"Jet set" is a journalistic term that was used to describe an international social group of wealthy people, organizing and participating in social activities all around the world that are unreachable to ordinary people. The term, which replaced "café society", came from the lifestyle of travelling from one stylish or exotic place to another via jet airplanes.

The term jet-set is attributed to Igor Cassini, a reporter for the Journal-American who wrote under the pen name "Cholly Knickerbocker".¹

Although jet passenger service in the 1950s was initially marketed primarily to the rich, its introduction eventually resulted in a substantial democratization of air travel. Today air travel is functional but without glory, and the term "jet set" no longer has cachet. The faded term "jet set" may still be valid today if it is understood to mean those who have the independent wealth and time to regularly travel widely, for extended periods, for pleasure. It could also now be taken to mean those who can afford to travel in privately-owned or leased aircraft.

Thanks to the increasing affordability of air fares, which have only recently started to become burdensome again due to a sharp rise in oil prices, the ability to fly on jet aircraft to destinations far and wide is no longer a privilege of the wealthy. The international jet set these days tends to emcompass a wide array of budget travellers who travel relatively cheaply and visit much more exotic destinations than the traditional jet setters described above.

Jet travel

BOAC inaugurated the world's first commercial scheduled jet service (2 May 1952), using the de Havilland Comet. The first service was the typical "jet set" route, London–New York. Other cities on the standard "jet set" routes were Paris and Rome, and for the first time, Los Angeles. "Jet set" resorts, invariably with white sand and salt water, were circumscribed by modern standards: Acapulco, Nassau and Huntington Hartford's new Paradise Island² were taking the place of Bermuda; Cannes, St. Tropez, Marbella, Portofino³ and selected small towns on the Riviera were on the jet set itinerary, and Capri. From 1974 the Greek Islands were included in the loop.

The original members of this elite, free-wheeling sect were those "socialites" who were not shy about publicity and entertained in semi-public places like restaurants and in night clubs, where the "paparazzi"— a jet set phenomenon— snapped them. They were the first generation that might weekend in Paris or fly to Rome just for a party. Federico Fellini captured their lifestyle in La dolce vita (1960).

A sign that "jet set" had lost its first glamorous edge was Vogue Magazine's coinage "the Beautiful People" in the spring of 1962, an expression which initially described the circle that formed around President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy. Readers of the 15 February 1964 Vogue could learn "What the beautiful people are doing to keep fit." The two phrases ran for a time in tandem: in 1970 Cleveland Amory could fear "that the Beautiful People and the Jet Set are being threatened by current economics."⁴

A more serious economic threat was the 1973 oil crisis, which cast a pall over the idea of jetting about for pleasure. A sign that "Jet Set" had passed from urbane use was the 1974 song "(We're Not) The Jet Set", in which George Jones and Tammy Wynette claim they are "the old Chevrolet set," as opposed to leading a glamorous, "jet-setting" lifestyle.

The flagging Jet Set gained its second wind with the introduction in 1976 of the supersonic Concorde. Scheduled flights began on 21 January 1976 on the London-Bahrain oil executive route and the distinctly jet-set Paris-Rio de Janeiro (via Dakar) route. From November 1977 the Concorde was flying between standard Jet Set destinations, London or Paris to New York; passenger lists on initial flights were gossip-column material. The Concorde restored cachet: "From rock stars to royalty, the Concorde was the way to travel for the jet set," according to the Nova retrospective special "Supersonic Dream".⁵ Doomed by its sonic boom, unable to achieve global fly-over rights, the Concorde was retired in 2003. Instead, the Boeing 747, densely packed with passengers, was the craft that revolutionized air travel.

Where English is a second language, "Jet Set" continues its half-life: in the early '80s the Argentinian rock band Soda Stereo recorded a successful song "¿Por qué no puedo ser del Jet Set?" (Why can't I belong to jet set?), and in 2000 French comedy Jet Set made fun of this 'art de vivre'.

Late in the 20th century "wa-Benzi" became an equivalent term in central Africa, from the luxury image of Mercedes-Benz.

References

• "The Opening of the Commercial Jet Era"
• Cleveland Amory, Who Killed Society?
• Roger Wilkes, Scandal: a Scurrilous History of Gossip 2003.

See also

• Jet age
• Playboy
• Socialite
• "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous"
• Celebrity culture
• 2,500 year celebration of Iran's monarchy, October 1971, the definitive jet set party
• Setjetting

Notes

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 1 December 2008, at 21:18.

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