PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES; LONDON NEWS PICTURES; RAY TANG/LNP; RICHARD YOUNG/SHUTTERSTOCKA SEA CHANGE IS SWEEPING
through the enclaves of the super-
rich. Blondes, Birkins and boob jobs
are out – PhDs, pencil skirts and
polemics against the patriarchy
are in. The old-school trophy wife
has been assigned to the scrapheap
of history, and today’s discerning
bachelor now pines for a power-
player in her own right. She’s a
Meghan Markle, a Priyanka Chopra,
a Lady Bamford. Her high priestess?
Amal Clooney.
Two things have changed – and
one has not – in the contemporary
world of hyper-moneyed matrimony.
Firstly, the trophy wife of today is
distinguished by her panoply of
qualifications: she has an Oxbridge
first, a high-flying career, is woke,
and has several charitable projects
under her Gucci belt. With CVs like
these, marrying an Oscar winner
doesn’t even rank that highly among
her achievements. Which brings us
to the second change: 2019’s super-
spouse is not about what she canbuy, but what she can do. Gone are
the days of sitting quietly on charity
committees or of hosting glittering
fundraising galas. Instead, she’ll set
up her own foundation. (The modern
trophy wife throws parties for the
express purpose of having a good
time.) She’s empowering women.
She’s giving speeches at the UN. She’s
establishing an energy-efficiency
consultancy. She’s investing in carbon
capture. She’s bringing peace to the
Middle East. The question is not
necessarily ‘What is she wearing?’,
it’s ‘When is she going to run?’ She
is still, of course, extremely hot –
some things never change.
Every trophy wife is different. ‘It’s
very tribal,’ the partner of one billionaire
tells Tatler. There’s the fashion-pack
trophy wife, the e-commerce trophy
wife, and the trophy wives political,
intellectual and technological, each
with their own audience to mesmerise,
their own world to dominate, their
own platform on which to showcase
their Ivy League superiority. And
there is, inevitably, another growing
tribe: the ex-trophy wife. Because
while she may be an old-fashioned
billionaire’s ultimate prize, the reverse
is no longer the case. As Tatler’s
insider puts it: ‘It’s no longer about
bagging the billionaire, it’s about
being the billionaire.’The new trophy wife
is a tour de force:
Society’s better halves
now have brains,
beauty and billions,
says Isaac BickerstaffActu ally,he’s wit h meBYS TA NDE R
SOCIETYAmal Clooney
Human rights lawyer Amal
Clooney, 41, is the UK’s
Special Envoy on Media
Freedom, a regular speech-
maker at the UN, the donor of
an eponymous Prince’s Trust
award for inspirational women,
mother of twins, and married
to George Clooney.
Phillipa Coan
This PhD-wielding business
psychologist married Jude
Law in April. Phillipa, 32, is
a Visiting Research Fellow
at Leeds, the founder of
sustainability consultancy
Stride and is working to apply
psychology to tackle climate
change – a noted departure
from his actress/singer/
songwriter girlfriends of yore.
Yana Peel
How very new trophy wife to
resign after being entangled
in an international cyberspy
scandal, as per Yana Peel, 46.
The former Serpentine CEO
rose to the top of the art world
(after degrees from McGill and
LSE) via Goldmans, founding a
debate platform and the V&A
Design Fund along the way.
She has two children with her
husband, financier and former
Olympian Stephen Peel.
Alison Loehnis
American-born Alison Loehnis,
49, went to Brown University,
joined Net-A-Porter in 2007,
and took over from Dame
Natalie Massenet as the
brand’s President in 2015.
She’s one of the BoF 500 and
is married to Al Loehnis, a high-
flying partner at Maitland PR.
Viscountess Weymouth
Emma Weymouth, 33, is a
Contributing Editor at Vogue,
chatelaine of Longleat, walks
regularly for Dolce & Gabbana,
and heads her own healthy
eating empire. She married
Viscount Weymouth, the future
Marquess of Bath, in 2013,
and they have two sons.The new
trophy wivesAbove, George & Amal
Clooney. Clockwise from
left, Phillipa Coan, Alison
Loehnis,Viscountess
Weymouth, Yana Peel48 Tatler September 2019 tatler.com09-19BYST-TrophyWives.indd 48 15/07/2019 16:34