The jet set is a social group of wealthy and fashionable people who travel the world to participate in social activities unavailable to ordinary people. The term was introduced in 1949 and replaced "café society"; it reflected a style of life involving travelling from one stylish or exotic place to another via jet plane. With the democratization of air travel it has been replaced at least in part by the term "glitterati", reflecting a greater emphasis upon celebrity, including "being seen" and stalked by paparazzi, and less upon mode of travel.
The term "jet set" is attributed to Igor Cassini, a reporter for the New York Journal-American who wrote a gossip column under the pen name "Cholly Knickerbocker".[1] He was a younger brother of the fashion designer Oleg Cassini. Another term that developed during the era was Beautiful People,[2] a period equivalent to today's concept of "glitterati" being "supermodels, celebrities and socialites", where looks, youth, and attractive activities predominated over wealth and high social standing.
Jet passenger service in the 1950s was marketed primarily to the upper class, but its introduction eventually resulted in a substantial democratization of air travel. Although the term "jet set" can still be found in common parlance, its literal meaning of those who travel by jet is no longer applicable as such.[3]
The British international air carrier BOAC inaugurated the world's first commercial scheduled jet service on 2 May 1952, using the de Havilland Comet, followed by the introduction of the Comet 4 in 1958 after a series of accidents in 1953–1954. The first successful service, from October 1958, was the typical "jet set" route, London–New York City. Pan Am followed suit with the Boeing 707, making its first scheduled flight between New York City and Paris on 26 October 1958.[4]
Other cities on the standard jet set routes were Honolulu, Mexico City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Rio de Janeiro, Athens, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, and Tokyo. Jet set resorts in places like Acapulco and Nassau, where Huntington Hartford's new Paradise Island opened in 1962, were taking the place of Bermuda. Meanwhile, Cannes, Capri, St. Tropez, Portofino,[5] and other sea-side towns on the French and Italian Riviera were on the jet set itinerary. Greek Islands such as Mykonos were included in the loop around 1974. Later on other hot spots such as Spain's Marbella on its Costa del Sol also developed a similar reputation.
The original members of this elite, free-wheeling set were those socialites who were not shy about publicity and entertained in semi-public places like restaurants and in night clubs, where paparazzi—a jet set phenomenon—photographed them. They were the first generation that might spend a weekend in Paris or fly to Rome just for a party. The jet set was celebrated in popular culture, for example, Federico Fellini captured their lifestyle in La Dolce Vita (1960), and many movies and record albums of the era promoted flying to foreign lands for honeymoons and getaways, such as Capitol Records Honeymoon in Rome (1956).[6]
The term was joined in the spring of 1962 by Vogue coinage of the term "the Beautiful People". This expression initially referred to the circle that formed around President John F. Kennedy and First Lady 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, author and social commentator Cleveland Amory could fear "that the Beautiful People and the Jet Set are being threatened by current economics."[2]
A sign that "jet set" had passed from urbane use was the 1974 country 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.[7]
In 1976, the jet set first flew on 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 City; passenger lists on initial flights were gossip-column material. The Concorde restored the term's 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".[8] However, the Concorde was doomed by its sonic boom, limited global fly-over rights because of the boom, its huge thirst for jet fuel, and a disastrous crash. The aircraft was retired in 2003. Meanwhile, the Boeing 747, densely packed with some 400 passengers,[9] was a craft that accelerated the democratizing social changes already brought about by the jet age.