May 9, 1999

CREAM OF THE YOUNG E. SIDE ELITE

SOCIETY'S junior elite are anxiously scanning the pages of the latest Quest to see if they've made it onto the mag's "Ultimate Guest List."

Not surprisingly, the super-WASPy register boasts one Vanderbilt, two Roosevelts, three Phippses and eight Rockefellers along with the usual Upper East Side suspects, like Serena Altshul, Samantha Boardman, Prince Pavlos and Marie Chantal of Greece, Samantha Ronson, Alexander and Alexandra von Furstenberg, Whitney Fairchild, and Robbie Kravis.

Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer - kudos to the calligrapher who spells her name correctly on the invite - gets three pictures, and several mentions, in the six-page piece.

Vogue mag contributor and ubiquitous good-cause supporter Marina Rust nabbed the "Most Ardent Table-Filler" award while well-heeled hoofers Jim Brodsky and Marie-Louise Slocum got the nod for "Most Coveted Dance Partners."

Quest wisely included PAGE SIX's natty nightcrawler Jared Paul Stern on its must-list of party invitees. But it glaringingly omitted Women's Wear Daily man-about-town, Kevin West, who is regularly forced to spend more time than any journo should have to clad in a tux and chronicling the comings-and-goings of Manhattan's monied young minions.

"Oops," said editor-in-chief Kristina Stewart when the slip-up was pointed out to her, before optimistically adding, "this is our first pass-through. We were bound to miss someone!"

Stewart likens the new tally to the Quest 400 roster, which lists the city's biggest movers and shakers. "The Quest 400 is the grown-up version of this new list," she says.

But Quest still gives its elders a nod.

Public relations guru Paul Wilmot's ability to blend "cool aplomb with wicked access" earned him the "Most Potent Secret Weapon" award. "Don't even think about throwing a ball without the help of an event maestro like Paul," gushes the mag.

Most definitely not on the list, says Stewart, is anyone who still buys discounted junior tickets to the city's myriad charity balls, when they obviously should be springing for full-priced adult ducats.

"There are people who still buy the discounted tickets and glom onto the junior set because they don't want to become grownups," sniffs the amused Stewart. "Let's just say this list was meant to be the ultimate junior list - without all the excess baggage."