before they were sorta famous

Greg Gutfeld: The "Hot" Years

As regular readers know, Greg Gutfeld's taxing schedule at the Fox News channel show that launched the Julia Allison slutternaut into the stratosphere has caused him to develop "tits. Fucking tits," and to have "completely stopped exercising." But it wasn't always so. Feast your eyeballs on Young Greg in all his glory. And then, you know, bathe. more »

5:10 PM ON WED JUN 27 2007
BY EMILY
4,142 views, 16 comments

Socialites

Before They Were Sorta Famous: Socialite Olivia Palermo

Poor Olivia Palermo! One minute Socialite Rank is calling her "one of most fascinating [sic] young and up-and-coming NY personalities," and then today they're all, "she's been attending too many events, borrowing too many dresses, allegedly skipping too many of her college sessions while peaking too soon and making too many (jealous?) enemies" while subtly implying that she is like a package of tuna. We thought we'd do our part to cheer Libs up on this sad backlashey day! Here's a cute yearbook picture of her from Connecticut prep school, St. Luke's. more »

1:20 PM ON TUE MAR 6 2007
BY EMILY
9,088 views, 6 comments

Latest by ralph: While a student at the prestiguous St. Luke's, Ms. Palermo enjoyed a reputation of excellence. Her social status was only superceded by her driving ability. She managed to crash her BMW 3 series coupe directly more »

kristian laliberte

Before They Were Sorta Famous: Kristian Laliberte

Before fashion publicist/gadabout Kristian Laliberte (right) got sorta-famous for telling the Observer he wanted to be New York's Rachel Zoe and Facebookishly declaring his love for "hot hotel compilations," "sour straws" and "Swedish people," he was a high school student. Photographic evidence after the jump. more »

10:39 AM ON MON FEB 12 2007
BY EMILY
1,070 views, 3 comments

fashionista

Before They Were Sorta Famous: 'Fashionista' Faran Krentcil

So that's Faran Krencil, is it? Huh. We'd kind of expected someone who spends her days blogging about whether Pucci is the new Burberry to be a little more . . . relaxed. Blunt-cut. Straightened, if you will. But Faran Krentcil is a curly girl, and always has been. Evidence? Well, that Duke tee isn't just some ironic affectation: Krentcil did attend the institution best-known for basketball and lacrosse rape scandals, and she was quite well known there for a SEX COLUMN, of all things, in the student newspaper. After the jump, we'll see-- and hear -- our Fashionista as she once was: young, idealistic, and ready to dole out advice to underclassmen about one night stand etiquette. more »

10:40 AM ON TUE JAN 30 2007
BY EMILY
1,620 views, 19 comments

Latest by Barnacle: You went all the way to the Chronicle's website and didn't puruse Vachon's old columns for the paper? As their former editor, I take total responsibility for all errors... Vachon didn't make any and I could hardly read Faran's column more »

Alex Kuczynski

Before They Were Botoxed: Alex Kuczynski

As the noted intellectual Heidi Julavits once put it,

For those who suffer a little pooch around the eye area, there's the ''instant face-lift'' ponytail, which involves pulling the side hair along the ears back tightly (really tightly).

Ahh, that's our Beauty Junkie. Even as a Barnard student in 1990, she was already figuring out ways to iron out her imperfections.

Skin Deep; With Little Effort, The Ponytail Can Be A Symbol of Glam [NYT] more »

5:50 PM ON TUE JAN 23 2007
BY EMILY
3,771 views, 4 comments

Barack Obama

Before They Were Genuinely Famous: "Barry" Obama

This has been around for a few days, but we hadn't seen it. Pretty awesome, no? Our favorite part is how "Barry" was apparently styled for his yearbook shoot by, like, Jermaine Jackson. No, wait, that's not our favorite part. Our favorite part is the "still life" featuring what we're assuming is a beer bottle and a book of matches. You know, like for lighting your drug cigarettes! So badass. We thought we'd go ahead and do the same kind of point-counterpoint with the Democratic presidential frontrunners that we did that other time; after the jump, the secretary of the chess club bares her chompers. more »

5:30 PM ON TUE JAN 23 2007
BY EMILY
2,008 views, 20 comments

Latest by Kainani: "Tut and Gramps" are his names for his grandma and grandpa. "Tutu" is Hawaiian for grandmother. more »

Atoosa Rubenstein

Bang A Gong, Get Your Wedding On, 'Toos

"Looks like a cross between a runway model, an ''Addams Family'' character and a Shakespearean maiden from ''A Midsummer Night's Dream," eh? We think they left out "and Marc Bolan." more »

3:10 PM ON MON JAN 22 2007
BY EMILY
667 views, 55 comments

before they were sorta famous

Before They Were Sorta Famous: Lara Shriftman

PR lady Lara Shriftman was so cute as a youngster, before she got all fake-tan and plastic surgery-looking on us. An enterprising former classmate of LAI-ra's ("she would always correct people and say it's LAIRA, not LAURA," our tipster reports) sent along a photo of her in elementary school, as well as a point-by-point rebuttal of parts of the seminal 1998 article on Lara and her cohorts, Vanessa Grigoriadis' NY Mag piece "Welcome to the Dollhouse." Both pieces of Shriftmanobilia after the jump. more »

3:40 PM ON THU JAN 11 2007
BY DOREE
446 views, 10 comments

Latest by tudobem: What did happen to all those girls. We need like a "Where are they now?" - New York Mag edition. Gawker, can you get on that? more »

stacey bendet

Before They Were Sorta Famous: Stacey Bendet

Yesterday, we learned that Alice + Olivia designer Stacey "Staceypants" Bendet lives a fabulous life of punch at Kobe Club with Paula Froelich and club-hopping with Devon Aoki. She also goes to yoga drunk and misspells Patr n. But before she was the pants designer to Barneys habitu s, Ms. Bendet was simply Stacey Wiener of the lovely Westchester town of Chappaqua, now home to Mr. and Mrs. Clinton, where she graduated from Horace Greeley High School. Then she was Stacey Wiener of the U. Penn gymnastics team, which might explain her current fascination with alcoholic yoga. A reader kindly sent along a scan of Ms. Wiener (her middle name is apparently Bendet--hey, we'd drop the Wiener too!) from the Class of 1999 Penn freshman facebook, which you may enjoy after the jump. See how far she's come! more »

2:15 PM ON MON JAN 8 2007
BY DOREE
1,048 views, 7 comments

Latest by penngirl: At Penn "WeinerDog" wore Rollerblades constantly. She was "Rollergirl" and not cool at all. And people, this was the late 90s. Its not like rollerblades were the latest thing. She was totally weird. Cooler people from penn are friendly with more »

derek blasberg

Before They Were Sorta Famous: Derek Blasberg, "Writer"

Our favorite New York "writer" Derek Blasberg (pictured at right, at Homecoming 1999) was always destined for greatness. Even at an early age, living in a well-to-do suburb of St. Louis, where others may have accepted their suburban lot, he saw that there was another world out there--a world where he could safely escort Genevieve Jones, break up Proenza Schouler, and possibly edit Socialite Rank. In high school, he was already a hit with the ladies--on the back of this photo, he scrawled, "Wish this was you, toots! Love, Derek," and our mole tells us he reportedly sent this exact same message and photo to several other lasses. This enterprising classmate also sent along some other revealing items to Gawker HQ, which you can peruse after the jump. more »

3:55 PM ON FRI JAN 5 2007
BY DOREE
565 views, 14 comments

Latest by saywhatnow: Um, I am from St. Louis and Affton can hardly be considered a "well-to-do suburb of St. Louis." Whoever told you that was sorely mistaken. Now if they would have said Ladue, they'd be right. Affton High more »