Around 1965, the famous author Truman Capote reached the peak of his success. Having arrived in the American high society, having taken the hearts of New York City’s intellectuals by storm, he could enjoy unprecedented popularity in the upper class. Here he felt home, in the world of the rich and the beautiful. He has always longed for this moment. “In Cold Blood”, his youngest novel, was launched onto the market and soon won countless prizes including the Pulitzer Prize. All in all, Capote reached and achieved everything he seemed to have longed for.
Of course, these fortunate circumstances had to be celebrated, right? To this day, you can still read about myths and legends revolving this celebration which can be considered the party of the century. Capote was heavily inspired by My Fair Lady in which the female main characters wore black and white to a party.
November 28th, 1966 was the night of the night. In the New Yorker Plaza Hotel, he organized an entire mask ball. Officially, the ball was dedicated to the publisher of the Washington Post, Katherine Graham, because it would have been an indecency to organize a party for himself. Capote spared no expenses, spending 16,000$ which is equivalent to 118,144$ today.
Assembling the entire guest list took 3 months because the party was supposed to be as exclusive as possible. The dress code of course required, as the name suggests, elegant clothing and masks in black and white. Everything was perfect, on said evening Truman Capote succeeded in making 500 friends and 15 000 enemies.
