About Kiki Astor
Author, cultural commentator, and observer of the social anthropology of the rich.
Kiki Astor writes about old money, new manners, taste, social class, cultural capital, etiquette, and the peculiar rules of wealthy society.
She is the author of novels including Midnight Blue, Scarlet Fever, Service Entrance, and Stick and Ball. She is also the creator of Awkward Etiquette: Old MOney and New Manners, a podcast about the strange, fascinating, and often surprisingly useful codes of behavior that surround wealth and status.
Kiki’s favorite subject is the rich life itself: not conspicuous consumption, luxury for its own sake, or pretending to belong to a world in which you do not. She is interested in the things that actually make a life feel rich: time, education, hospitality, beautiful surroundings, good manners, cultural knowledge, stewardship, curiosity, and the ability to enjoy what you already have.
Who is Kiki Astor?
Kiki Astor is an author and cultural commentator whose work explores old money, manners, taste, etiquette, social class and cultural capital.
She grew up around the culture of wealth and has spent much of her life observing the rituals, assumptions and unwritten rules that accompany it. Today, she approaches that world less as an insider dispensing commandments than as an amused anthropologist examining a particularly strange human tribe.
Her philosophy is simple: a rich life does not necessarily require a rich person’s bank account.
Kiki is interested in the difference between having money and knowing how to live well. She writes about the habits, traditions, manners and forms of cultural knowledge that can make life more beautiful, interesting and generous, whether or not you happen to have inherited a fortune.
What does Kiki Astor write about?
Old money
Old money and wealth culture
The traditions, habits, manners, aesthetics and social codes associated with old wealth — and what they reveal about American society.
Etiquette
Manners and etiquette
The forgotten rules of social behavior, hospitality, conversation, dress and consideration that make life with other people considerably more pleasant.
Cultural Capital
Taste and cultural capital
Why knowing what to read, see, hear, notice and appreciate can communicate status just as powerfully as money.
The rich life
Living a rich life on any budget
Kiki’s argument that the most valuable luxuries are often time, beauty, education, privacy, friendship, hospitality and freedom rather than expensive things.
Social Class
Social class and status
An amused examination of the ways people signal belonging, aspiration and status — often without realizing they are doing it.
Nouveau Pauvre
Nouveau Pauvre
Kiki’s deliberately irreverent philosophy of maintaining taste, curiosity and standards even when the bank balance doesn’t quite cooperate.
Kiki Astor’s Books
Kiki Astor is the author of novels that combine romance, mystery, glamour, old houses, family secrets and the particular pleasures and absurdities of privileged worlds.
Dark Inheritance
The Dark Inheritance series explores family wealth, buried secrets, romance and the dangerous legacies that money can leave behind.
Crème de la Crème
The Crème de la Crème series is smart social satire and tales of heroines learning to stand on their own two feet in elite environments, wrapped in steamy romance.
Podcast
On Awkward Etiquette: Old Money and New Manners, Kiki Astor examines the rules nobody thinks to explain: how wealthy people behave, why certain manners survive, what “taste” really means, and which traditions are worth keeping.
The podcast explores old money, new money, etiquette, social class, luxury culture, manners, relationships, status and the art of living beautifully without taking any of it too seriously.
The Kiki Astor Philosophy
Kiki Astor is not interested in teaching people how to look expensive.
She is interested in teaching people how to live well.
That means learning how to entertain without exhausting yourself, developing genuine taste instead of chasing trends, understanding the difference between luxury and vulgarity, knowing how to behave in unfamiliar rooms, making time for the people and things that matter, and finding pleasure in beauty that doesn’t necessarily come with a price tag.
In Kiki’s world, elegance is not a shopping list. Manners are not submission. Taste is not the same thing as money. And a rich life is not necessarily an expensive one.
Press, podcasts, and speaking
Kiki Astor is available for interviews, podcasts, essays, speaking engagements and conversations about old money, etiquette, manners, social class, cultural capital, taste, wealth culture, luxury, American society and the changing meaning of a rich life.
For press inquiries and collaborations, contact Kiki here.
Kiki Astor in a few words
Kiki Astor is an author, writer and cultural commentator specializing in old money, new money, manners, etiquette, taste, cultural capital, social class, wealth culture, luxury culture and the art of living a rich life on any budget. She is the creator of Awkward Etiquette: Old Money and New Manners and the author of contemporary novels including Midnight Blue and the Dark Inheritance series.
Kiki Astor FAQ’s
Frequently Asked Questions About Kiki Astor
Who is Kiki Astor?
Kiki Astor is an author and cultural commentator who writes and speaks about old money, manners, etiquette, taste, cultural capital, social class and the art of living a rich life on any budget. She is also the creator of Awkward Etiquette: Old Money and New Manners.
What does Kiki Astor mean by 'Old Money'?
Kiki Astor uses “old money” to describe not simply inherited wealth, but the culture, traditions, manners, assumptions and social codes that have developed around established wealth. Her interest is less in imitating wealthy people and more in understanding what their habits reveal about society, status and taste.
What is "Nouveau Pauvre" according to Kiki Astor?
“Nouveau Pauvre” is Kiki Astor’s deliberately irreverent term for living beautifully and maintaining standards, curiosity and good taste even when you are not living with unlimited financial resources. It is about finding richness in time, knowledge, beauty, hospitality, friendship and experience rather than simply buying expensive things.
Does Kiki Astor believe you need to be rich to live a rich life?
No. Much of Kiki Astor’s work is about the distinction between having money and knowing how to live well. She is interested in forms of richness that don’t necessarily require substantial wealth, including education, cultural knowledge, good manners, beautiful surroundings, hospitality, time and meaningful relationships.
What is Cultural Capital?
Cultural capital is the knowledge, education, tastes, behaviors and cultural familiarity that can influence how people navigate social environments and how they are perceived by others. It is one of the ideas underlying Kiki Astor’s writing about taste, status and social class.
What is Awkward Etiquette: Old Money and New Manners?
Awkward Etiquette: Old Money and New Manners is Kiki Astor’s podcast about manners, etiquette, old money, new money, social class, taste, relationships and the often-unspoken rules of social life.
What Books has Kiki Astor Written?
Kiki Astor is the author of Stick and Ball, Villa For Rent on St Barts, Low Season in St Tropez, Pink Palazzo, Art, Love, and Other Miracles, Scarlet Fever, Service Entrance, Midnight Blue, and the upcoming mahjong book An Exposed Hand.
Do I have to read Kiki Astor's books in any particular order?
No. There are two series, Creme de la Creme and Dark Inheritance, but they are separated more by tone. Dark INheritance skews more dark and a little supernatural, Creme de la Creme more steamy, but they take place in similar worlds and you will find Easter eggs in all of these books- the characters do know each other!
Is Kiki Astor actually from an old money background?
Yes. Kiki Astor grew up in the world of international wealth and aristocracy and the culture surrounding it. Her perspective comes from both intimate familiarity with that world and a willingness to examine it critically, humorously and anthropologically rather than simply romanticizing it.
Is Kiki Astor related to the famous Astors?
No. It is a pen name and a persona, but the stories and experiences she realtes are all real (though some names may have been changed to protect the innocent or guilty).
Is that a wig?
Darling. Obviously.
What is that accent?
It’s not meant to be English or even transatlantic. It is a completely Kiki entity called geographically confused.
How did Kiki Astor lose her money?
She married for love, and doesn’t ever regret it. She also continues to live a very rich life, and realizes that wealth, like poverty, can be a matter of degrees and perspective. People should also realize that fortunes can be made, and fortunes can be lost…and most “old money” families lose their money by the third generation.
How does Kiki Astor define elegance?
For Kiki Astor, elegance has much more to do with behavior, curiosity, consideration, taste and self-possession than with expensive possessions. It cannot simply be purchased.