The wealthy Victorian socialites who set every trend

Winnaretta Singer, heir to the sewing-machine fortune, turned her millions into one of the great engines of Parisian musical modernism. As Princesse de Polignac, she funded composers, salons, performances, and avant-garde culture with exquisite seriousness. Her home became a laboratory for elite taste, where money didn’t just buy furniture; it commissioned the future. Some heiresses collected husbands. Winnaretta collected composers, which frankly had better long-term cultural returns.