The social pages of newspapers are the place to be seen in the pre-social media age

Before social media and the age of influencers, grabbing a cup of coffee and the Sunday paper was an adrenaline-filled moment to see if you’d made it.
Photo: Delivered

By means of Carolyn Enting*

Remember when the appearance of your photo on the pages of the association was similar to its creation?

These were the days before social media and the age of influencers and if you were photographed by photographer Norrie Montgomery, grabbing a cup of coffee and the Sunday paper was an adrenaline-filled moment to see if you’d made it.

“People bought the newspaper and when they got into it, they bought multiple copies and hung them on the wall,” former recalls About city social commentator Amanda Nicolle.

It was “a water cooler situation” and a buzz to pick up the Sunday paper and open it, says broadcaster and podcaster Petra Bagust.

“So many people were going to brunch and checking the Sunday paper for the social pages. It was a bit of a ritual… who’s joining in? And what’s going on? Because we didn’t have social media to scroll, so that was the only place we could go and see a bit of glamour.”

Bagust featured in the Rolodex of A-listers who regularly appeared in the pages of the Auckland Society, along with the likes of Colin Mathura-Jeffree, Aja Rock, Nicky Watson, Kate Hawkesby, Gilda Kirkpatrick and Sally Ridge. And she remembers making a good effort to represent at events, especially during Fashion Week.

Petra Bagust appeared regularly on the social pages.
Photo: Delivered

“You have your hair and makeup, outfit, accessories and shoes. You try to think about everything. What are you wearing? What do you look like? Because you’re going out and it can be reported,” she says.

“I think when you put so much effort into it, the social pages were in some ways a reward for all the effort.”

Social history

Society pages have been around since the 1830s, getting their start in 1880s New York, and are still a thing even with the advent of social media.

A high point in New Zealand’s history was undoubtedly the early to mid-Noughties, with About Town in the Sunday Star-TimesScene (later Spy) in the Herald on Sunday, and RSVP inside The Dominion Post, as well as pages in it Fashion quarter and that of Auckland Subway magazine. (Although it is there Subway had the opposite appeal, as it captured people in awkward moments such as frowning or eating, such as capturing model and television personality Colin Mathura-Jeffree struggling to eat squid in the Gucci box in Ellerslie.)

Warm property

Subway Apart from that, the power of an appearance in the Sunday paper meant that the social commentators and photographers were also hot property.

Nicolle, who collaborated with photographer Kevin Stent for the Sunday Star-Times to the Wellington beat, remembers people throwing themselves in front of the camera and following them.

“Once we were at a big corporate event and Kevin was about to take a photo when someone jumped into the photo and said, ‘without me there will be no photo.’ Kevin just put his camera on the floor and said : ‘Sorry, there is no photo without me’.”

Montgomery, who everyone knows as Norrie, has also become accustomed to this behavior. “People are constantly pitting themselves against Norrie,” says Mathura-Jeffree. “It’s like rhinos crashing in front of him and it’s quite aggressive.”

Montgomery has occupied the social circuit for more than twenty years for the Sunday Star-Times‘About the city and the Herald on Sunday‘s Spy, where his images still appear.

The first party he photographed for About Town was Sir Owen Glenn’s 60th birthday party at the Loaded Hog in Auckland Viaduct. It was his first taste of meeting socialites in Auckland. He remembers thinking, “This is a joke and I’m getting paid for it” and has been doing so ever since, although he now mainly photographs parties for PR and private clients.

“I didn’t always choose people who were well-known. I liked getting people who had done their best. I reached out to them, got the photo and they were absolutely thrilled,” says Montgomery.

The Colin factor

Mathura-Jeffree’s is a face that has appeared many times over the years. Montgomery remembers the photo desk contacting him to say, “We just had someone say Colin Mathura-Jeffree wasn’t on Spy this week,” you know, sarcastically. So I went back to the man and said, ‘I’m glad you pointed it out to him. I will make sure this never happens again, that he is not in Spy,” Montgomery said.

Colin Mathura-Jeffree takes center stage on the regular social pages.
Photo: Norrie Montgomery

“Colin was great and would be the life and soul of the party. He has a really good energy and he is great with people.”

Photographer Carmen Bird, who photographed the association pages for About Town and women’s day, confirms “everyone loves Colin”. The Herald on Sunday once wrote that if you want to get your photo on the association’s pages, you have to have your photo taken with Mathura-Jeffree. For a whole minute, this led to him regularly being approached at events to “take a picture with Norrie”.

One woman even grabbed him as he grabbed a glass of champagne and swung him into the waiter. “It was all flying around and then we all froze. It was such a chaotic mess and then she looked up at me and said ‘hurry’. I was shocked,” Mathura-Jeffree recalls.

Good for business

The association’s pages have also oiled the wheels of business. “In many ways it has launched people’s careers,” Nicolle says. “We went to designer events and fashion parades and people got to know the name behind the designer. Everyone was interested in what everyone else was doing. It was a very busy and vibrant scene.”

Mathura-Jeffree confirms that he has gotten great performances from attending events. “The most important thing about the social pages is that you understand what it’s about and what the business is actually about,” he says.

Colin Mathura-Jeffree’s birthday party was quite a social page affair.
Photo: Delivered

PR companies also quickly realized that social pages were a great publicity opportunity for clients.

Still relevant or boring?

Recently something cute happened to Bagust. Her mother left the newspaper folded on her bed and she was on the social pages. “I was like, ‘oh, this brings back memories.’”

When asked about its relevance in 2024, she muses that, as the Social Media title suggests, everyone has a social page these days – it’s “the democratization of social pages” because there’s now a photo wall at almost every event , not just at the Oscars. .

“It used to be that the event was the main ticket and the social pages were swirling in the background, and they complemented that beautifully,” she says.

“Now it feels like the events are literally being set up for social media, like the whole orientation is focused on the photos and who’s going to be there, where are they going to put those photos. And you have 25 Norries when you have 25 guests, and that is your ideal: that everyone posts.”

Montgomery agrees that society pages “have had their heyday,” although they remain relevant because seeing yourself in print media is still a thing today.

Nowadays people take pictures of their photo in the newspaper and zoom in on their phone to share on social media. Sure, everyone posts their own photos at events, but they’re curated by a third party, which still means something.

*Carolyn Enting is a freelance lifestyle and fashion writer.