The allure of illusion

Is Paris Hilton glamorous? She meets all the criteria. She's young, shiny, obscenely rich and reckless. She does precisely as she likes. She's an heiress. Old money! (Mature, anyway.) She is pure, uncompromised artifice. Noel Coward or Preston Sturges could have made her up — if it weren't for the sex tape. And the hamburger ad. And the album. And her mother.

By Carina Chocano

May 21, 2006