Word: parvenu
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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...pulchritude wars began in earnest three years ago, when the longtime dominance of Ford Models, Inc., was challenged by an interloper from Paris. The parvenu, John Casablancas, had owned the biggest model agency in Paris and for years enjoyed an uneasy working relationship with "Godmother" Eileen Ford, trading les girls between continents as occasion and opportunity demanded. Then, in 1977, despite an unwritten agreement that he would not set up shop in the U.S., Casablancas descended on Manhattan. He promptly aggravated the assault by raiding some of Ford's most toothsome stars-10s or near 10s all-as well...
There was good reason for concern. The small rural landowner was being squeezed dry. More and more parvenu nobles, exempt from taxes, were buying country property; the mounting costs of a burgeoning bureaucracy thus fell on fewer and fewer Frenchmen. Petitions for nobles and clergy to share in the tax load went unheard...