"the upper crust of Recife society" (from a travelogue)

This amusing travelogue describes a side of Recife that I'm too familiar with (though I try to avoid it).

Strutting through the amassed crowd out front of O Teatro, I felt like I was attending a Hollywood premiere. Everyone was decked out and there was a plethora of beautiful people all around, many of which were trying to manipulate their way past the bouncers and into the party. With the grace of a gliding swan, Bruno led us through the multitudes as he seemed to kiss everyone in sight, until we were face-to-face with the smiling doorman. They obviously knew Bruno and were in the process of exchanging pleasantries when Bruno grabbed our hands and introduced us as Adam and Jose, international male models. The doorman looked us up and down, gave the approving nod and just like that we had infiltrated the upper crust of Recife society.

This sort of mentality is hard to see in more egalitarian, first-world cultures (*including* the US), where people don't try as hard to be chique or show off their money / clothes.

In the Brazil that I know, it is unthinkable to give a party for which people don't dress up. No wonder I fit in better among "foreign" cultures (or at least, I don't feel as bad about not fitting in ;-) ).