Dachshunds, debutantes and Donald Trump: capturing the glitzy, bizarre world of 80s high society

Photographer Dafydd Jones’s new book documents the upper crust of the Big Apple in an era of gaudy excess: doggy canapes, ladies who lunched, and a ‘mob-like’ real-estate mogul

Her face is covered, but you can tell it’s Ivana Trump from her beehive. The picture was taken in 1990, at& a& fashion show in the gilded environs of New York hotel the Plaza. She sits alone, surrounded by empty chairs, as rapacious photographers press in from behind, while hotel security guards loom from one side. A trio of well-dressed guests appear to laugh in her direction.

The photograph is one of the highlights from a new book by Dafydd Jones. New York: High Life/Low Life features images taken between 1988 and 1999, when the Wales-born society photographer moved to the US to work for titles including Vanity Fair and the New York Observer.