Stunning photos give a totally unexpected perspective into how the 1% parties

Jessica Craig Martin

In the introduction to "Privilege," style writer Glenn O'Brien describes photographer Jessica Craig-Martin as a "master (or perhaps we can still say mistress in this context) of the dark side of the glamour world and society pages." 

The following 67 images of decadent parties, galas, benefits, and industry events from across the world prove this statement to be true. Craig-Martin's depiction of the elite is an awkwardly cropped, seemingly unglamourous moment. Her work depicts the underbelly of luxury, and yet, it's still of course mesmerizing to look at.

Originally photographing a majority of these events for publications such as Vanity Fair and Harper's Bazaar over the span of 20 years, her collection of images for "Privilege" is what was left unpublished. Ahead, 10 images from the book, and Craig-Martin's reflections on all of those parties.

O'Brien describes Craig-Martin as a "sort of spy" at the events, "camouflaged in her party gear as 'one of us.'"

"I hide in plain sight, wearing what I call ‘guest drag,'" Craig-Martin told Business Insider.

Although it's been written that Craig-Martin's intentional cropping of faces is to protect their identity, she claims this simply isn't true.