Why Are We So Obsessed with High-Society Sisters?

In October of 1784, two mysterious beauties entered a London ballroom and instantly took the town by storm. The “beautiful Gunning sisters” were impoverished—they’d had to borrow their ballgowns from the costume department of a local theater—but within a year, they’d snatched up two of the most eligible bachelors on the marriage mart, a duke and an earl. Naturally, the sisters’ feat passed into instant legend, and the eventual Countess of Coventry and Duchess of Hamilton and Argyll became major celebrities in their time. This fall, Amazon will bring US viewers Emily Mortimer’s much-anticipated The Pursuit of Love, in which… Read Full Article