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According to an in-depth study conducted by sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists and other thought leaders in socio-scientific fields... Being young, rich and beautiful is pretty damn great.
Being born into a family of riches while enjoying terrific genetics results in a wide variety of opportunity for those who are attractive and well-monied.
Celebrities such as the Kardashians and the Hiltons have used their status as attractive heiresses and socialites to create media and business empires that have further lined their pockets and bolstered their fame. People around the world watch these star socialites for cues on fashion, luxury and other lifestyle choices.
While there are plenty of rich families in the world whose members include beautiful heiresses with large endowments, a select few have risen to develop their own status as businesswomen and celebrities, forging their own paths with help from the leverage provided by their family background.
Some of these dynamic heiresses establish themselves in the fashion industry, creating a luxurious brand image through their experiences living the lavish lifestyle. Others work to take over the business empire of their fathers, learning the family business from the ground up. All of these women look forward to bright futures of opulence and influence.
11. Petra & Tamara Ecclestone - England
Born to the overlord and CEO of Formula One racing, Bernie Ecclestone, Petra and Tamara Ecclestone have both walked the runway and entered into the fields of fashion designing and merchandising.
The elder, Tamara, has been a favorite target of British tabloids, starred in the reality show "Billion $$$ Girl" and enjoyed a $17 million wedding to Jay Rutland in France. Petra married James Stunt four years ago; both Ecclestone sisters have started their own families.
Tamara and Petra have used their leverage as heiresses to enter into large real estate deals, some of which involve luxury properties worth upwards of $50 million.
10. Vanisha Mittal - India
Vanisha graduated from Cornell university and went on to work in real estate and other business endeavors. She's the daughter of Lakshmi Mittal, who is CEO and Chairman of ArcelorMittal, which is the largest steel producer in the world. Lakshmi is the fifth richest in India and was listed as the 57th most powerful person in the world in 2014.
Her studies and business activities are part of an effort to help her father with the family business empire with an eye on her eventually taking over a considerable fortune.
When Vanisha married an investment banker, Lakshmi spent $60 million for her wedding, making it one of the richest weddings of the past decade.
9. Jenna, Prisca, Claire & Virginie Courtin-Clarins - France
The Courtin-Clarins clan of cousins - Jenna, Prisca, Claire & Virginie - were all born into the Clarins cosmetic empire created by their grandfather, Jacques Courtin-Clarins. As shareholders of this private enterprise, the Courtin-Clarins cousins also act as representatives of the brand, creating instructional content and testing new products for consumers.
The four made a huge splash in 2011 during a New York Fashion show, catching the attention of fashion queen Anna Wintour. When Wintour witnessed the fashionable young heiresses, she immediately arranged a photo shoot of the Courtin-Clarins that helped solidify the cousins' reputation within the fashion and glamor industry.
8. Marta Ortega-Perez - Spain
Billionaire founder Amancio Ortega of Inditex, a fashion retail company, has been preparing his daughter Marta to take over his sartorial empire and other relevant business concerns. Amancio's empire, worth $57 billion, includes properties and brands such as the Zara chain of clothing stores.
Marta isn't being handed the keys to the entire empire without working for it. Her father has personally overseen her development in the business, ensuring she gets a good sense of the whole operation by working in the stock room and dealing with customers in person.
She's married to Sergio Alvarez Moya, a Spanish equestrian superstar who shares the same passion she does for horseback riding.
7. Charlotte Casiraghi - Monaco
Boasting an impressive lineage that includes Grace Kelly as her grandmother, an Olympic gold medalist as her great-Grandfather and Princess Caroline as her mother, Charlotte Casiraghi's father was Stefano Casiraghi, a billionaire financier who died in a speedboat accident when Charlotte was only 4 years old.
An enthusiastic equestrian rider who competes in amateur show-jumping, Charlotte recently started to represent Gucci as one of the signature faces in their advertising, beginning with Gucci's 90th anniversary campaign.
Charlotte's passion for horses fits Gucci's image perfectly, considering the inspiration the fashion house has drawn from the equestrian lifestyle. The company sponsors and creates clothing for Charlotte's competitive equestrian career.
6. Anna Anisimova - Russia
Anna is the daughter of Vasily Anisimov, a Russian tycoon who made his billions through a self-made empire of dealings in metal and real estate. Vasily's elder daughter from a previous marriage was murdered, which likely lead to Vasily sending Anna to live in New York, far away from potentially dangerous political and business turmoil, closer to the lavish lifestyle offered by the Big Apple.
Anna attended NYU, worked as a model and was referred to as the Russian Paris Hilton when she was younger because of her luxury lifestyle, which included a summer rental in the Hamptons that totaled $550,000 for the season.
5. Josie Ho - Hong Kong
A famous singer and actress since the mid-1990s, Josie Ho is the daughter of Stanley Ho, a casino magnate with properties in Macau's gambling paradise. She's a hard-working performer who has appeared in more than 45 productions since starting her career in television, film and song.
Despite her considerable fame and fortune, Josie is an outlier among actresses in the Chinese entertainment industry, continuing to act into her thirties despite the fact that most actresses retire to a quiet family life in their thirties. Instead, she's noted for her selection of difficult roles including appearances in smaller, independent films at the Sundance Film Festival.
4. Yuki Oshima-Wilpon - Japan
Yuki Oshima-Wilpon's father is billionaire financier Kenshin Oshima. He was the President of SFCG, an industrial loan company which was found to have used violence to collect money from their debtors - something that doubtlessly struck fear in Yuki's boyfriends over the years.
Now married to Brooklyn native Bruce Wilpon, Yuki is a conscientious consumer of green products and services and appears to be one of the most eco-friendly heiresses in the world. When shopping for real estate, she seeks a home with renewable energy, free of pesticides, decorated with organically-grown plants and maintained with natural products. She also refuses leather products and drives hybrid vehicles.
To balance out her eco-friendliness, she uses a private jet for her frequent travels.
3. Cho Hyun-Ah - Korea
Justice Oh Sung-Woo commented that "it is doubtful that the way the nuts were served was so wrong" during the trial of heiress and diva Cho Hyun-Ah, daughter of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho.
The so-called "nut rage" trial took place after Cho Hyun-Ah lost her temper on a flight, becoming abusive towards the chief flight attendant after being served macadamia nuts in a bag instead of in a bowl.
This incident ended up delaying the flight, which arrived late to its destination of Incheon after being forced to return to JFK Airport in New York. Cho Hyun-Ah ended up getting one year in prison for interrupting the flight and her father apologized publicly for not being more involved in raising her.
2. Rosanna Davison - Ireland
As the first Irish Miss World, winning the title in 2003, Rosanna Davison traveled across the world, representing Ireland and kickstarting her modeling and acting career. Davison's father is Chris De Burgh, the writer and performer of the ultimate melodramatic 80s ballad, Lady in Red, which likely provided the background music for many a baby made as the megahit climbed the charts worldwide.
Rosanna recently received a €40,000 wedding ring to go along with a proposal by her now-husband Wesley Quirke. She has appeared in numerous TV shows and is slated to star in her first role as an actress for the upcoming drama The Wake.
1. Veronica Chou - China
Veronica Chou is one of the most influential figures in China when it comes to fashion. As owner of Iconix China, she's responsible for determining fashion trends season-to-season, acting as a gatekeeper who selects which United States fashion brands make an entrance into the continually-burgeoning consumer market in China.
Her father is textiles tycoon Silas Chou, the man responsible for the meteoric rise of the Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors fashion brands.
She and her family moved into a Beijing penthouse developed before the 2008 Olympics, a project that was altered from the ground up to accommodate their request to combine an open-air courtyard with a panoramic, penthouse view.
Sources: forbes, treehugger, nymag, mining, ft, dailymail, imdb, vanityfair
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