Pippa Middleton takes on Manhattan

It was really only a matter of time: one tiny island was never going be enough to contain both Middleton sisters for long. With Kate ensconced in Kensington Palace, Pippa, having conquered British society — or, at least, Boujis and Bunga Bunga — this week crossed the pond to make her mark in Manhattan.

Since the younger Ms Middleton touched down in New York on Saturday it’s been a non-stop round of very public leisure pursuits, including roller-blading in Central Park, tennis at the US Open, and ping-pong in the Hamptons, and — drum roll — apartment hunting, with the paparazzi in hot pursuit, as she rocks her famous rear around town.

The official purpose of Pippa’s transatlantic trip is for meetings about her forthcoming party-planning book, Celebrate: A Year of Festivities for Families and Friends, to be published in the US next month. What a happy coincidence that the field trip should fall this week, permitting her a birthday break in the Big Apple — she turns 29 today. And how handy that New York Fashion Week, and its accompanying flashbulbs, kicks off today too. Expect to see Pippa’s perky posterior all over the hottest front rows, as well as the front pages. Here’s the Middleton guide to taking Manhattan…

Head to the Hamptons

Where else would a well-heeled socialite spend Labor Day weekend than the seaside playground of New York’s elite, the Hamptons? And not at any old surf shack either, but at the 20-room, $565 per night Sunset Beach on Shelter Island, property of André Balazs, owner of the Standard Hotels in New York, Miami and LA, and the infamous Chateau Marmont. And not for Pippa a four-hour bumper-to-bumper drive in holiday weekend traffic: as a personal guest of Balazs, she was whisked from city to sand in just 45 minutes on his bright-red seaplane, an eight-seater Cessna Caravan — usual price for the plebs, $525 each way.

Play ping-pong

By way of thanks for the free seaplane ride, Pippa gamely took on the 55-year-old Hungarian hotelier at ping-pong, among the lavender bushes of the barefoot luxury beachside hotel. The New York Post’s Page Six column reports that there was “definite chemistry” between the pair, and the table tennis arena was “flirt central”. The petite brunette would be a departure for Balazs, whose previous squeezes are a long line of leggy blondes, include Uma Thurman, Cameron Diaz and Courtney Love. Perhaps he and Pippa were simply trading hospitality tips.

Watch the sport of kings

Both Middleton sisters know the power of a courtside presence, and Pippa brought a little bit of Fulham to Flushing Meadows on Tuesday at the women’s quarter-finals of the US Open, as the guest of Roger Federer. Who won the match? Who cares? The important point here is that Pippa accessorised her colour-block Paper London sundress and Kate Spade bag with 24-year-old Spencer Vegosen, a former US junior tennis champ and Harvard graduate, who speaks Spanish, Japanese and two different dialects of Chinese. His greased-back Gordon Gekko hair and Goldman Sachs credentials are clear signals of potential entry to the Pippa posse. He’s also rather well-connected, what with his dad being the president of the US Tennis Association.

Play the field

Unlike London, where one suitor is considered sufficient, in New York juggling multiple men is a major-league pastime. And Ms Middleton has wasted no time in adapting to the new dating etiquette. On a Sunday night trip to the Electric Room, at Chelsea’s Dream Downtown hotel, Pippa was accompanied by Mazdack Rassi, the 42-year-old owner of photography company Milk Studios and friend of the fash pack. But that didn’t stop her striking up a rapport with Sean Avery, 32, a former ice hockey player, according to the New York Daily News. To add to the night’s haul of a sports star admirer and an entrepreneur, she also became acquainted with tousled-haired Gossip Girl actor Chase Crawford, 27, according to US Weekly, which calls Pippa “Britain’s most eligible bachelorette”.

Eat, drink, be merry … and look at apartments

On Saturday night Pippa and pals dined at Catch, a trendy Asian-fusion restaurant in the Meatpacking district. On Tuesday she and Spencer Vegosen ate a post-tennis dinner at Le Bernardin, a highly-rated Midtown seafood joint. But yesterday, post-breakfast, and pre-rollerblading in Central Park, Pippa got down to some serious business — viewing potential apartments. Leaping out of a yellow cab, Pippa was papped yesterday morning meeting a woman described as a “realtor” (who bore a spooky similarity to Pippa herself), entering a residential building on Madison Avenue and sending the gossip mill into orbit. The Huffington Post wrote: “We have some news, and by news we mean speculation, and by speculation we mean the best thing you’ve heard all day.”

Occupy the FROW

Pippa’s a relative newcomer to the front row at Fashion Week (the FROW, to those in the know), having only been witnessed the once, at Alice Temperley’s London Fashion Week show in September 2011. But given her proximity to royalty, and Americans’ obsession with all things Windsor and Middleton, it’s a sure thing she’ll be flung a few golden tickets for the top shows and sally straight past the clipboard Nazis. We’re betting our bottom two-thousand-dollar-dress that she’s a shoo-in at Victoria Beckham’s notoriously exclusive show, since the Spice-Girl-turned-designer will no doubt want to return the favour for last year’s royal wedding invitation.

Go for high-end, old-school glamour

A girl-about-town needs a comfortable hotel pillow on which to rest her pretty head, and Pippa has — predictably — chosen historic New York style over hipster cool. She and her girlfriends are rooming at the Carlyle on the Upper East Side, one of the city’s grandest gaffs, where suites can cost up to $15,000 a night. Potential paramours can bide their time waiting to catch a glimpse of her delectable derrière in the hotel’s famous Bemelmans Bar, which dates back to 1929. Reputed to serve the best martini in all of Manhattan, Mahiki, it ain’t.