Five days. Thirty-six tweets. Seventy-six thousand followers. That was the lifespan of @CondeElevator, a Twitter account formed for the sole purpose of reporting ludicrous, albeit hilarious, banter from inside the elevator at Condé Nast headquarters in New York. (See excerpts below.) The creator? One of their own – former GQ editor Lauren Bans, who revealed her identity in a spontaneous tweet last month. In an interview with GQ, Bans said, ”I came home real drunk last night, read an article about the Goldman Sachs Elevator guy in the New York Times, and then impulsively tweeted my ‘coming out.’”
Let me fill you in: The day Bans sent her signing-off tweet to @CondeElevator for fear of jeopardizing her job, the anonymous @GSElevator account popped up, seemingly tweeting the same sort of gossip – only from the elevators at Goldman Sachs. Two and a half years later, @GSElevator comes out as finance expert John LeFevre, admits he was inspired by @CondeElevator, and signs a six figure book deal with Touchstone.
Woman #1 to Woman #2, holding an omelet: “What’s the occasion?” Woman #2: “…huh?” Woman #1: “I would need an occasion to eat that.”
— Conde Elevator (@CondeElevator) August 6, 2011
Girl 1: “Is this skirt totally see through?” Girl 2: “No! No! Looks great.” Guy, after they exit: “That skirt was totally see through.”
— Conde Elevator (@CondeElevator) August 6, 2011
Hence Bans’s impulsive, drunken tweet.
Well, Bans (and @GSElevator haters), we have good news for you. Turns out John LeFevre is not a Sachs employee, but a Citigroup banker tweeting from his home in Texas. When news broke in February of his false identity, LeFevre kissed his book deal goodbye. So what does that mean for Bans? We’re thinking she needs to contact Touchstone ASAP. Three hundred pages on life inside the Condé Nast Building? Now that is a book we’d happily read. Perhaps in the elevator. Being very, very quiet.
Read about the former GQ editor at fashionista.com.
By Julia Ivins, Staff Writer
Thoughts on this breaking news? Tweet us at @ruelala.
Not a Member and like The (Style) Guide? You’ll love Rue La La. Join now.
