This past weekend, the descendants of royalty, dignitaries, and Hollywood legends gathered at the Shangri-La Hotel in Paris, France to be ushered into womanhood. While you might’ve been recovering from your Thanksgiving binge or narrowly avoiding Stranger Things spoilers, the Le Bal des Débutantes, an annual debutante ball, went down.

If you aren’t the child of an Oscar nominee or maybe Princess Diana’s second cousin, you might be unaware of this upper echelon tradition, so allow us to enlighten you. Every year, the event welcomes around 25 young women from around the world (usually aged 16 to 22) from high-level families (think political dynasties, royal lineages, and your gold-standard Hollywood nepo babies) to don couture looks and convene with fellow fancy ladies.

Plenty of Le Bal des Débutantes alums are now famous in their own right, including Margaret Qualley, Lily Collins, Billie Lourd, Lori Harvey, Scout and Tallulah Willis, Apple Martin, and Ava Phillipe. And lest you worry that this is purely a self-indulgent schmooze fest for the 1 percent, I’ll note that the event is usually hosted in support of noble causes. The party doubles as a charity fundraiser, and past causes have included Enfants d'Asie, (an organization that supports education for girls in Southeast Asia), and Seleni, (a non-profit that backs healthcare research for teen moms).

This year’s ceremony saw 19 well-to-do it girls (and their equally esteemed escorts—the Duke of Kent's grandson was one) grace the Shangri-La to announce their grand debuts to high society (and anyone who came across photos of the festivities on Instagram). But the event also managed to kick off speculation on social media about its necessity in our current economic climate. Here’s a breakdown of it all.

Who were this year’s honorees?

You’ll surely recognize plenty of the surnames in this year’s mix. Of the 19 ladies, notable participants included Bronwyn Vance (daughter of the A-list actors Angela Bassett and Courtney Vance), Carolina Lansing (granddaughter of the iconic fashion designer Carolina Herrera), and Lady Araminta Spencer-Churchill (Princess Diana’s 18-year-old cousin). Here’s a who’s who of everyone who popped out in Paris this weekend:

  • Bronwyn Vance (daughter of Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett)
  • Carolina Lansing (granddaughter of Carolina Herrera)
  • Ella Wadia (great-great-granddaughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the literal founder of Pakistan)
  • Lady Araminta Spencer-Churchill (Princess Di’s cousin/daughter of the Duke of Marlborough)
  • Gabrielle Janssens de Balkany (granddaughter of Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy)
  • Eulalia de Orleans-Borbón (goddaughter of King Juan Carlos of Spain)
  • Isabelle d’Orleans (daughter of Duke and Duchess of Chartres)
  • Almudena Dailly de Orléans (daughter of Pierre-Louis Dailly and Princess Adélaide de Orléans)
  • Eugénia of Hohenzollern (daughter of Prince Albert and Princess Natalia of Hohenzollern)
  • Josephine Haas (daughter of Sébastien and Claire-Sophie Haas)
  • Ruby Kemper (granddaughter of Kirk Kerkorian, former owner of MGM Studios)
  • Eliza Lindroth (descendant of Swedish inventor Martin Wiberg)
  • Sarah Bae (daughter of Joseph Bae and former ELLE editor, Janice Lee)
  • Alexandra Moxey (daughter of Ultra Records founder Patrick Moxey)
  • Isabelle von Perfall (daughter of Baron Alexander von Perfall)
  • Jillian Chan (daughter of director Peter Chan and actress-producer Sandra Ng)
  • Eirini Zarifi, (descendant of a banking family from Constantinople)
  • Alice Wang (daughter of tech founder Chuanfu Wang and Stella Li, CEO of BYD Americas)
  • Reagan Sacks (daughter of David Sacks, chairman of Donald Trump's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and Jacqueline Sacks, Saint Haven founder)

So why should I care?

Great question. Along with chatter about who each person was related to, and which designer everyone wore, there was a concurrent debate about whether a ball that glorifies the children of the elite is properly meeting the moment. In a historically dry job market where unemployment rates worldwide are hitting drastic lows, plenty of social media commentators made it known that the last thing they’re interested in is seeing wealthy young women whose prestige is entirely bloodline-dependent make their grand foray into the public consciousness.

“At this point, this level of wealth makes me feel nauseous,” wrote one commentator. “Draping children in exorbitant gowns to flaunt their parents' money and status feels so dystopian." Plenty of similarly-minded comments noted that the ceremony feels reminiscent of District 1 in The Hunger Games franchise—a removed but markedly richer sector of the population that maintains its own exclusive traditions and extravagant events. Despite the event’s high-brow rep, non-Nepo babies have actually attended in the past. Lauren Marbe, a UK-based student whose IG was higher than Einstein’s, participated, and 10 years ago, Olivia Hallisey, a scientist who invented a low-cost Ebola test, was also featured. So there is an entry point for independently impressive young ladies. But with threats of a worldwide recession nearing, users who may not have been aware of this decades-long tradition are hesitant to embrace it. ”We are never kicking the elite out of power,” said one commentator succinctly.