Our ultimate A-listers and the wannabes who think they are

The true A-lister has become a virtual ghost, and the B-lister is largely inaccessible — leaving the C and D-lister to dominate on the once exclusive red carpet. In a four-part special, Annette Sharp ranks Australia’s movers, shakers and wannabes. PLAY: HOW WELL DO YOUR KNOW YOUR A B C and D-LISTERS

• A list: Our most bankable stars
• B list: Busy and bold
• C list: Big now but not for long
• D list: Masters of illusion

A My Kitchen Rules contestant, a fashion blogger, the extroverted son of a TV star, a skateboarder and a backbencher. There was a time when such a guest list would be relegated to the social scrap heap.

Not today. A week after that hodgepodge assembly flew to Mexico to attend the wedding of Karl Stefanovic and were described by national media as a “star-studded” line-up, seasoned social observers have been puzzling over the demise of the nation’s A-list.

Despite being billed as the “celebrity wedding of the year” many of the guests at Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough’s Mexican do were in fact “hodgepodge assembly”.

With the advent of social media, the splintering of media platforms and the arrival of “influencers”, Sydney’s social world order has been turned on its head — at once depleted of big-name stars and augmented with low-grade chancers now hailed as “celebrities”.

A constrained economy has played a role.

The proliferation of cheaper reality TV has contributed to a downturn of production of high-quality local drama and comedy shows, the traditional incubator for new talent.

The decline in the popularity of the grand sponsored event — the Black and White Ball, the Cointreau Ball, the Mercedes Australian Fashion Week launch party, theatre and film gala launches — has laid waste to a future generation of well-heeled philanthropists and event planners.

The virtual collapse of the local fashion industry has reduced the once-bubbling stream of fashion creatives to a drip while the mushrooming of small start-up PR agencies has wiped out decades of knowledge concerning the construction of great party guest lists — an art form in itself.

True A-Listers Elsa Pataky and Chris Hemsworth.

In a world where everything is measured and justified, cost-effective social media influencers now occupy the best seats at fashion week — their fawning opinion to a captive Instagram audience frequently exceeding the sub-500,000 reach of breakfast mainstays Today and Sunrise.

In this new sphere, the true A-lister has become a virtual ghost, the B-lister is largely inaccessible — leaving the C and D-lister (and burgeoning E and F-listers) to dominate on the once exclusive and career-transforming red carpet.