Britney Spears' high society snub

By Stone Martindale Feb 14, 2007, 23:35 GMT

Lydia Hearst © Janet Mayer / Photorazzi

More grist for the mill from the past fashion week in New York.  Word is poplette Britney Spears given the haute couture "oh snap" by the real heiress Lydia Hearst, who happens to design high end handbags to while away her toney existence. 

The real reason for Britney's absence from the front row seat reserved for her at the Heatherette show at Fashion Week on Tuesday has been revealed by the New York Daily News.

She wasn't trying to avoid Paris Hilton per earlier reports, who was expected to walk the runway, but was laid low by a refusal of a comp swag bag by socialite Lydia Hearst

The story goes that Miss Louisiana requested a complimentary purse be given to her as a gift. The point would be she would be seen in the front-row seat where she would be photographed with the bag.

The Daily News reports that Hearst, who had designed the bags with Heatherette's Richie Rich and Traver Rains, "politely declined" Britney's offer.

The real heiress, who had just 100 pieces of freebie bags, told The Daily News, "I'm only giving the bag to accomplished young women who are doing something positive to affect the world around them. They are women I look up to and respect, like Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Jessica Parker and Anne Hathaway.

They share the same high standards of giving back to the communities in which they live."