Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2020 i Town & Country

1978 A LIFE IN MOTION Ruth and Leonard Horwich, longtime fixtures in Chicago society, were avid collectors of art—in particular, works by Alexander Calder. (Ruth was photographed for T&C in her living room surrounded by the artist’s signature mobiles.) In 1967 the Horwiches helped found Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and after Leonard died Ruth donated 15 Calders to its collection. Ruth, who died in 2014, told T&C she “never feels alone surrounded by the art she loves.” (More stories about Calder can be found in a new biography out this month; see page 53.)…

Justin Wine can afford to buy an apartment. But when the founder of Aspen Wealth Management decided recently to put down roots in Tribeca—the richest zip code in Manhattan—he didn’t buy one of the neighborhood’s sought-after lofts. Instead he decided to rent. “When you factor in a 25 percent down payment, taxes, and maintenance fees, renting just makes more sense,” says Wine, whose firm specializes in supervising family wealth. “With the stock market doing so well, my portfolio is outperforming my rent, while I keep my money liquid and nimble.” He isn’t alone; according to the brokerage firm CORE, the number of Manhattan homes that rent for more than $10,000 per month increased by 20 percent in the past year—roughly the same amount that sales have fallen. Additionally, CORE reports…

The world of haute horlogerie has long been a male-dominated sport, leaving women interested in one-of-a-kind collectors pieces with intricate complications and movements no choice but to borrow from the boys. Now, like the culture at large, watches are catching up with what women want. For the first time in nearly 20 years, Vacheron Constantin, the centuries-old Swiss watchmaker, is introducing a collection of five mechanical timepieces for women. Undeniably feminine in look, Egérie, as the range is called, is grounded in the highest level of technical engineering. It was inspired by a vintage driving watch called the American 21. The hands look like needles; the index resembles embroidered handwritten script in 18K gold. The face is marked by a pleated effect painstakingly created with antique hand-operated guillochage machines. All…

« 1ST CENTURY BC So rare and coveted are pearls that Julius Caesar forbids women below a certain status to wear them. « 16TH CENTURY The world famous La Peregrina pearl is later set into a diamond and ruby necklace for Elizabeth Taylor by Cartier. « 19 TH CENTURY Kokichi Mikimoto creates the first cultured pearl, in Japan in 1893, after natural pearls almost go extinct. « TODAY 80% of the world’s golden cultured pearls come from Jewelmer’s farms.…

ARIES MARCH 21–APRIL 20 April will be volatile, full of opportunities, power struggles, and breakthroughs. Mars, your ruler, will be traveling through the most individualistic sign of the zodiac, so be true to yourself no matter what. Just remember that being reasonable and logical will be the ticket to success; after the 25th you’ll have a clearer idea how crucial situations are going to unfold. BOUCHERON, US.BOUCHERON.COM TAURUS APRIL 21–MAY 21 With mighty Mars in Aquarius, you’ll be feeling assertive and daring. But with the Sun in the most hidden angle of your chart until the 19th, be ready to lay groundwork before leaping into action. You’re entering a new cycle in which you’ll be in a better position to go after your goals, and the new Moon of the…

What do a British former billionaire bullion dealer best known for his turbulent marriage to a motor racing heiress, a notorious forger who makes replicas of great works on his kitchen table in California, a controversial former royal footman, and Prince Charles have in common? Together they form the improbable cast of Buckingham Palace’s latest unseemly scandal. And while it has been overshadowed by the Prince Andrew–Jeffrey Epstein affair—not to mention Megxit—both incidents prompt at least one common query: Why are the royals keeping such questionable company? The story starts with only the best of intentions. In 2007 an 18th-century Palladian mansion in Scotland was about to be stripped and sold off at auction and left to potential ruin when the Prince of Wales rescued it with a loan of…

A few years ago a Houston couple whose idea of a simple dinner party is a banquet for 50 or a fundraiser for 200 decided they needed just a little more space to entertain at their seven-bedroom mansion in River Oaks, a tony enclave where 100-year-old oak trees line streets with names like Lazy Lane Boulevard. They didn’t have to look too far for the expansion—they just looked up. There, on the third floor of their vibrant, French-inspired palace, was hidden treasure, an attic neglected but full of possibility, like an old box of Christmas ornaments just waiting to be unwrapped, dusted off, and hung up again. To clear the cobwebs and turn a dowdy alcove into an after-hours Shangri-La consisting of two suites, a bar, a conservatory, and a…

Milano has plenty of grand hotels. When the city opens its doors this month to the thousands of pilgrims who come every year for the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the world’s foremost design fair, many of the visitors will take up residence in the numerous neoclassical palaces and religious sites that have been converted into luxury Valhallas. What you could say it doesn’t have enough of is the sort of bespoke accommodations a global cultural capital should have. Anyway, that’s the argument made by Alexander Vik, the Norwegian-Swedish billionaire, and his wife Carrie, whose retreats in Uruguay put the beach town José Ignacio on the map. Their new Galleria Vik Milano is an 89-suite sanctuary inside the city’s circus maximus, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (GALLERIAVIKMILANO.COM). The Viks, who live not…

Is there anything Christo hasn’t covered in fabric? He has wrapped tin cans, bottles, tables, chairs, magazines, a rotary telephone, a candlestick, and a tea kettle. At one point he wrapped a Volks-wagen. But the Bulgarian-born artist, who worked alongside his late wife, Jeanne-Claude, is best known for draping massive, seemingly impossible objects, like the Reichstag in Berlin, a pair of monuments in Milan, and even a stretch of Australia’s coastline. One subject that has long evaded Christo is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but this year his dream—which may be the most Instagrammable artwork ever—is set to become a reality. From March 18 to June 15 the Centre Pompidou is calling attention to Christo’s French roots with “Christo and Jeanne-Claude Paris!,” an exhibition of works the couple created…

WHAT TO WEAR HERE Those who set foot in Casa Malaparte (right) should do so in flats—it’s on a cliff—but accessorize dramatically. The views alone demand it. Perched on a cliff in Capri is a home that has captivated generations. Brigitte Bardot posed on its terrace for Jean-Luc Godard. Karl Lagerfeld immortalized its strange beauty in a book. Just last summer, 55 years after Contempt, another ingenue, Emma Stone, was allowed to step inside. Yet a visit to Casa Malaparte, the former home of the name-sake Italian novelist, is a privilege rarely granted—Stone made it in thanks to the largesse of Louis Vuitton, which was shooting a fragrance commercial there. For design snobs, Malaparte is one of a handful of heritage sites considered hallowed ground because access is so controlled…

Ten and a half million dollars: That’s how much a rare ruby and diamond ring by Viren Bhagat fetched at a Sotheby’s auction in October 2017. As with most of his pieces, that was way above the estimate. Hailed as India’s greatest modern-day jeweler, Bhagat is famous for tracking down historic stones—rare pigeon’s-blood rubies, Kashmir sapphires, Colombian emeralds, Golconda diamonds—to set in his masterpieces. So coveted are his creations (he makes only 60 a year) that loyal clients go to his appointment-only Mumbai workshop and purchase designs based on sketches alone. Last month, at TEFAF Maastricht, the sprawling art, design, and antiques fair in the Netherlands, the elusive jeweler expanded his fan base. In his first public show ever, Bhagat unveiled 25 pieces that reflect his signature aesthetic—classic Indian motifs…

EXPERIENCE BOLIVIA’S BIG EMPTY This sleeper of a country suddenly has all the elements for an avant-garde get-away. One-year-old Kachi Lodge—seven deluxe, artfully decorated geodesic domes on wooden platforms—has made the alabaster expanse of Salar de Uyuni, the world’s biggest salt flat, not just a stunning drive-by but a chic stay. Have breakfast on a cactus-covered “island” (in ancient times this was a high-altitude Andean lake); hike to the rim of the Thunupa volcano; identify constellations with the help of the camp’s telescope and staff experts. La Paz, at 12,000 feet the highest administrative capital in the world, is home to one of the most exciting emerging dining scenes in South America, inspired by the produce of Bolivia’s diverse climates. Claus Meyer, co-founder of the groundbreaking Copenhagen restaurant Noma, started…

“Beauty is impossible to define, because it’s always changing, always surprising us,” says Serge Lutens. “It’s constant discovery—it takes you through hidden doors.” The iconic makeup artist, creative director, photographer, filmmaker, and perfumer knows of what he speaks, having collaborated with Richard Avedon and Diana Vreeland on some of the most arresting editorial images of the 1960s, masterminded the first ever designer makeup line for Christian Dior at the dawn of the ’70s, dreamed up the stunning campaigns that put Shiseido on the map in the ’80s, and effectively invented niche perfumery with his boutique in Paris’s Palais Royal, which has been a magnet for those in search of the world’s most exclusive and mythologized fragrances since it opened in 1992. Yet there’s more to Lutens’s oeuvre than jewel-like lipsticks…

“Although built more than 100 years ago, the Bradbury Building is about the future—it was the future when it was created, it was the future in the movies, and it is the future again, animated by its occupants, a symbol of a city that never stops evolving. Great edifices live across ages.”…

“We’ve been working on this library for 45 years. You’ll notice there is a real system and an archivist. But sometimes, after an opening, some of us will come up here for drinks and Chinese dumplings—and it works out very nicely, too!”…

Pat Barnes is teaching his students how to not die in the woods. “This is our emergency response,” Barnes says, starting his lecture. It’s a chilly evening in late September, just past dusk, and the group is standing on a dirt path behind the academic building of the Mountain School, an alternative-learning semester school and 416-acre largely self-sufficient farm in rural Vershire, Vermont, 30 miles south of Montpelier. Each semester the school enrolls 45 academically gifted high school juniors from around the country, with the mission of teaching them “to take care of a place and work for the common good,” as Alden Smith, the school’s director, puts it. In addition to a rigorous, honors- and AP-level academic schedule and on-site farm training, the teenagers learn wilderness survival skills,…

T&C WEDDINGS: THE CHILL BRIDE ASSAEL, SAKS FIFTH AVENUE, 212-753-4000. CAROLINA HERRERA, 212-249-6552. DANIELLE FRANKEL, daniellefrankelstudio.com. DAVID YURMAN, DAVIDYURMAN.COM. JENNIFER BEHR, JENNIFERBEHR.COM. LAGOS, LAGOS.COM. LELA ROSE, LELAROSE.COM. MADIGAN, MADIGANDUBLIN.COM. MARCHESA BRIDAL, MARCHESA.COM. MONIQUE LHUILLIER, 212-683-3330. NIGEL O’REILLY GOLDSMITH, NIGELOREILLY.COM. NOIR KEI NINOMIYA, DOVERSTREETMARKET.COM/US. NOR BY NIGEL O’REILLY, NOR-DESIGN.IE. PICCHIOTTI, LOUISANTHONY.COM. RICHARD QUINN, RICHARDQUINN.LONDON. SIMONE ROCHA, MODAOPERANDI.COM. TABITHA SIMMONS, SIMILAR STYLES, TABITHASIMMONS.COM. TACORI, TACORI.COM. THE LAST TEMPTATION OF JAMES BOND PAGES 90–95 LOUIS VUITTON, LOUISVUITTON.COM. DON’T GET MAD. GET EVERYTHING PAGES 96–101 ASPREY, ASPREY.COM. CHEN CHEN & KAI WILLIAMS, CCKW.US. COACH, COACH.COM. DAVID WEBB, DAVIDWEBB.COM. DAVID YURMAN HIGH JEWELRY, davidyurman.com. EVAN Z. CRANE, EVANZCRANE.COM. FERNANDO MASTRANGELO STUDIO, FERNANDOMASTRANGELO.COM. GIVENCHY, GIVENCHY.COM. HERMES, 800-441-4488. MARIE-HELENE DE TAILLAC, 212-249-0371. MAX MARA BY REN-ZO PIANO BUILDING WORKSHOP, MAXMARA.COM. MOYNAT, MOYNAT.COM. ORIOR, ORIORFURNITURE.COM. POMELLATO, POMELLATO.COM. PRADA,…

Those lucky enough to have visited Jayne Wrightsman at 820 Fifth Avenue speak reverently of her fabulous apartment, by Stéphane Boudin (Wrightsman introduced the decorator to her friend Jackie Kennedy). Wrightsman, who died in 2019, was a socialite of the highest order and, as a patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a voracious art collector. She was especially fond of 18th-century French art, and her home was a trove of Louis XV and XVI furnishings, old master paintings—even Marie-Antoinette’s diary. Some of it (including the items seen here) is for sale at Christie’s this month.…

When Russian art collector and philanthropist Dasha Zhukova and Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos III surprised the world with a lavish, celebrity-studded wedding in St. Moritz last January—the bride in a longsleeve Valentino dress and sweeping cape—the couple fully embraced the Wonderland aesthetic. The ceremony was held in a specially erected tent near the Olympic ski jump, with a blowout Russian-themed afterparty at the Kulm Hotel (which the groom’s family owns). The alpine celebrations—picture perfect for Instagram—raised an important question: Are winter weddings back in vogue? Many famous brides have opted for cold weather nuptials: Brigitte Bardot wed Roger Vadim in Paris in December 1952, wearing a high-necked dress and a white muff, while Audrey Hepburn married Andrea Dotti in Switzerland in the winter of 1969 in a light pink…

TRUE Prep The dress was everywhere: a slim sheath in vibrant patterns, often with white trim to show off that tan. From Palm Beach to Greenwich, “the Lilly” was a uniform for the barefoot, sun-kissed socialites of the 1960s and ’70s. It was resort wear with a twist—colorful splashes of hibiscus and azaleas, or even monkeys sipping martinis and lions playing guitars. Few knew that Lilly Pulitzer herself was not responsible for the prints; for two decades textile designer Suzie Zuzek created more than 1,500 of Pulitzer’s patterns. This May, Zuzek’s archives are being exhibited for the first time, at the Cooper Hewitt in New York (including the pattern seen here). So go now, into your closet—or your mother’s, or grand-mother’s—find that Lilly, and remember: It’s always summer somewhere.…

“With all the information out there now, aren’t sommeliers maybe obsolete?” I had just sat for dinner at a restaurant and opened the wine list when a friend asked this question. “I mean,” he continued, seeing my skeptical expression, “we have all these sources that didn’t exist 10 or even five years ago. I could plug an unfamiliar bottle’s name into my phone and we’d know all we needed.” He had a point, but rather than arguing with my friend and ruining my appetite, I decided to pose the question to an authority on this subject, a man who might be called the dean of American sommeliers. Daniel Johnnes fell in love with food and wine when he lived in France as a student in the 1970s. In 1985 he…

A century ago the French designer Jean Patou staged his semiannual fashion shows on Saturday evenings, with a cocktail bar installed in his Paris salon and the promise of a late, louche night. “You would play tombola and you could win a baby tiger,” says Guillaume Henry, the boyishly handsome designer tasked by LVMH with reviving the house founded by the Jazz Age couturier, who was Coco Chanel’s fiercest rival. For his first presentation, last September, Henry staged his own kind of a party, with waiters from his favorite local brasserie serving guests Ricqlès in La Soufflerie coupes at his atelier, in a neo-Gothic building on the Ile de la Cité. He didn’t need to raffle baby tigers. “People were supposed to stay five minutes and they stayed one hour,”…

Flying on a seaplane to a remote isle in the Palawan archipelago in the Philippines, I see miles of crystal-clear turquoise water, verdant islands here and there, and dolphins dancing in the sea. We land by a rickety dock made of bamboo poles and twine and are greeted by a dozen security guards who are patrolling the waters around Jewelmer’s pearl farms, protecting them from destructive dynamite fishing and polluters that wreak havoc on this delicate ecosystem. Far removed from civilization (it’s two hours by plane from Manila), this untouched paradise is what Jacques Christophe Branellec, Jewelmer’s deputy CEO, calls “the last frontier,” because it’s one of the only remaining places on the planet where his oysters still thrive. Despite his efforts, though, Branellec can’t curtail the effects of climate…

FAMILY FRIENDLY PLAY LIKE A MODERN DUDE IN MONTANA The wooded landscapes of the Resort at Paws Up, a 37,000-acre ranch and luxury retreat in Montana’s Blackfoot Valley, resonate with U.S. history. This was the stomping grounds of the Nez Perce, Flatheads, and Blackfeet before it was discovered by homesteaders, trappers, miners, and loggers. Even Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) made a pit stop. The resort, which opened in 2005, is no traditional dude ranch. Its 28 spread-out homes (two to four bedrooms) and 36 luxury tents come with “camping butlers,” spa treatments, encyclopedic wine lists (and in-room dining), a Lexus at your disposal, a staggering menu of 50 activities, and a children’s program. This summer sees the debut of the adults-only Green O: 12 glass and wood…

The first Bond film stars Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder and Joseph Wiseman as the titular bad guy. Diana Rigg’s Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo goes on to marry Bond; Telly Savalas plays the diabolical Ernst Blofeld. Grace Jones’s May Day works for Christopher Walken’s evil Max Zorin but isn’t immune to Bond’s charm. When an insane tycoon (Jonathan Pryce) tries to start a war, Michelle Yeoh’s Wai Lin teams with Bond to stop him. Halle Berry is Jinx Johnson, an NSA agent caught up in 007’s fight with Toby Stephens’s Gustav Graves. What nefarious plans does Rami Malek’s Safin have for Madeleine Swann? We’ll find out this month.…

The phrase “ladies who lunch” is as laden with cultural meaning as the Dagwood sandwiches they’re absolutely not eating. Such a woman has a Locust Valley lockjaw and a bichon in her Birkin, and in her fundamental chilly indolence she’s not an obvious fit for Patti LuPone, who has worked practically nonstop in show business since she graduated from Juilliard in 1972 and who brings a particular high-intensity emotional vibrato to every part she plays. Singing and dancing eight times a week is exhausting, and LuPone—who celebrated her 70th birthday last year with a gala concert at Lincoln Center, as we all should—swore she would never do it again after playing the cosmetics mogul Helena Rubinstein in 2017’s Broadway production of War Paint. Soon thereafter the director Marianne Elliott called…

In what is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, raffia was once the de facto aristocratic uniform of the Kuba Kingdom. When Europeans started arriving in the 17th century, they adopted the elaborate woven cloth for themselves and brought it home with them. And it has remained au courant ever since; Henri Matisse had swatches in his studio for inspiration. Today artists and designers can’t keep their hands off the transformative fiber, continuing its popularity for centuries to come. NOW Woven designs offer endless possibilities, attracting artists like Chris Wolston, who created this playful chair inspired by pre-Columbian designs. Want something wearable? Slip on a raffia shoe or grab a bag with amped-up fringe. THEN 2015 Chicago artist Nick Cave is known for his Soundsuits, elaborate getups…

“The beauty of picking Ashford Castle for a wedding is that it has so much history and is incredibly authentic,” says event planner Michelle Rago, who orchestrates one-percenter parties all over the world. “There’s just no need to fight what’s there.” The 83-room hotel, where this story was shot, was built in the 13th century as a Norman castle, then became the Guinness family’s country home until 1939, when it was sold and became a hotel. The property was showing its age by 2013, when South Africa’s Tollman family took over and spent $100 million bringing Ashford Castle back to life. The result: a sumptuous hideaway that is respectful of its illustrious past—King George V, the Reagans, and Monaco’s royals have been guests—yet thoroughly modern. Then there’s the legendary Irish…