Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2021 i Town & Country

1959 DINA MERRILL AND CARY GRANT IN NEW YORK Parties! Parties! Parties! was all we needed to say to set the mood in 1959, especially with Dina Merrill and Cary Grant resplendent at a gala at Manhattan’s Le Pavillon, the temple of French haute cuisine that closed in 1972. Parties are on our minds again this month. After all, the most festive eras in history have been born of periods of hardship—the Belle Epoque, the Jazz Age—and we must prepare for when our time comes. Where will we go? What will we wear? It doesn’t matter, as long as there are: Parties! Parties! Parties!…

The New York designer Hillary Taymour is something of a fashion rebel. Instead of following the industry norm and enticing fans to buy the latest from her label, Collina Strada, she teaches them the techniques necessary to imitate her trippy tie-dyes on their own, or alter them to their liking, should they so choose. “You don’t necessarily have to buy the brand to feel like you’re wearing the brand,” she tells T&C. “You can just re-dye my shirts, draw on your jeans, or make a face mask with one of my patterns.” Hers is an open source approach to clothesmaking that until recently was strictly the realm of DIY evangelists at e-commerce players like Etsy and among students at Parsons or L.A.’s Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Taymour’s alma…

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. Then we let our wildly imaginative minds take it from there. Case in point: the brooch. After a humble beginning as a securer of cloaks, it is now rendered in light brown diamonds and jade and an oversize orb of moonstone, and spoken of in rapturous prose. Of the Hermès high jewelry brooch in question (which can be attached to a necklace and is shown on the first page of this portfolio), creative director Pierre Hardy notes, “I wanted to express the strength of fluidity with this transformable brooch. The shape is an evocation of the feeling of fulfillment on the verge of overflowing—the sensation when joy or pleasure overwhelms you, the instant when absolutely everything seems perfect, inside and out.” He…

I could not have been further from a party when I read about the ones Camilla and Earl McGrath used to throw at their New York apartment. They were the kind of gatherings where you could never be sure who might turn up—our friend and contributing editor Alejandra Cicognani once looked to her right and realized Harrison Ford was standing next to her—but judging from the candid photos Camilla took, collected now in the book Face to Face, everyone turned up. Reading this album of good times one Sunday afternoon inspired me to ask why certain places seem to have a gravitational pull that just draws people in. In other words, how does a house become a party house? Our resident design detective, David Netto, attempts to crack the case…

For nearly 40 years Kazuo Ishiguro has been writing novels that deal, specifically and repeatedly, with the nature of connection. How do we love? What are the constraints on our ability to know others? His books tend to focus on small groups and hinge on unusual narrators who navigate love in hostile waters. His breakthrough novel, The Remains of the Day (1989), is narrated by a butler who reviews an unrealized romance by sifting through his memories of the times right before and after World War II. One knighthood and Nobel Prize later, Ishiguro has returned to the idea of service and love in his new work, Klara and the Sun. The story is told from the point of view of an advanced AI being hired to keep a teenage…

“The past is a foreign country: They do things differently there.” The opening line of L.P. Hartley’s unjustly forgotten 1953 novel The Go-Between (the basis of the movie) came to mind four years ago when I heard that the French luxury brand Airelles had secured the rights to transform a venerable but long neglected building on the grounds of Versailles into a small hotel. Built in 1681 as a ducal residence, it’s an extension of the south wing of the palace; it has direct access to the Orangerie, and for most of the 18th century it housed France’s ministry of finance. Rarely does a hotel company set itself the mission Airelles has: not merely to renovate a historic edifice but to reconstitute it so meticulously that, as Christophe Tollemer, the…

Once upon a time, Fawaz Gruosi had an uncontested monopoly on the hottest invitation at Cannes. His parties were legendary, attended by every member of the A+ list, all of whom would come dripping in his most extravagant jewels. For that, the charismatic founder of de Grisogono earned his reputation as a master marketer, shrewdly leveraging high profile events to build his brand’s international reputation and amass a clientele that ranged from Middle Eastern royalty to Manhattan high society. It wasn’t just the parties that dazzled. Gruosi was, first and foremost, a creator. He could mold exceptional stones into sensuous shapes and pair colorful gems with unexpected materials, such as amber. He even made black diamonds—once rejected as déclassé—desirable, marrying them with emeralds and sapphires. At de Grisogono’s peak in…

YALE ART AND ARCHITECTURE BUILDING An early, exquisite example of Brutalism from 1963, when Rudolph led Yale’s architecture department. BURROUGHS WELLCOME A pharmaceutical company’s futuristic North Carolina headquarters, completed in 1972 and demolished, despite protests, this January. 23 BEEKMAN PLACE The architect built a cantilevered addition on top of his traditional NYC brownstone in the late ’70s; he lived there until his death, in 1997. BASS RESIDENCE Rudolph used multiple levels and cantilevers in this Fort Worth home designed for Texas power couple Sid and Anne Bass in 1970. THE COLONNADE For this Singapore condominium building, completed in 1987, Rudolph experimented with the idea of replicable design units.…

ARIES MARCH 21–APRIL 20 You can accomplish much this month, especially by reaching out and engaging. Mars in Gemini, though, cautions you not to scatter your forces, and Pluto at the top of your chart means inevitable clashes with those who have the power to say yes or no. It’s time to make adjustments, and also some thoughtful compromises. Your financial fortunes pick up at month’s end. ASPREY ($64,000), ASPREY.COM LIBRA SEPTEMBER 24–OCTOBER 23 The Sun and new Moon will be shining their light in the part of your chart that is all about partnerships and close connections; being born under the influence of harmonizing Venus, you’ll be right in your element. It’s time to iron out conflicts and begin a new chapter. Financial issues will demand compromise, so be…

A garden takes time. A long time. Monet’s paintings may hang in museums, but his Giverny garden, which he planted and shaped for four decades, may be his best work. This past year many people turned to their gardens for refuge, planting the seeds for a hopeful future. Perhaps that’s why this spring reaps an abundance of verdant works: Erik Madigan Heck’s color-saturated photographs taken in his back yard (below), Vladimir Kanevsky’s floral porcelain sculptures at the Hillwood Museum, and designer Charlotte Moss’s guide to flower arranging. After a long year, we are ready to bloom again. Olivia Hosken NOW Artist and fashion editor Erik Madigan Heck turned his camera on his wife and two sons in their New England garden during the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. Now his…

When Kate Middleton stepped out of a Rolls-Royce at Westminster Abbey just before 11 a.m. on April 29, 2011, it was the end of one long road and the beginning of another one. Intense planning had come to fruition: Royals, guests, staff, security, the media, and the public were all in their places. The most anticipated royal wedding in decades was playing out with a level of interest that seems likely to follow this couple for the rest of their lives. “It was nerve-racking,” says Daily Mirror photographer Ian Vogler, who secured a coveted spot at the foot of the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace in anticipation of capturing that all-important balcony kiss. “You knew it was going to be a key moment in British history.” One million people…

ROYAL WEDDING TRIVIA Kate’s Cartier Scroll Tiara was originally purchased by King George VI for the Queen Mother in 1936, three weeks before his accession.…

To say Grace Wales Bonner is fond of research is to put it mildly. The 30-year-old designer’s collections for Wales Bonner, the label she launched in 2014 after graduating from Central Saint Martins, are steeped in academic deep dives that cast an incandescent light on Black men: their history, identity, sexuality, and power. Her collections, which are anchored in traditional English tailoring and have expanded into women’s wear, have been informed by such source material as the 1930 crowning of Haile Selassie as emperor of Ethiopia, Cuban mambo culture gleaned from the writings of Yale professor Robert Farris Thompson, and, for her most recent outing for winter 2021, the book Black Oxford (which details the history of Black scholars at the famous university) and the words of Caribbean poet Derek…

I like to firmly locate myself when I’m looking at Van Cleef High Jewelry, because I know from experience how easy it is to get blissfully lost in the often fantastical themes that inspire it. I’ve wandered in the worlds of fairy tales, myths, and legends over many years of covering these one-of-a-kind creations. I’ve even traveled through time and the jewel-studded imaginary landscapes of the great state of California. So I am initially steadied when Nicolas Bos, president and CEO of Van Cleef, before presenting me with the 150-piece Sous les Etoiles collection (speaking of location, that would be Under the Stars), begins by explaining that we have been here together before. “You must remember, about 10 years ago, the Jules Verne chapter of our Earth to Moon collection,”…

/ ski-nə-mə-li-zəm/ Before the pandemic, my skincare routine could be summed up in two words: the most. My morning and night routines were a minimum of 10 steps each, and that’s not including the masks and devices I would use or the facials I would get. My enthusiasm extended into the first months of quarantine, when I found myself with even more time to stare at my face in the mirror and rub creams all over it. But then something changed. Chalk it up to ennui or maybe just fatigue, but one day I couldn’t do it anymore. I found myself wondering, Do I really need all this stuff? I’m not the only one. “I’m a minimalist now, but I used to use a lot of different products,” actress Melanie…

Hype House has 20 million followers on TikTok and, at first glance, not a stick of furniture in any of its spacious accommodations. Same for Sway House (5.3 million followers), where one post was filmed in front of a wall of barren bookshelves. Meanwhile, at Clubhouse (1.4 million), the angular Beverly Hills–based mansion that serves as a content hub, a harem of young men and women dance in expansive but empty rooms—canaries chirping inside the most mundane of gilded cages. Welcome to the world of “collab houses,” sprawling estates where groups of nubile influencers hunker down and make short videos for social media, mainly TikTok and YouTube. The residents amplify their budding profiles by broadcasting the minutiae of their lives on the apps, and many have discovered that by joining…

INVITE ONLY Lovie Simone wants to get inside your head. “I’m interested in acting because of human behavior,” says the 22-year-old New York City native. “If I weren’t an actress, I’d probably do something in psychology.” Lucky for us, she chose the former. Simone landed her big break, a role in the dramatic series Greenleaf, before she finished high school, and has gone on to star in a string of movies, including the 2020 dark comedy Selah and the Spades, in which she plays a boarding school senior who runs her clique like a teenage Vito Corleone, and The Craft: Legacy, a stylish sequel to the cult classic ’90s horror romp. Next up for Simone—who sings, writes, and paints in addition to her work onscreen—is a leading role in Power…

INFORMATION CORRECTION: MARCH 2021 SOURCEBOOK. PATEK PHILIPPE REF. 5320G PERPETUAL CALENDAR IN WHITE GOLD WITH LACQUERED CREAM DIAL ($92,260), PATEK.COM THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GRACE PAGES 34–35 REPOSSI, SAKS.COM. WALES BONNER, BERGDORF GOODMAN NYC, 800-558-1855 THE PROVOCATEUR’S RETREAT PAGES 64–67 AUVERE RINGS (FROM $3,400), AUVERE.COM. BODE SHIRT ($590) AND TROUSERS ($780), BODENEWYORK.COM. GUCCI SCARF ($495) AND NECKLACE, GUCCI.COM. LOEWE, LOEWE.COM. RETROUVAI BROOCH ($10,795), TWISTONLINE.COM. SCHIAPARELLI, 011-33-1-76-21-62-59 CHEZ MOI PAGE 68–73 ADORE ADORN, ADOREADORN.COM. ALIGHIERI, ALIGHIERI.CO.UK. BEGUM KHAN, BEGUMKHAN.COM. BONBONWHIMS, BONBONWHIMS.COM. BOTTEGA VENETA, BOTTEGAVENETA.COM. GIANVITO ROSSI, GIANVITOROSSI.COM GIORGIO ARMANI, ARMANI.COM. GUCCI, GUCCI.COM. HALPERN, HALPERNSTUDIO.COM. JANE D’ARENSBOURG, JANEDARENSBOURG.COM. LES CHAUSSONS DE LA BELLE, LESCHAUSSONSDELABELLE.COM. LIZZIE FORTUNATO, LIZZIEFORTUNATO.COM. MAHNAL, MAHNAL.COM. MARK DAVIS, MARKDAVIS.COM. MAX ID NY, MAXIDSTORE.COM. MICHAEL KORS COLLECTION, MICHAELKORS.COM. OF RARE ORIGIN, OFRAREORIGIN.COM. RALPH LAUREN COLLECTION, RALPHLAUREN.COM. SALVATORE FERRAGAMO, FERRAGAMO.COM. SONIA BOYAJIAN JEWELRY,…

Christopher Spitzmiller and I have a lot in common. We both love to entertain, gathering friends and colleagues in our homes to enjoy the bounty of our gardens and the dishes we create in our kitchens. We both love good food and cooking, amassing the perfect recipes for salad dressings, soufflés, pies, tarts, and bread. We both love restoration, renovation, and building from scratch. We both love birds of all types—chickens, pigeons, turkeys, geese, peafowl—and we often meet at poultry shows, where we purchase the rare and beautiful birds that occupy our dovecotes and henhouses. We both garden in every season, collecting plants and trees and shrubs from here, there, and everywhere, filling our cars and trucks with specimens to plant in our ever expanding landscapes. And we both center…