Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2022 i Town & Country

1975 LIVING TREASURES OF JAPAN In 1975, T&C encountered a few of Japan’s most extraordinary assets. These were neither historic relics nor wonders of nature, but individuals. Around 1950 the country had established a Living National Treasure designation for its distinguished artisans, from kimono makers and ceramicists to bamboo weavers and costume doll makers (such as Goyo Hirata, pictured here). “The traditional ancient arts of Japan have not been forgotten in its new age of industrial miracles,” we wrote. “This—in the realm of art and craft—is sainthood.” This unique system of preserving craftsmanship continues to this day. As of 2021, just 111 masters hold the title—you might even call them Japan’s OG artisans.…

In early January I started seeing a trickle of peculiar posts in my Twitter feed. A few of my brainier friends would post a little grid of squares—gray, mustard-yellow, and green—topped by a series of numbers split by a slash. The last number was always six. At the top of each post it said “Wordle.” I thought, at first, that the figures signified a fraction, and this was some kind of statistic: how much snow had fallen the previous night, or Joe Manchin’s approval numbers among independent voters. It was baffling. The puzzling posts were, it turned out, actual puzzles. Wordle—that’s what this thing is called—very quickly became something that virtually all of my online friends, plus some offline ones, were talking about. What I was seeing was everyone’s score…

THE METAVERSE MATRIX / IRL SHOPPING SHANGRI-LAS / HOLLYWOOD’S SARTORIAL SOOTHSAYER On the ski lift everyone is wearing Ralph Lauren: knitted Polo Sport beanies and colorblock fleece jackets. At the rink pillowy snow falls on primary-hued RL backpacks and sporty Polo totes as skaters whip and pirouette across the ice in big pony logos, hot chocolate from Ralph’s Coffee in hand. This is not the real world. It is the universe conjured inside the online gaming platform Roblox. The metaverse, if you will. Today’s ubiquitous buzzword was coined by the writer Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash; it refers to the merging of virtually augmented and physical reality, and a fully digital world. NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and the outfits you wear in Animal Crossing? All meta, and it’s all…

The gilets jaunes protesters were everywhere, the metro was half shut down, and my taxi driver sagely reported that in a few hours the city was going to close all the bridges that crossed the Seine. Paris may have been in turmoil, but I was undeterred—it was Saturday morning, and I was heading south to the flea market at the Porte de Vanves. For some people, France means the greatest art, the finest gastronomy. I like those things too, at least in theory, but the truth is I haven’t been to the Louvre since I was in college, and give me frites at a flea instead of a six-course meal anytime. Maybe you won’t find a signed Leleu Deco cabinet or a vintage Kelly at Vanves (stop 1), but if…

odel Kristen McMenamy’s career has been marked by dramatic hair transformations, beginning when legendary hair stylist Garren cemented her as the poster girl of insouciant ’90s cool by morphing her naturally wavy auburn hair into a shaggy jet black pixie. Now McMenamy’s head-turning hair, regularly seen in all its glory on Instagram, is the result of, well, letting it go. She has grown it out to Rapunzelesque lengths. Celebrity stylist Elizabeth Saltzman, for whom waist-length locks have always been a “uniform of sorts,” finds that long hair actually requires less maintenance than a short cut. “It’s easier to maintain, and it’s more versatile,” she says. There’s a famous Coco Chanel quote that tends to pop up as a social media caption on post-haircut selfies: “A woman who cuts her hair…

ZELDA ZANDERS Singin’ in the Rain, 1952 Handpicked by Gene Kelly, she danced circles around Debbie Reynolds, the lead. Another classic musical followed: The King and I.\ GOOGIE GOMEZ The Ritz, 1976 The play was by the late Terrence McNally. Googie Gomez was a wholly original Moreno creation. The T in her EGOT. SISTER PETER MARIE REIMONDO Oz, 1997 If Christopher Meloni was the bad boy zaddy of Oswald Penitentiary, she was its humane conscience. RITA MORENO Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, 2021 An acclaimed documentary that doubles as a master class in grace and determination. VALENTINA West Side Story, 2021 Written for her by Tony Kushner, Valentina is an indispensable link between the original and its remake.…

1930s Louis Vuitton fortifies its arsenal of monogrammed trunks with the Alzer. NOW Each suitcase features a hand-painted motif, but only the complete set will reveal the full picture (spoiler alert: It’s a wave). LOUIS VUITTON ALZER 80 WITH HAND-PAINTED ARTISAN DESIGN ($12,400), LOUISVUITTON.COM 1935 In a stroke of modernist genius, Robert Dumas conjures a handbag that, unlike the simple and flat styles of the era, is a trapezoidal feat of craftsmanship. NOW The release of a new Hermès Kelly with a zippered pocket. Cue the euphoria. HERMES KELLY COLORMATIC BAG IN SWIFT CALFSKIN ($13,200), HERMES.COM 1947 Salvatore Ferragamo, who a decade earlier had patented the first wedge, unveils the Invisible Sandal, featuring a curved “F-heel” inspired by the stern of an ocean liner. NOW Seventy-five years later, we’re still…

IF SHE BUILDS IT The day before Renate Reinsve’s life changed, she swore she would give up acting for good. “It sounds silly, but I was going to learn carpentry,” says the Norwegian native, who has been performing since she was a child, from a New York City hotel room. “I had renovated a house and was very good at it. It’s meditative and creative but very concrete. It was kind of a break from thoughts.” That break wouldn’t last long. Soon enough Joachim Trier—the director who had previously cast Reinsve in a small role in his award-winning Oslo, August 31st—offered the 34-year-old actress her first leading role. “He didn’t have a script ready, he just had an idea,” she says. “Of course I said yes.” It’s a good thing she…

PISCES FEBRUARY 20–MARCH 20 Expansive Jupiter is in your sign, and you’re in a period of discovery and new horizons. At the same time, you do need to do some strategizing and cope with behind-the-scenes situations that demand focus and engagement. Close relations will also demand attention midmonth, and you’ll be resetting your compass as March winds down. MARIE-HELENE DE TAILLAC ($12,000), MARIEHELENEDETAILLAC-US.COM VIRGO AUGUST 24–SEPTEMBER 23 It’s time to have some long-postponed talks with partners—even business associates—and get on a new track. It’s also time to tackle projects you’ve been dreaming about and putting those creative solutions to work. Jupiter, the planet of generosity and optimism, is flying through your relationship angle, and others are now liable to be on your side. SAUER ($4,960), SAUER1941.COM ARIES MARCH 21–APRIL 20…

Grit is not a word often associated with a Cartier Panther—but let me finish. Since it made its debut in 1914 as a wristwatch, it has never stopped, determined to keep prowling and pouncing on collectors’ desires. It has changed shape—from watch to brooch to bracelet to ring—and it has morphed through materials—diamonds and onyx, gold and emeralds, fossilized wood—changing its spots but keeping its place in the kingdom. You could call pieces like these classics, and that they are, every one on this page, but the term implies a stasis that is misleading. We call them O.G.s: the ones that started it all but have never ceased to move forward, keeping us rapt and keeping us guessing. There is a kind of grit in that, isn’t there? We began…

CRYPTIC Are the Brits just constitutionally good at puzzles? Leaving aside the whole cracking the Nazis’ Enigma code thing, their newspapers (especially the Times and Guardian) offer cryptic puzzles that require more than a stiff upper lip. NYT SUNDAY The paper of record resisted adding a crossword until 1942. Today its digital versions generate huge profits, though the old saw about doing the puzzle in pen being the definition of “egotism” remains indelible. SPELLING BEE Built-in scoring (from Good Start to Genius) whispers Burke’s Peerage. The chance to declare oneself Queen Bee for earning the best possible score: Absolute Monarchy! WORDLE The inventor says it should be solved in a few minutes, which means almost anyone can play. Bless their hearts.…

"I am very poor gardener,” says Patti Smith. just like things to grow wild.” It’s not surprising that Smith favors the unruly. After all, she made a name for herself in the 1970s as a poet and punk rocker, releasing such seminal albums as Horses and Easter, becoming a patron saint to generations of rebels. In recent years Smith has become a best-selling author, having written the National Book Award–winning memoir Just Kids in 2010 and a steady stream of books since; she even appears in an ad campaign for the luggage brand Rimowa. So why is gardening on her mind? Through June 26, the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, in downtown Sarasota, will host “Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith: Flowers, Poetry, and Light,” an exhibition pairing the botanic photographs of…

ALTCOIN Cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin. There are more than 14,000 of them, each available to buy all the Birkin NFTs your heart desires. DEFI Decentralized finance, the metaverse’s financial system. DIGITAL TWIN A virtual object that matches and mirrors its IRL version. It even reacts and decays based on the item’s real life condition. PRIVATE KEY The code that allows access to the blockchain network. VIRTUAL MAINSTREAMING The growing acceptance of a future in which digital identity and virtual property are as important as the real things.…

“ In French we call it affrmé,” says Patrice Leguéreau, director of the Chanel Fine Jewelry Creation Studio, “meaning something with a strong spirit and statement.” It is a word he is comfortable attaching to the diamond jewelry collection Coco Chanel introduced to the world in 1932. “She did nothing like anyone,” he says. “And she wanted to do something never done before.” The comet brooches and star collars Chanel showed in her Paris apartment in the years between the wars were a glittering act of revolution.“I started designing costume jewelry,” she declared then, “because I felt that it was refreshingly free of arrogance.” But the pieces of 1932 were not the glorious Byzantine-inspired gold and colored stone fakes she had conspired on with her friend Fulco di Verdura. There…

O.G. MOVES CHOOSE A NEMESIS CROSS YOUR LAST NAME OFF THAT NOTECARD NEVER APOLOGIZE The O.G. MUSES ORDER OFF MENU PUT IT ON YOUR HOUSE ACCOUNT LEAVE AT INTERMISSION ROLL CALLS TAKE PRIDE IN THE FLIP PHONE The O.G. INFLUENCERS Giorgio Armani BY JESSICA IREDALE “Sudden, abrupt changes are way too easy, and utterly unnecessary.” So decrees Giorgio Armani when I ask him about fashion’s relentless pursuit of buzz and novelty. After 50 years in business, he has earned the right to make such pronouncements, and to impart a few choice words to those following in his footsteps. At 87, the boy from a humble background in Piacenza remains emperor of luxury fashion and business, building Giorgio Armani SpA, of which he has retained complete, independent control, into a global behemoth…

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WHERE ARE WE GOING? To the Broadway revival of Plaza Suite, Neil Simon’s 1968 comedy exploring love and relationships in three acts, each set inside suite 719 at the Plaza Hotel and featuring a different couple. They will all be played by Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, who are not only performing together for the first time since 1996 but also celebrating 25 years of marriage this spring. PREVIEWS BEGIN FEBRUARY 25 WHAT ARE WE WEARING? In 1810 Abraham-Louis Breguet made the world’s first wristwatch, for the queen of Naples, a sister of Napoleon. Centuries later it inspired Breguet’s Reine de Naples timepieces, marked by their unique oval silhouettes and innovative complications. As for him? How about a paragon of horological precision, courtesy of a Blancpain Villeret, with its…

Succession’s Cousin Greg is a striver, but he lacks the main character energy of a Gilded Age hero. As an outsider with a social titan of a sister, Zoya Lott of Gossip Girl is nearly perfect. But would Edith get TikTok? A plucky orphan taking NYC by storm and bridging the Old World and the New? The Gilded Age’s Marion Brook has it all. KEY: ONE EDITH: NICE TRY. TWO EDITHS: WELL DONE. THREE EDITHS: TOP DRAWER!…

When Life magazine published a 14-page cover story in 1957 on the impending opening of San Simeon to the public, no mention was made of any architect—which is about how things stood for the next several decades. That would have been just fine with Julia Morgan, the enigmatic designer of San Simeon (the palatial California estate of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst) and around 700 other distinguished buildings. Morgan was one of the most prolific, modest, and elusive characters in the history of the profession, as this month’s Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect, by Victoria Kastner (Chronicle, $32.50), demonstrates and decodes. She is also among the most accomplished: the first female graduate of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, in 1902, an honor bookended by her becoming the…

Twenty-one years ago, in a three-bedroom apartment in L.A.’s not-yet-trendy Koreatown, an aspiring actor began decorating shirts he had snagged on the cheap. To entertain himself he added random seams and sewed rococo ribbons of shirting fabric that frothed at the necklines, turning pedestrian tailored men’s shirts into artful genderless garments, each as unique as the hand that produced it. The aesthetic was prep school punk. Soon the local boutiques Maxfield and Ron Herman were selling the shirts for $500, buying them out of pillowcases hauled around by the designer, Johnson Hartig. By the time Colette, in Paris, and Joyce, in Hong Kong, picked up the wares, Hartig had an aptly named brand, Libertine—his desk scattered with $500,000 worth of uncashed checks that he was too busy and, frankly, too…

No whining,” reads the pin Rita Moreno wears when we meet. At 90, she has every right to. She could whine about her“100-year-old” knees. She could whine about the Oscar nominations she didn’t get. She could whine about the usual “isms” she has overcome in an industry that hasn’t always appreciated her, and the heartache from those famous former lovers who never truly got her, the Marlon Brandos and the Elvis Presleys and the Dennis Hoppers. But that’s not her style, and they’re all dead. She, on the other hand, looks regal, at home in Berkeley, California, rocking a crown of silver curls and a tasteful cream cardigan fastened with a button that could be the mantra of a lifetime but isn’t. “That’s my badge for the day,” she tells…

April 1776. Just as America prepared to break free from Britain, the London establishment was possessed by something else. Or rather someone else. The Duchess of Kingston, once the most celebrated maid of honor to Augusta, Princess of Wales, was to stand trial for bigamy. The jury was to be the entire House of Lords; the court of public opinion would spread around the globe. Born Elizabeth Chudleigh, the duchess was once a dowryless beauty whose wit and connections had propelled her into the royal court. But a broken engagement had led to an impulsive union with a young naval offcer, the Hon. Augustus Hervey. This marriage was kept secret, and then denied, by both of them, and 25 years later Elizabeth married Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston. Just…