Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2025 i Town & Country

1958 GENA ROWLANDS T&C’s October 1958 issue wasn’t expressly dedicated to OGs the way the current one is—it’s our fourth annual issue devoted to them (the list begins on page 49)—but it may as well have been. In one story there was Joan Crawford, who invited us into her Fifth Avenue duplex, and in another, Olivia de Havilland and Maurice Chevalier at his villa in France. And here was Gena Rowlands, photographed in Beverly Hills fresh off her film debut in The High Cost of Loving. The actress, who died last August at 94, would go on to have a legendary career defined by daring and complex work, much of it in her collaborations with director-husband John Cassavetes, whom she married in 1954. To this day she is considered one of…

O.G. MOVE #2 Pick Up the Phone If we’ve learned anything from l’affaire Baldoni, it’s that text messages and emails are not safe places for secrets. Instead, channel the moguls of yore and get on the horn when it’s time to talk trash—or to say anything at all. A real live chat offers a personal touch that texting doesn’t, and it’s considerably more difficult to subpoena.…

“The ocean is such a strange and powerful symbol, of both pleasure and danger,” says Valerie Steele, the director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. “Now we associate it with leisure, but for most of history the sea was seen primarily as a scary place.” To paraphrase Plato, then, necessity really is the mother of invention. The marinière, or Breton stripe (named for its origin in the seaside region of Brittany, on France’s Atlantic coast), was created circa 1858 to serve as the uniform of the French navy, whose sailors until then had no unifying dress code. There is a popular apocryphal legend that the original specs—21 blue stripes on the torso and 14 on each sleeve—were an homage to Napoleon’s…

IN THEORY & PRACTICE TIP 1: LEARN THE LANGUAGE Monogram jewels were mostly for royals and aristocrats before Queen Victoria, a fan of sentimental charms, made them widely popular. TIP 2: IDENTIFY YOUR IDOLS Diana, a master of narrative-setting jewelry, wore a pendant early in her marriage that put to rest the tabloids’ “Shy Di” nickname. TIP 3: EXERCISE GRAND GESTURES Anne Boleyn did it by sitting for a portrait with a pearl-strung B. Today you have to go big or go home for street style paps (right).…

“It all started with Geranium Pour Monsieur,” master perfumer Dominique Ropion recalls of the beloved men’s fragrance he created for Frédéric Malle in 2009. “Frédéric imagined a feminine version of that, keeping its amber and balsamic base. I had the idea of adding an exceptional quantity of Turkish rose.” Four hundred roses per 100ml bottle, to be precise. The result was an instant classic. “This fragrance was love at first sight,” Ropion says of his creation, which was christened Portrait of a Lady. “It had incredible elegance and character.” That was 15 years ago. In the interim it has amassed legions of devotees impressed with the way it combines floral freshness with warm, woody base notes, with its staying power, with the revelation it brings that roses aren’t as decidedly…

Portrait of Frances Sherborne Ridley Watts, 1877 Sargent turned to Fanny Watts, a family friend and fellow expat, and painted her elegantly. “It was his way of getting other patrons interested,” says Stephanie Herdrich, curator of American Painting and Drawings at the Met. “The French establishment would have seen this and thought, Maybe I’ll sit for him too.” The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882 Madame X wasn’t yet ready for the Salon of 1883, but Sargent still needed to create some buzz. The scale of this painting certainly did that, as did the way it “asks questions and invites you in,” Herdrich says. “There is an Alice in Wonderland quality to it that was quite progressive. And those enormous vases! The family traveled the world with them.” Mrs. Albert…

“One of my earliest memories is watching my mother floating across our living room in London. She was practicing the rumba with her dance instructor, sashaying to the tinny phonograph music. I stood in the doorway with my older brother, Tim, and drank in her colorful beauty while I could—we would not be allowed O to stay long. All too soon, our nanny, Letty, gently pulled us away and led us upstairs to the nursery for our supper.” So begins a memoir written by Frederick Vreeland. His mother, fashion legend Diana Vreeland, needs no introduction. Freck, as he’s called, long eschewed publicity, largely thanks to the nature of his career: He was a spy. But recently he wrote down his story, with the help of his wife Sandra Zwollo. Shopping…

Are you Town or are you Country? We have often done video segments in which we pose the question to our cover stars. I think you all know my answer. But over the almost 180 years of this magazine’s existence, we have covered both with equal enthusiasm. Long before our Snob’s Guides appeared on townandcountrymag.com (have you read the latest on New Zealand and Aspen?), we devoted entire issues to places we loved. And more than almost any other, we returned to Los Angeles. We will—as so many of our friends and contributors there have asked us to do—continue to cover and visit that city of dreams and support its recovery. You’ll find ways to help, and details about the efforts to restore and rebuild, on townandcountrymag.com. As I write…

Practice, it’s said, makes perfect. In our fourth annual OG portfolio we’re paying tribute to people who have reached undeniable heights—and the tried-and-true moves and inimitable places that have helped them get there. Some of these legends you may already know, others might come as a revelation, but all of them have earned their spot in the cultural pantheon through grit, determination, and no small amount of hard work. Some might call the process old-fashioned, but we prefer to think of it as a practice perfected.…

It is the mark of a true creative mind to find the beauty in the mundane. To see the potential of a gas pipe as a jewelry building block, for instance, or a toolbox staple as a bangle, or a zipper as haute joaillerie (with all the mechanics to go along with it, natch). In the case of Italian designer Mattia Cielo, it means taking the principles of ergonomics—the engineering domain that spawned your desk chair—and applying it to jewelry. Since founding his eponymous brand in 2006, Cielo has won industry awards for a most innovative take on his craft. He fuses architecture and industrial design, bending, forming, and twisting precious metals so they seamlessly conform to the body, becoming one with the wearer. His pieces are paragons of sculptural,…

“The Architect Behind Your Success,” blares the website for a company whose founder wrote a book on how to “crack the code” on elite college admissions. Another company states that it has helped more than 1,000 students“gain admission to the Ivy League—more than any other admissions consultancy in the world!” And then there’s the firm run by a 29-year-old founder and CEO who “has mastered the art of Ivy League admissions so you can, too.” Welcome to the sensationalized world of independent college counseling, those private tutors–slash–coaches who guide students and families through the often frustrating and rejective (Yale’s acceptance rate dropped to 3.7 percent this year) college admissions process. A once niche profession that began quietly in the late 1990s, it gained momentum in the early aughts as admissions…

PISCES FEBRUARY 20–MARCH 20 Much confusion is in the air in March, but with your planetary ruler making its first foray into the fiery sign of Aries at month’s end, your path ahead will soon become clearer. New directions beckon, especially financially. With Mercury and Venus going out of sync, though, it’s time to be patient and avoid impulsive moves. Others will need more attention midmonth. MARISA KLASS ($3,500), BROKENENGLISHJEWELRY.COM ARIES MARCH 21–APRIL 20 Venus is turning retrograde in your sign, so wait and see, especially in personal relationships. With Mars, your planetary ruler, surging forward, your emotions are more volatile than usual, and the goals you’re focused on will be coming into sight. You were born with a strong will, but the eclipse of the 29th will put a…

WHERE ARE WE GOING? Before Florence there was Siena. In the 14th century the city was the center of artistic achievement, thanks to painters like Duccio and Simone Martini, who spun Byzantine and Gothic influences into richly layered, and singularly Sienese, masterpieces. If you missed the show at the Met, you have a second chance at London’s National Gallery. ”SIENA: THE RISE OF PAINTING, 1300–1350,” THROUGH JUNE 22, NATIONALGALLERY.ORG.UK WHAT ARE WE WEARING? Harry Winston painted vivid tableaux too—with gemstones. His eye was the best, bar none (at 12 he found an emerald in a junk bin and turned an impressive profit), as was his technique. See: the Cluster setting, which hides the metalwork to give the illusion of diamonds floating on the body. Here is a modern interpretation, with…

DAME JILLY COOPER Author of the steamy 1988 society novel Rivals, which recently became a hit TV series for Hulu. “There’s no one quite like Jilly Cooper. Her voice is uniquely British, and while she’s known as the queen of the bonkbuster, her humor and deft skewering of the upper classes is reminiscent of Jane Austen or P.G. Wodehouse.” —Candace Bushnell JEREMY KING London’s favorite restaurateur roared again this year with Arlington and the Park. “More than anything, London loves a comeback—and King has delivered. Arlington and the Park are each a showcase of the taste and the cinematic vision that are his stock in trade. Come for the calf’s liver, stay to cheer on the once and future success of the best host in town.” —David Netto MARIANNE JEAN-BAPTISTE…

Shortly after the presidential election, conspiracy theories took off on social media, and not just of the regular political variety. Looking at the vast range of issues facing the country, some Americans, especially on TikTok, were clutching their pearls about the new administration’s expected impact on shopping. All politics is local indeed. This constituency is concerned about President Trump’s threat of across-the-board import tariffs, which could mean travelers paying higher duties when bringing into the U.S. prized Italian- and French-made handbags, fragrances, and double-face cashmere. Could this spell the end of those pit stops at the VAT machines at Charles de Gaulle after shopping sprees on Avenue Montaigne? Mon Dieu! In truth, the specter of tariffs did shake up some economies, especially those of major trading partners like Canada and…

Late last year, after details began to emerge about Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, public reactions were nearly as unpredictable as the murder itself. There were those consumed by Mangione’s swarthy good looks and strong jawline. There were the many who took his horrific action as an opportunity to draw attention to a lacking healthcare system. And there was a surprisingly large minority who hailed him as a kind of folk hero. But there was one group of people who, though largely overlooked in the ensuing media frenzy and late night TV jokes, had perhaps the most noteworthy response: those who know back pain. In Facebook groups and on Reddit boards, fellow sufferers almost uniformly expressed a“There but for the grace of God go…

From the road outside, the Argyle is shielded by tall cedar elm trees, dense privet shrubs, and no trespassing signs with the private dining club’s logo—a fierce boar with tusks—above the words violators will be prosecuted. As temperatures in San Antonio begin to dip and the brush outside thins, though, the property housing this exclusive club in the toniest part of town becomes slightly more visible. The club itself is a stately 170-year-old, three-story colonial mansion, with a tall, photogenic staircase leading up to the entryway and a spacious veranda wrapped around the top floor. In the 1850s the building was the headquarters of a horse ranch that stretched for miles. “Lavish entertainment was the rule, and visiting celebrities, including Robert E. Lee, traditionally stayed at the Argyle,” according to…