Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2026 i Town & Country

1956 THE WINTER OLYMPICS, CORTINA, ITALY “Nowhere, not even in hallowed St. Moritz, is the snow dented every season by so many celebrated and titled derrières, and nowhere do the slopes and the cafés boast more comely or more fashionably attired enthusiasts of this sport,” W.A. Powers reported while surveying the skiing preparations for the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics. This year the world’s best giant-slalomists and curlers are returning to “the Pearl of the Dolomites.” (The skaters will be in Milan, which is sharing the hosting duties this time around.) Let the fine folks at NBC detail every geological formation’s impact on the athletes’ speed as they race down the slopes of Stelvio and Livigno. All you really need to know is that in Cortina, “a gondolier’s song is…

“Go see Dr. Poynor. She’ll do it.” other doctors who sent their Those were often the words of patients to me to do what many refused: prescribe hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to women navigating the emotional and physical turmoil of menopause. Moodiness, forgetfulness, nonexistent libido. Those throbbing aches and pains. Hot flashes and sleep disturbances that crush your sanity and make you question your reality. I was treating my patients the way the science said I should. And yet some days it felt as if I was dealing contraband. But let me back up. For more than two decades hormone therapy—especially using estrogen—has been stigmatized and sidelined, ever since a 2002 study triggered undue panic throughout the medical community that rippled into the psyches of concerned women nationwide. The FDA…

AQUARIUS JANUARY 21–FEBRUARY 19 Happy birthday, individualistic Aquarius! Your ability to hold your own will be in the spotlight in February, as will your capabilities. Your priorities are shifting, and by midmonth many Aquarians will be blazing a new trail. It’s time to rearrange your ambitions and decide what matters most. Try to sign any important documents before the 26th. SAUER ($2,900), EN.SAUER1941.COM PISCES FEBRUARY 20–MARCH 20 The sun in Aquarius until the 18th emphasizes stepping back and taking stock. Positive planetary changes are in the works for Pisces, and once Venus enters your sign on the 14th, your popularity will be on the rise. You’re more attuned and aware than most, and what occurs toward the end of the month promises to begin to relieve you of various burdens…

John and Carolyn have become icons—the prince of Camelot and his knockout princess. I see that, of course, but what I remember most isn’t the glossy legend, it’s the behind-the-scenes moments that replay in my head and still make me laugh out loud. That’s the part of them I miss most: their humor. 1. CASINO ROYALE John invited me to a screening of Casino at an offce on Park Avenue with Martin Scorsese himself. The movie opened, and five minutes in I heard snoring. I looked over and saw John, head back, mouth open, sawing wood. He woke up once during the “I got your head in a fuckin’ vise” scene, muttered, “Gross,” and went back to sleep. 2. THE BOMBSHELL One day, as I walked toward my offce at…

Early stills of Love Story’s fashions caused an uproar, but those images honestly saved the production: They exposed the unforced errors of the largely male production team, who thought they could reverseengineer Carolyn. They were too focused on the garments, doing an exact replication of her looks rather than trying to achieve the deeper aesthetic intelligence that made her who she was. Using exact archival vintage pieces is infinitely better than throwing cheap, off-the-rack stand-ins into the mix. But even that approach misses the point: CBK style was never about the item, it was about the attitude. People tend to romanticize her restraint as if it were some grand, conceptual act of minimalism. But I believe the truth is much simpler: She was a young woman working in fashion, carefully…

Sydney Bowles’s attitude to marriage and motherhood was complicated. A few days before she wed David Freeman-Mitford, the future 2nd Baron Redesdale, a married friend told her what to expect on her wedding night. Sydney was so shocked she replied, “A gentleman would never do anything like that.” Nor was she maternal, dismissing most of her babies as “too ugly for words.” Once it was her six daughters’ turn to enter the marriage market, she tried to find them suitable husbands. However, in her somewhat autobiographical novel The Pursuit of Love, Nancy, Sydney’s eldest daughter, described the standards of chaperonage of Aunt Sadie, her mother’s stand-in, as positively “medieval.” Her daughters were never allowed to be alone with a young man under any circumstances unless they were engaged to him.…

There are the offcial dates, 1846–2026, but I have my own moments of T&C history: the first story I tore out of the magazine (in 1999, an early piece on Perivolas Santorini; Alison Stern was on the cover). The text Hanya Yanagihara sent me telling me that T&C editor in chief Jay Fielden was looking for a new jewelry and accessories editor (2011; I was at Hearst Tower a few days later). The first time we ordered Princess Cake (2020; a pandemic-era Central Park picnic). The inaugural Shun Lee holiday dinner (2019; we had Christmas cracker crowns. The hats came later). But from what you tell me when I see you—on the streets of New York, by the bar at the Carlyle—you each have a T&C moment of your own.…

“I have been doing this for 31 years, and I can’t recall a bigger year in sports,” says Brian Wilder, who is referring to the trifecta of Super Bowl LX this month at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California; the Winter Olympics, also this month, at a host of venues across northern Italy; and the FIFA Men’s World Cup this summer, at 16 stadiums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Wilder is going to be a very busy man: He’s the chief experience offcer of On Location, a hospitality behemoth known for crafting wildly extravagant—and wildly expensive—packages for major sporting events, in addition to handling such plebeian concerns as acquiring prime tickets and suite reservations. Of course, it’s news to no one that the sports world has become increasingly…

“Logistically, this is one of the hardest Olympics to navigate,” says Jack Ezon, founder of luxury travel agency Embark Beyond. “Paris was a little challenging, but nothing was more than two hours away. This is another level.” Nearly 300 miles separate Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the twin host cities of the XXV Winter Olympics (February 6–22) and Paralympics (March 6–15), with events also happening throughout the Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol regions, as well as in the historic city of Verona (where the closing ceremonies will take place). In total that adds up to nearly 10,000 square miles. You are not going see it all, so let’s prioritize. Milan, which will be the center of the figure skating and ice hockey competitions, is obviously the top choice, not least thanks to…

Did we all realize how Art Deco–coded The Great Gatsby is when we read it in high school? It’s 1922, just three years before the international fair that would give the design movement its name. The men are home from the Great War. Gatsby’s mansion has the sleek surface and audacity of the era, and he himself is the embodiment of the belief in the possible. The Valley of Ashes shows the marks of the rise and ruin of industry. And the New York metropolis is alive with, as Nick says, “the constant flicker of men and women and machines.” And then there is the scene where we meet Daisy and Jordan floating in the middle of the room on a sofa dressed in white. Can’t you just tell they’re…

Getting a facial used to be a pretty clearcut affair. You got a thorough cleanse, maybe a few extractions, a face massage, some creams, and recommendations for products to use at home. But those days are long gone. Selecting a facial today is a bit like playing the stock market, with technology and soaring prices to match. Because treatments now incorporate things like radiofrequency, microcurrent, and buccal (read: inside the mouth) massage, the most in-demand names in the business command prices that start around $500 and climb up, up, up from there. “It’s not expensive compared to what is happening in food and in fashion, especially in New York City,” says facialist Aida Bicaj. “If you use expensive products that will take your skin to a different level, of course…

The Lives of Others The myth around John and Carolyn has become a cultural touchstone. Does it really matter if it isn’t the truth? I decided to write about Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in April 2020. For months I’d been reading about her, prompted by the flurry of articles commemorating the 20th anniversary of her death. When the lockdown kicked in, I read everything I could find and was transported back to New York City in the 1990s. We paid cash for cabs, used payphones, and moved with a freedom that encouraged one’s authentic self. Halcyon days. It seemed obvious that the tabloids covered only part of her humanity and often relied on tropes. I wanted to understand the real person, so I began reaching out to her friends, people who had…

On March 13, 2024, Leslie Clayton’s cellphone rang. The caller was Inspir, a luxury senior living facility on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Clayton’s 84-year-old mother, Susan Kraus, had been living in the facility for the better part of two years. Inspir promised to “meet the needs of today’s most discerning seniors,” delivering “urban senior living on a luxury level.” This included penthouses and restaurants adorned in custom millwork and Calacatta marble, a pool and fitness center, a “SkyPark” with unobstructed views of the East River, and tailored healthcare amenities. Kraus paid $20,000 per month to live there. Kraus’s nest egg came not from an old-money inheritance but through Manhattan’s breakneck real estate market. Her husband, who died in 2017, purchased a townhouse on East 80th Street in the 1970s for…

“I would have loved to have gone to Columbia out of high school,” Jonathan Mo said last October, speaking on his cell phone between classes. A 20-year-old college senior who interned at Google last summer, Mo grew up in San Jose, California, and attended the elite Harker School. As a senior he applied to all but one of the Ivy League universities, including Columbia. He was rejected by all of them. The sting was painful, all the more so because in “the Bay Area there are very high expectations,” says Mo, who has a sturdy build and floppy hair that can nonetheless be shaped in gravity-defying directions. “In high school there was a lot of comparison. Everyone else is going to really good schools, and all the parents and kids…

WHERE ARE WE GOING? Who says the art market is in trouble? Certainly not the anonymous client who paid $236.4 million for Leonard Lauder’s Klimt masterpiece at Sotheby’s in November. And not the glitterati who will descend on Santa Monica Airport, which is hosting the seventh edition of Frieze Los Angeles. Go early if you’re serious about buying—this is a competitive crowd. FEBRUARY 26–MARCH 1, FRIEZE.COM WHAT ARE WE WEARING? Sometimes all it takes is a blank canvas, which is what Harry Winston gave watchmakers Franck Orny and Johnny Girardin. They, in turn, came up with the Opus 14, an extraordinarily inventive timepiece inspired by 1950s jukeboxes. It functions like one, too, with interchangeable disks that rotate on demand. As with most masterpieces, the rule of scarcity applies here. That’s…

For the better part of the last two decades, Hilary Knight has been setting the standard in women’s hockey. She is a four-time Olympic medalist (including the gold she won in 2018) and a 10-time World Champion. Now, at age 36, the captain of the U.S. team is about to enter her fifth and final Olympic Games. “I’m trying not to get too excited about everything at once,” she says. “Just staying even-keeled through it all.” It would be a storybook ending to close out her international career with a win (the Sun Valley native isn’t retiring from the sport altogether; she’ll continue to play for the Seattle Torrent). Or, better yet, if she and her partner, the Olympic speed skater Brittany Bowe, came home with matching gold medals (they…

The tightly coiled anticipation ahead of the spring 2026 fashion collections cannot be overstated. Before a stitch hit the runway, the season was historic for its number of creative director debuts at major fashion houses (15), including Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Demna at Gucci, Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander, and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe. Plus, Jonathan Anderson’s first women’s collection at Dior. Surely a tectonic shift in the way women dress would result. Indeed, one of the definitive messages to come off the runways was blinding color, often worn in loud combinations. It was bigger, brasher, bolder than anything in recent memory. To convey the scope of vivid hues on display, it’s helpful to consult a box of Crayolas: Scarlet and Vivid Violet at Jil Sander; Caribbean…

IN THEORY & PRACTICE TIP 1: LEARN THE LANGUAGE From ancient China’s carved jade amulets to the Mughal Empire’s emerald bricks, pendants have served as symbols of wealth and protection since time immemorial. TIP 2: IDENTIFY YOUR IDOLS The ’70s were a big decade for the style. Lee Radziwill set a fine example, as did Elsa Peretti, who brought her bottle pendant to Tiffany and turned it into a forever icon. TIP 3: EXERCISE GRAND GESTURES This is not the place—nor the year—to practice restraint. A pendant’s auspicious potential, we’d argue, is proportional to its size. A healthy amount of stones also helps.…

When Julia Roberts was filming After the Hunt in the UK, she made several visits to Keren Bartov. Sienna Miller, Gal Gadot, and Serena Williams are regulars. The Israeli facialist has clinics in London and Tel Aviv, and each is stacked with muscle stimulators, LED, ultrasound, and radiofrequency to, in her words, “iron the skin.” She’s been known to use six devices per treatment, and she likes to see clients every two to three weeks. “You don’t get an amazing body from one session at the gym,” Bartov says. “It’s the same for skin.” She just launched her namesake product line stateside, at Bergdorf Goodman. It sold out on the first day, but at press time the shelves are restocked. One trick: put on a few drops of her Booster…

Carolyn Bessette Sarah Pidgeon, who earned a Tony nom for her Broadway debut in Stereo phonic, leads the cast as Carolyn Bessette, who married John F. Kennedy Jr. in September 1996. John F. Kennedy Jr. Newcomer Paul Kelly (he has previous experience in modeling and onstage) plays John F. Kennedy Jr., the only son of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy and the co-founder of George magazine. Jackie Onassis Oscar nominee Naomi Watts (who played Babe Paley in Feud: Capote vs. the Swans) morphs into the former Mrs. Kennedy in Love Story, portraying John’s mother near the end of her life. Caroline Kennedy Grace Gummer plays Caroline, John’s sister, who goes on to serve as a U.S. ambassador to Japan (during the Obama administration) and to Australia (in the Biden…

We create narratives for people because they are simpler than the complexities of real lives. I wrote that in my memoir in 2005, along with the more naive “…what remains is a story. In the end, it’s the only thing any of us really owns.” I believed it then. But do we? In this age of social media and AI, nothing stays private; everything is circulated beyond our control. Our stories are harvested, reframed, served up to a world that consumes everything, leaving little we can still claim as our own. Even in death. Especially in death. I try not to dwell on the ubiquitous photos of Carolyn, though it’s nearly impossible to avoid them. Every so often one flickers by—some I even recognize as mine, pictures I once published…

‘‘This is really fantastic to see!” says Max Hollein, the CEO and director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, clapping architect Kulapat Yantrasast on the back. It’s November 2025, and the two are at the entrance of Dib Bangkok, Thailand’s first major museum dedicated to international contemporary art. Yantrasast, 59, built the museum, which opened in December, by converting a two-story industrial warehouse into a space so full of light it practically glows in the afternoon sun. Dib will serve as home to a storied but until now unseen collection that mixes top Asian artists with Western stars like Pablo Picasso, James Turrell, Louise Bourgeois, Anselm Kiefer, Frank Stella, and Damien Hirst. Dib also is a personal pinnacle for the Bangkok-born Yantrasast, establishing him firmly as a hometown hero. The…

When she Hilaria Baldwin launched a new podcast, Growing Up Together, late last year, she didn’t want to do it alone. So the former yoga instructor picked a co-host knew intimately: her 12-year-old daughter, Carmen. The choice to tap her child as a co-host wasn’t a huge surprise. The once hidden hand pushing the scions of Hollywood dynasties into the limelight has ceased being hidden and is gleefully operating in plain sight. And it is often the hand of the parents themselves. Recently, Apple Martin wore one of her mom Gwyneth Paltrow’s vintage dresses to the Marty Supreme premiere; Beyoncé brought daughter Blue Ivy onstage to dance during her Cowboy Carter tour; Gabrielle Union celebrated her teenage stepdaughter Zaya’s modeling gigs on Instagram; Heidi Klum joined her daughter in ads…

It’s not surprising that the Grimston children get excellent marks in their history classes at school. Dozens of Britain’s most storied figures gaze at them from the walls of Gorhambury, the Grimston home in Hertfordshire, and the majority are family. Edward Grimston, for example, was Comptroller of Calais during the reign of Queen Mary Tudor. Calais was then the last toehold in France held by the English. “Unfortunately, he lost it,” says the children’s father James Walter Grimston, who is known inside the family as Jamie and outside by his title, Viscount Grimston. “Mary Tudor was so furious with him she promptly chucked him in the Tower. But, luckily for him, she didn’t last that much longer. After her death he was pardoned and lived to the ripe old age…

“Truman spent almost no money on decorations for the Black and White Ball, you know, just a few flowers,” says Denise Hale, the Serbian-born queen of San Francisco. “But the people, the crowd—you have seen the list—they were the decorations.” Hale was there with her second husband, director Vincente Minnelli. She was wearing a black Federico Forquet dress “like a toga,” with white underneath and a large brooch, designed for her by her great friend David Webb, on one shoulder. “I kept the mask on all night,” she says, noting that others removed theirs close to midnight to ensure that their faces were seen at the party of the year. “I loved Truman. He never attacked me. What he did with the others was the biggest miscalculation of his life.”…