Social Diary• July 2, 2020

Fortitude and Patience

Holiday weekend ahead, the mailbox is full of political messages from both parties (looking for donations); reminding me of the political campaigns I’ve worked in on several occasions...

This was Then: Malcom Forbes’ 70th, Part II

Social History• February 22, 2017.

Photographs by Mary Hilliard Malcolm Forbes was the most celebrated magazine publisher of his day although there were others far richer and with larger media empires. Forbes was famous for his lifestyle, which was viewed as a kind of flashy irreverence. He appeared to be the ultimate WASP who could “get down” with the best […]... READ MORE

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

This was Then: Malcolm Forbes’ 70th Birthday, Part I

Social History• February 21, 2017.

Malcolm Forbes is a name that only vaguely, if that, resonates with anyone under fifty today. Yet when he died 27 years ago at the age of 70, he was one of the most famous personalities in America as a result of his flashy talent for his great publishing success as well as other business […]... READ MORE

Friday, January 20, 2017

Landon Metz

House• January 20, 2017.

Landon Metz, brought us most thoughtfully into the experience of what it is to be a painter in today’s world of the Internet, Instagram, selfies and Snapchat. Not that it he isn’t up to the challenge of it—he doesn’t even see it that way. “It’s just happening” is how he expresses it. There were times when […]... READ MORE

Friday, January 13, 2017

Brett Leemkuil

House• January 13, 2017.

We already knew that decorator, Brett Leemkuil, was known for his Tony-Duquette influenced Hollywood flair but we weren’t quite prepared, when we stepped in off a street in Sunnyside, Queens, for the wonderful theatricality of his studio apartment. Full of sumptuous color, low lighting and glamorous swags of tasseled silk, in our era of glass, ... READ MORE

Thursday, January 12, 2017

America First: Howard Major at Palm Beach

Palm Beach• January 12, 2017.

America First: Howard Major at Palm Beach Architect Howard Major was Palm Beach’s leading advocate for an American-based classical building style during the post-WW I boom when Spanish and Italian reproductions became commonplace. Foreshadowing today’s “America First” populist sentiment, Major believed a mix of Old World styles should never... READ MORE

Friday, November 18, 2016

James Reginato

House• November 18, 2016.

Like most of the other writers we’ve interviewed, James Reginato, writer-at-large for Vanity Fair and former features director of W magazine, is much happier being on the other side of the tape recorder. However he has a wonderful new book to promote, Great Houses Modern Aristocrats (Rizzoli) so he might have to get used to it, although that ... READ MORE

Friday, November 11, 2016

Safari, Part 2: The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Haven

Travel• November 11, 2016.

Safari: Part 1 (click here) Rapa, one of the orphaned baby elephants at The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) is a very cheeky boy. When he’s not butting in on the games of his peers, he’s getting his well-behaved companions into trouble or devising ways to snag extra milk bottles at feeding time. The keepers’ diaries are littered [&he... READ MORE

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Breakfast with the Elephants and Tea with the Giraffes, Safari: Part 1

Travel• November 9, 2016.

“Have we just died and gone to heaven?” I asked my companions when we alighted upon the deck of our safari lodge, Angama Mara, perched high above Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. We knew it was going to be beautiful, but we weren’t prepared for the splendor of the place – lush green plains under picture perfect […]... READ MORE

Friday, November 4, 2016

San Francisco Social Diary: The First Lady of Napa

Travel• November 4, 2016.

NAPA VALLEY – “SALUTE, SANTE, CHEERS, MARGRIT! Tonight we raise our glass to you!” read the invitation from Festival Napa Valley, for a tribute to Margrit Biever Mondavi this past July. The 91-year-old widow of vintner Robert Mondavi, who is credited with putting California wines on the world map, Margrit was honored for her more than fo... READ MORE

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Music, Mosaics and Moonlight in Sicily

Travel• October 19, 2016.

For two weeks in Ragusa Ibla, a baroque UNESCO world heritage site in southern Sicily, the streets were alive with the sound of music as young musicians from around the world gathered for the Ibla Foundation’s annual classical music competition. For 25 years, the Foundations’s founder and organizer, Dr. Salvatore Moltisanti, has accepte... READ MORE

Friday, September 16, 2016

Jesse James and Kostas Anagnopoulos

House• September 16, 2016.

Jesse James together with his husband and business partner Kostas Anagnopoulos(Gus) own and run a design think tank called Aesthetic Movement that provides a range of services including branding, marketing, designing and overseeing launches of products in the gift, home, jewelry and personal accessories market. They have been together for twenty ... READ MORE

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

San Francisco Social Diary : An Art Bash At Stonescape In Napa Valley

Travel• September 13, 2016.

One of the most creative and buzz-worthy events of the Bay Area summer “high season” is the biennial fete hosted by art collectors and philanthropists Norah and Norman Stone. The party takes place at Stonescape, their country estate and retreat at the far northern end of the Napa Valley, near the Calistoga hot springs resort […]... READ MORE

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Aristocratic Artist: Albert Herter at Palm Beach

Palm Beach• August 23, 2016.

Aristocratic Artist: Albert Herter at Palm Beach “Well, Albert Herter simply has no right to exist. To begin with, he was born to wealth and social position; he is handsome and attractive in manner, and he has exceptional talent. You see, his career knocks the props from under those accepted saws about the impetus of […]... READ MORE

Friday, August 12, 2016

John Barman

House• August 12, 2016.

John Barman was one of the designers in our very first batch of HOUSE interviews and he had us reaching for the names of movies that we thought would best describe his style sensibility—James Bond! Austin Powers! This time, after his sophisticated renovation, we were thinking Bertolucci films. But in the end the look is […]... READ MORE

Friday, July 29, 2016

Luca Andrisani

House• July 29, 2016.

Italian architect Luca Andrisani doesn’t like chit-chat or small talk and that is fine by us. That’s not at all to say that he is brusque—he’s charming—but he shoots straight. Like so many people we interview, he dislikes and avoids the tireless self-promotion and networking that is now apparently required if one is going to survive in ... READ MORE

July in Paris: All that glitters

Travel• July 29, 2016.

April in Paris has its charms, but so does July, especially during haute couture week which is when I spent a few whirlwind days in the City of Light, getting an up-close look at glittering jewels and glittering fashions, all the while enjoying some wonderful meals and squeezing in a bit of shopping (mais bien […]... READ MORE

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Lisa Frantz

House• June 22, 2016.

Lisa Frantz together with her business partner, Lydia Marks, were, what Lisa calls “work friends” and now calls “proper friends” which, interestingly enough, came to pass when they founded their own design business, Marks & Frantz. Prior to that, they had both crossed paths while working extensively in set design for television, musi... READ MORE

Friday, May 27, 2016

Bjorn Bjornsson

House• May 27, 2016.

Our HOUSE interviewees often throw us curveballs but Icelandic designer Bjorn Bjornsson gave us more than pause when we realized only part-way through his account of working on a hotel in Baghdad, that the design stand-off he was describing was in fact with … Saddam Hussein. You’ll have to read on to find out more. Bjorn, whose […]... READ MORE

Friday, May 20, 2016

Alan Tanksley

House• May 20, 2016.

Looking out of the windows of Alan Tanksley’s studio near Flatiron is a quintessential New York experience. Skyscrapers rear up at you on all sides and, if you were to take a bath, you might almost feel that you could stick your arm out of the window as you lie there and touch the Empire State Building. […]... READ MORE

Friday, May 6, 2016

No Holds Barred: Meeting Mizrahi

Guest Diary• May 6, 2016.

It seems like everyone I know actually knows and loves Isaac Mizrahi. I mean EVERYONE! I never met him. But I have bought his sheets, towels, pajamas, at least 15 cardigans, 8 pair of moccasins 11 handbags, not to mention his Kleenex boxes and 1-800-Flowers. I think I “own” so much Isaac that I must […]... READ MORE

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