Social Diary• January 27, 2023

DINNER AT ELSIE’S

When Stars collide in Hollywood; a chapter from an unfinished memoir of Arlene Dahl; a pleasure and a gift...

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

Friday, April 29, 2016

Rio Hamilton

House• April 29, 2016.

Rio Hamilton is a man of our times. He braids a number of skills into a self-employment and those skills are really of our time too. He has developed a social media presence through his blog “Mon Oncle” where he chronicles parties, launches and events within the design world and he has also leveraged his previous […]... READ MORE

Friday, April 22, 2016

San Francisco Social Diary: The Oscar de la Renta Gala

Travel• April 22, 2016.

At the black tie, invitation-only opening of the first Oscar de la Renta retrospective, held at San Francisco’s de Young Museum, friends and fans turned out in their best Oscars to honor the designer, who passed away in 2014. DE LA RENTA IN SPAIN, PARIS, AND NEW YORK Known for his show-stopping and glamorous evening gowns, […]... READ MORE

Friday, April 15, 2016

Vladimir Kagan

House• April 15, 2016.

In honor of one of the most enjoyable designers we have had the pleasure of interviewing, we’re re-running our HOUSE piece on the furniture designer, Vladimir Kagan who passed away in Palm Beach last Thursday at the age of 88. When we met him, he was vital, funny and honest. Despite having to walk with two canes, […]... READ MORE

Friday, April 8, 2016

John Mosler and Jean Won Mosler

House• April 8, 2016.

Make a gazillion bucks on Wall Street, climb out of the snake pit and become a something else totally unrelated to the world of filthy lucre. For some reason, not many people in finance make that break, even though—we’re guessing—many lie awake at night plotting their escape. It should be easy but somehow it’s not—and […]... READ MORE

Friday, April 1, 2016

Sasha Bikoff

House• April 1, 2016.

So we all nestled together on the magnificent, inherited, Loro Piana fur throw slung across designer Sasha Bikoff’s couch: me, Sian, Sasha and her phone, which she occasionally stroked like a kitten. She’s young. But there’s a period sensibility to her interiors which, if developed, might become what we agreed to call “The New Opulence”... READ MORE

Friday, March 25, 2016

Fawn Galli

House• March 25, 2016.

Designer Fawn Galli has a blog entry entitled “The Glory of Pom Poms” and that somehow captures her. She values charm. Her team of eight staff are asked, “Where’s the magic?” when designs are put forward. Fawn’s own Carroll Gardens brownstone, which she shares with her architect husband, Julio Salcedo and their two sons, manages to es... READ MORE

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Palm Beach Social Diary: Mizner makeovers + Snowbirds at Wakohadatchee

Palm Beach• March 23, 2016.

With few Addison Mizner-designed houses remaining in Palm Beach in some semblance of their original condition, this week I took advantage of the opportunity to visit Villa dei Fiori (Addison Mizner, 1921) where its possible restoration/renovation was the subject of an imaginative presentation by interior designer Campion Platt and landscape de... READ MORE

Saturday, March 12, 2016

The Best Manicure in New York?

Beauty• March 12, 2016.

“My life will never be the same if Lucy leaves New York,” recently lamented beauty cognoscente Brenda M. “I honestly don’t know what I would do.”Was Brenda referring to her best friend or beloved nanny or sister perhaps? Not exactly. Brenda was fretting about the potential of losing her long-time manicurist, Lucy Bronfman. Never mind th... READ MORE

Friday, March 11, 2016

Richard Haas

House• March 11, 2016.

You may have seen muralist, Richard Haas’s work because it’s right there in Soho, on the corner of Prince and Greene Streets to be exact. That delightful trompe l’oeil extension of the 19th century cast-iron façade, painted in 1974, was his first mural—in the original, a little cat was balanced on one of the window ledges. Sadly, [&helli... READ MORE

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Shanghai Social Diary Literary Lunch: Shanghai’s Vintage & Modern Architecture

Travel• January 27, 2016.

One afternoon in Shanghai, I wandered over to the famed restaurant M on the Bund for a “Literary Lunch,” where American architect Ben Wood and Shanghainese author Andrea Mingfai Chu spoke about Shanghai’s architecture heritage. SHIKUMEN HISTORIC LANE HOUSES Wood and Chu educated us about Shanghai’s shikumen houses. Popular in the c... READ MORE

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Nina in Paris/Morocco, Part II of II

Travel• January 20, 2016.

Happily, after a smooth three-hour flight, we landed in Marrakesh and I proceeded through immigration and customs in a breeze. NO sense of impending/recent terrorism here. This airport appeared relaxed and free of all concerns. My step-brother had sent a driver from the house and I happily settled into the SUV and enjoyed the perfect weather [&hel... READ MORE

Friday, January 15, 2016

Timothy Whealon

House• January 15, 2016.

Designer, Timothy Whealon pulled a face when we said that he had been described as having impeccable taste—it’s not something he’s aiming for although there’s no denying a certain level of elegant formality in his work. The title of his first book, In Pursuit of Beauty: The Interiors of Timothy Whealon (Rizzoli) speaks to a kind of old ... READ MORE

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Nina in Paris/Morocco, Part I of II

Travel• January 13, 2016.

On Tuesday, November 10th, I left New York for Paris to a visit a dear friend. My four days in Paris were to be followed by a three-day trip to Marrakesh, as the guest of my step-brother and two dear friends, who had taken a six-bedroom riad in the medina for a week. I was […]... READ MORE

Monday, December 21, 2015

Washington Social Diary: From Georgetown To Old Town

Across the Nation• December 21, 2015.

It’s a New York Social Diary tradition each year for this column to feature the festive holiday decorations of the homes in Georgetown, the capital’s well-preserved historic neighborhood that was founded in 1751 and once served as a port. The residential area is one of the prettiest places to stroll during the holidays. This year we add [... READ MORE

Friday, December 18, 2015

Tyler Trinh and Jammie Waldron – Harlem Heirloom

House• December 18, 2015.

Tyler Trinh and Jammie Waldron met while they were both working at Pottery Barn and slowly hatched the idea of owning their own home décor store. Perhaps lots of Pottery Barn employees have the same thoughts, only Tyler and Jammie actually did it this year. Jammie, who grew up in Harlem, found a former barber’s shop for rent […]... READ MORE

Friday, December 11, 2015

William Meyer

House• December 11, 2015.

“I don’t want to tell you too many of my secrets,” said William Meyer, who together with his partner Wayne Adler, own the two long-established eponymous home décor stores, William-Wayne & Co. But he would tell us that the key to business success is for customers to come and “take a little piece of the fantasy … I want [&helli... READ MORE

Friday, December 4, 2015

Patrick Mele

House• December 4, 2015.

Interior designer, Patrick Mele grew up, he told us, “in a chicken coop on a farm” but the chicken coop was pretty near Greenwich, where his family owned and ran high-end restaurants. He knew the Greenwich way of life, shall we say, but as he puts it, “I was so immersed in it, but so not it.” […]... READ MORE

Friday, November 27, 2015

No Holds Barred: When Something is Worth Nothing

Guest Diary• November 27, 2015.

Photographs by Patrick Halbe, Sandy Gibson, & David Oceanas If I learned one thing from watching my 93-year-old mother curate and sell her Japanese-inspired home of 62 years, it is this: everything that you think is worth SOMETHING is now worth absolutely NOTHING. Here’s how I saw the selling of a significant family home. First […]... READ MORE

Monday, November 23, 2015

Shanghai Social Diary: Hiking In The Chinese Countryside

Travel• November 23, 2015.

Early one autumn Saturday, venture capitalist Jennifer Yan, publisher Andrea Mingfai Chu, and I went on a day trip to the countryside with our hiking group. Our destination was Tai Hu Lake, west of Shanghai, to visit an authentic farming and fishing village. ARRIVAL IN THE VILLAGE After a two-hour drive from Shanghai, we arrived in the […]... READ MORE

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