Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2015 i Town & Country

“I try to bring the world around to my way of thinking: how a trace of lipstick, an eloquent gesture, the bat of an eyelash have more power of persuasion than any speech a man could make.” Guest collaborator OLIVIER SAILLARD, in an exploration of modern elegance “French women never share beauty secrets or shopping addresses with anyone— not friends, and certainly not men.” DANA THOMAS, in a tribute to the codes of French style “The Italian woman doesn’t do pretty. There is nothing cute or dainty about her. Instead she is beautiful, handsome, exuberantly sexy, or even magnificently vulgar.” ANDREA LEE, on the formula for Italian glamour…

1 DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN “Shooting the Salon Doré was so much fun, but the highlight was spending two hours in Dede Wilsey’s closets picking just the right dress for her portrait,” says Friedman, the photographer behind the images in “ROOM AND BOARD” (page 180). “It seemed every hanger had a beautiful frock on it and a wildly interesting story to go with it.” Friedman, pictured here with Charles the cat, splits his time between New York City and Marfa, Texas. 2 DANA THOMAS Dana Tomas is the author of the new double biography Gods and Kings: Te Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano and the New York Times best-seller Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, both published by Penguin. She has lived in Paris since 1992, and she…

MARCH ARTS & CULTURE THE ORCHID SHOW Trough April 19 The rarest of the species take over the New York Botanical Garden. No plain white phalaenopsis need apply. AI WEIWEI ON ALCATRAZ Trough April 26 The Chinese artist and activist has reinvented the Rock with full-scale installations on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco. NATURAL BEAUTIES Trough March 8 After appreciating nature in Shelburne, Vermont, take in notable nature-inspired jewelry at the eponymous museum. LANVIN RETROSPECTIVE March 8–August 23 At the Palais Galliera, this is the first retrospective in Paris dedicated to Jeanne Lanvin, the label’s founder. BJORK RETROSPECTIVE March 8–June 7 What will be included in this show at NYC’s MoMA? More important, what will she wear to the opening? SONDHEIM’S ASSASSINS Trough March 7 London’s Menier Chocolate Factory revives the…

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN WHEN THE ARTIST CECILE ZU Hohenlohe was a little girl, she discovered a box in the attic of Langenburg Castle, her family’s ancestral home in southern Germany. Long before her birth, in 1967, the box had been filled with a spectacular collection of jewelry that was part of the dowry of her great-grandmother, Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg, whose ancestors included Czar Alexander II and Queen Victoria. Te Lotus Parure—a set of diamond and ruby pieces that included a lotus-shaped tiara—had gradually been sold to help relatives who had fed wars and revolutions. But the box survived the years, as well as a devastating 1963 fire at the castle. Hohenlohe was fascinated by the ghostly imprints of the long gone jewels on the box’s blue velvet trays; for…

WHERE ARE THEY TOWN & COUNTRY’S FEBRUARY 1948 “Theatre” column led with a rave: “Tennessee Williams is not only the finest new talent to come to the theatre in this decade, but, with A Streetcar Named Desire, he takes rank with the most eminent of his elders.” A few notes on an “unpretentious little revue” called Angel in the Wings appeared after the jump. Among them: “Elaine Stritch is maliciously amusing.” With a change in tense it could have been her epitaph. Then 23 and fresh from the Dramatic Workshop, Stritch went on to star in Rodgers & Hart’s Pal Joey, Noël Coward’s Sail Away, Stephen Sondheim’s Company, and, in 2001 at 76, the sold-out one-woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty, co-written with Williams’s biographer, John Lahr. She had an…

INVESTMENT…

FRAGRANCE GEMS HAVE LONG HAD symbolic properties ascribed to them—sapphires meant loyalty; rubies, passion—as well as mystical powers. But there has never been an obvious olfactory connection, despite the fact that both jewels and perfumes are imbued with meaning and memories for their wearers. Now Bulgari is making the link for us with le gemme, a collection of six scents, each encased in a matte black amphora and based on a semi precious stone: tourmaline, amethyst, turquoise, moonstone, citrine, or peridot. Perfumer Daniela Andrier looked to each stone, and the way light passed through it, to dream up fagrances that are as richly evocative as they are multifaceted.…

I MEET GUGU MBATHA-RAW ON THE WEEKEND THAT TWO OF three New York Times flm critics proclaim her movie Beyond the Lights one of the year’s best. Manohla Dargis publishes what amounts to a 900-word love letter to it. “Oh yeah, a fiend of mine texted it to me,” Mbatha-Raw says, almost uncertainly, when I ask her about these accolades. She seems befuddled by my excitement for her. “I mean, it’s really lovely. It’s great for the movie to, you know, have that establishment stamp fom the New York Times.” She jauntily mimes stamping a piece of paper approved. “But reviews, numbers—they’re not for me. Tey’re for other people to read and absorb and analyze.” Mbatha-Raw seems equally unattached to the idea of winning statuettes. Just the week before, she…

When I moved to ParIs In 1992 as a 28-year-old bride and a fedgling foreign correspondent, top fashion editor Suzy Menkes took me to lunch and over grilled sole and white wine imparted some of the most insightful counsel I have ever received. “Paris,” she said, “will teach you how to be a woman.” At the time I had no idea what she was talking about. But soon I learned. In dress there were basic rules: Wear somber neutral tones such as black, beige, and navy accessorized with bold belts, good jewelry, and scarves. Always wear matching lingerie, in silk and lace, black or colors, even under jeans and T-shirts. One must consider the entire silhouette at all times, including feet, with regular pedicures (in shell-pink or red only) and…

It ’ s 9 p.m. shArp in A grim working-class neighborhood outside Girona, Spain, and the foodies are descending on El Celler de Can Roca. Many step out of cabs coming from the train station or from downtown hotels in the small inland city, an hour or so north of Barcelona. They pose for one another in the glare of an illuminated sign. They look anticipatory and self-congratulatory. Well, who can blame them? El Celler de Can Roca is often described as Catalonia’s successor to Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli, which reigned until 2011 outside Roses, another small city nearby. But although it has appeared on every list of best restaurants for years and has the highest Michelin rank of three stars, and even though it beat Copenhagen’s Noma in 2013…

BUD VASE…

There’s a reason the universal language of restaurants is French. American cooks may be abandoning the haute cuisine established by Escofer and the nouvelle cuisine of Paul Bocuse and Michel Guérard, but French chefs—especially in the capital—continue to innovate within their own tradition. Here’s how to conquer a town that would never dream of outlawing foie gras. It all depends on the time of day. Being in Paris is all the excuse I need to eat as much pastry for breakfast as I want to. I’m especially addicted to the kouign amann, a layered croissantlike thing with extra butter and a crunch of caramelized sugar on top. Te pink-and-blue-painted BOULANGERIE POUJAURAN is the best place to get them (18 Rue Jean-Nicot; 7th Arr.; 4705-8088). For lunch, BISTROT CAPUCINE, right behind…

10 STYLISH SPRING ESSENTIALS THAT EVERY LADY NEEDS IN HER CLOSET An ensemble from Miu Miu pairs nicely with an Alexis Bittar necklace (above) and Stuart Weitzman red mules. THE BEST COCKTAIL BARS IN PARIS Our favorite imbibing spots in the French capital, including Le Bar at L’Hotel. 8 FRAGRANCES THAT WILL MAKE YOU SMELL EXPENSIVE Swank scents from Creed (right) and others. 9 MUSEUM-WORTHY T&C COVERS A few standouts from America’s oldest continually published magazine. THE GREAT BEAUTIES See Richard Avedon’s 1957 “Eight Most Beautiful Women” as it first appeared in T&C, in our e-edition bonus, available at BONUS.TOWNANDCOUNTRYMAG.COM the social network TOWN&COUNTRY @TANDCMAG The @LLBean boot was 2014’s version of Tickle Me Elmo. JAY FIELDEN @JAYFIELDEN Is Christie’s abrupt shift of CEO a sign that runaway guarantees are…

While I enjoy reading your articles in general, the most meaningful one was the story about former marine Adam Driver [“Driver Training,” December/January]. After a two year stint in the corps he was in short order accepted to the Juilliard School, which is quite an accomplishment. But even more impressive is his wonderful capacity to give back to men and women still in the service, by entertaining the troops with book readings and Shakespearean plays. A new Bob Hope emerges, and our servicemen and women are that much richer for it. DAVID TULANIAN, LOS ANGELES THE DEVIL YOU KNOW While I am fine with Stefan Simchowitz being categorized as an outsider, even a devilish one, I am not fine with your statement that he was born in New York [“Auctions…

DOMESTIC GODDESSES MARTHA STEWART VS GWYNETH PALTROW Skipped out early from the dinner in honor of Paltrow’s first cookbook, in 2011. Conscious Coupling Pie. Where does she get her ideas? Stepford Life: Stewart designed a 650-unit townhouse development in North Carolina. A line of fozen foods for Costco. It’s a downmarket thing. Actor and Chianti aficionado Anthony Hopkins Snoop Dogg appeared on her show to bake a variant of his famous brownies Her 1999 IPO made her a billionaire, on paper. Forced to settle a lawsuit with Macy’s. But at least she stayed out of jail. Stewart’s stock is down, but earlier reports of her demise turned out to be greatly exaggerated. OPENING SALVO RETURN FIRE BRAND MISSTEP OLD FLAME COOL FRIENDS FONDEST MEMORY RECENT STUMBLE OUTLOOK Poached Stewart’s CEO,…

FILM AS A YOUNG MAN ANDREW JARECKI WAS enthralled by the story of Robert Durst and the disappearance of his wife Kathleen, in 1982. Durst, heir to a real estate fortune, was questioned but never charged, and the incident was followed by a series of disturbing events, including the shooting of a friend and the brutal murder of a neighbor, for which Durst was tried and acquitted. Jarecki, meanwhile, became a director known for telling stories of dysfunctional families, including the Oscar-nominated documentary Capturing the Friedmans. He remained fascinated by Durst, in part because of their similarities: Both grew up in Westchester County, eldest sons expected to uphold family reputations. In 2008 he directed a feature inspired by Durst’s life, All Good Things, starring Ryan Gosling. The filmmakers contacted Durst…

SINCE 1972 BRITISH DECORATOR Nicky Haslam has been designing rooms for luminaries such as Mick Jagger and Maurice Saatchi. After two volumes on decorating and one dishy memoir, he has written a book that incorporates both. Nicky Haslam: A Designer’s Life (Rizzoli, $55) blends seductive photos of his work (including one of a Moscow dressing room with walls of silk fringe in a delicate blue inspired by the Amalienburg pavilion in Munich) with decorating tips in cheekily titled sections such as “Fee Fi Faux Fun” (painted finishes) or “Absolutely Plastered” (an ode to one of his favorite materials). Sprinkled throughout are references to such boldfaced pals as Lucian Freud and Rupert Everett. By its charming end, you’ll feel like an insider yourself.…

APOCRYPHA “MISS NITA OLAY, SOON TO STAR in Mogultone’s new talkie, ‘Hula Hoydens of Hawaii,’ is that rare Hollywood phenomenon who drinks only at parties. She is blushingly coy about whether she invented strip poker, and thanks her lucky stars for having saved up all her tips as a teenage gypsy fortune-teller, allowing an early start on her now vast collection of jewelry, Fabergé eggs, Cartier wristwatches, carved ivory, and gold ingots. “The diminutive screen siren exercises strenuously with conditioning coach Kurt in her verdant palm ‘clubhouse’ adjacent to her Hollywoodland petit trianon bungalow. Frisky and full-of-fun Nita is not all foth: She aspires to play Queen Lear on the Broadway stage ‘if somebody would just send me the script!’ Te tabloid darling has recently been romantically linked with her…

SHOPPING…

BIJOJX NEWS In the current $95- milliona-penthouse climate, the sale of the Cartier mansion on Fifh Avenue persists as a legend of New York real estate. In 1917, Morton Plant handed over his residence to Pierre Cartier in exchange for $100 and a strand of pearls. Te deal sounds dubious until it’s clarified that they were natural pearls; then knowing heads nod in understanding. Recent auction prices for natural pearls provide background: $7 million for the Baroda pearls at Christie’s, $11 million for the La Peregrina pearl that belonged to Liz Taylor, $3.3 million for just a pair at Doyle’s. Natural pearls develop inside the mollusk spontaneously, without help from a man-made irritant, which is how cultured pearls are created. A natural pearl takes about eight years to form; a…

ANTI-AGING According To Boston-Based Cosmetic surgeon Michael S. Kaminer, cellulite, the dimpled, rippled skin that reveals itself in dressing room mirrors and on beaches the world over, affects almost 100 percent of women and no men. Te solutions for it until now have been notoriously ineffective, from pricey European slimming creams to old-school treatments like Endermologie. “We call those machines high-end coatracks,” Kaminer says. “Tey mostly sit in the corner.” But now physicians believe they have found the holy grail: a new procedure that dramatically reduces cellulite in one 45-minute session, with results that last a year, if not longer. An FDA-cleared device called CELLFINA works by releasing the tethering bands (known as fibrous septae) that “pull down on the skin and cause dimpling,” New York City plastic surgeon Haideh…

For additional readings by Katharine Merlin, go to TOWNANDCOUNTRYMAG.COM PISCES FEBRUARY 20–mArch 20 Try not to make too many promises as March begins. Your work life is going to become increasingly complex as the month unfolds, and with Saturn changing directions at the top of your chart, you’ll need to be highly discriminating about what commitments you can realistically take on. Be ready to let go of questionable situations and zero in on what really matters. With Venus training Pluto on the 30th, love, at least, can’t possibly go wrong. ARIES March 21–April 20 With Jupiter training Mars early this month, your ideas are unquestionably brilliant and on target, but you should try to temper your enthusiasm with diplomatic restraint. Te harsh square of Pluto and Uranus on the 17th…

THE HOME I GREW UP IN WAS POWERFULLY FEMALE. Between my strong-willed mother and the four sisters who controlled everything she didn’t, I had very little experience of women who suffered in silence, or suffered at all. What sort of oppression did they have to endure? Popular notions about liberation always struck me as obsolete, since all I had ever known was strong women, sure of themselves and their ability to impose their will on anyone they met. I could scarcely imagine a world where people could not see that crossing a leg sheathed in nylon could be a far more powerful weapon than slogans. I have since learned that my experience was far from normal. But I still hold on to the forceful arguments I came up with then…

THE POLO BAR IS A REVERENT RESUSCITATION OF THE MIDCENTURY CLUB AESTHETIC, AS WELL AS A CELEBRATION OF LIVING LIFE EXQUISITELY. FOR ALMOST HALF A CENTURY, NEW YORK SOCIETY ATE LUNCH AT LA COTE BASQUE. Te restaurant, which, starting in 1958, occupied a grand corner of Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, across from the St. Regis Hotel, was synonymous with Cassini-clad women eating quenelles of pike and finging gossip, especially after Truman Capote set an infamous story there that wreaked havoc on the Upper East Side. But in 2004 the place closed, and to some it was as if an entire era had ended. La Côte Basque’s successor in the muraled space was a Disney store, the antithesis of a haute hangout. When it too closed, in 2009, memories of…

“Globalization ruined Paris shopping!” So said the first editor we asked. She was right to bemoan the ubiquity of the macaron and the recent arrival in the U.S. of every fashion editor’s secret Paris clothing source, COS. But for the devoted shopper this merely sharpens the challenge. Is Paris still the destination for premier indulgences? Maybe more than ever, and those who do find treasures tell just their closest confdants. Here, an address book of ateliers, patisseries, boutiques, and pharmacies that have goods you can get only within a few miles of the Seine (including that rarest of commodities, the successor to the macaron). DRIES VAN NOTEN’s two shops—one for women, the other for men—are full of things that never make it stateside (7 and 9 Quai Malaquais; 6th Arr.;…

PEOPLE WATCHING WHEN THEY DREAM UP BOND flick heroines, Xin Li must come to mind. Te nearly six-foot former model and basketball player has been an art world darling for years, jetting between Hong kong and London on behalf of the major auction houses. (She’s now deputy chairman of Asia for Christie’s.) She reportedly sold nearly a quarter- billion’s worth of rothkos and richters at 2014’s fall sales, mostly to her personal coterie of Chinese billionaire collectors. Her rapid ascent, coupled with a grueling itinerary—she rarely spends more than a week in any given place—had limited the pool of potential suitors and left the exotic beauty single. (Finding a match of comparable physical stature may also have had something to do with it—Sarkozy and Bruni come to mind.) Tat is,…

TRAVEL YOU WILL NEVER WALK THIS way again,” Hicham Hraïd-Rochette, the elegant French-accented “directeur des operations” of Morocco’s Dar ahlam resort, announced as he pushed open the massive 17th-century wooden door of the main entrance, ushering us across the threshold. “You will also never eat in the same place twice. In fact, everything here will be a surprise.” On that intriguing note, he proceeded to lead our group of four slowly down a wide, dimly lit winding corridor covered with richly colored Berber rugs. And he talked: about Dar Ahlam’s founding by a Parisian events and theater impresario, Tierry Teyssier, and his gamble that travelers would come this far, to the remote, pre-Saharan oasis of Skoura, to experience what it offered; about the building’s decorative and architectural elements (“This? Because…

WINE VICOMTE LOUIS-MICHEL LIGER-Belair is the product of a grand lineage, of which he seems extremely proud. On a recent visit to the Château de Vosne-Romanée, he shows me pictures of his ancestors lining the entry hall before we descend to the cellar to taste. Interspersed with mounted stag heads, the portraits include one of Louis Liger-Belair, resplendent in red sash, black cape, and gold medals. “He was a general under Napoleon,” Louis-Michel informs me, “a great strategist, who acquired this domain when he married a local girl.” One might say the present vicomte was born with a silver tastevin in his mouth, having inherited one of the most venerable domains in Burgundy. Just as plausibly one could say he’s a self-made man who created, by sheer force of will,…

GEORG JENSEN T&C and georg Jensen hosted a private book launch at their madison Avenue boutique on october 22, 2014. co-hosted by T&C Architecture & design editor, Pilar viladas, and author, murray moss, architecture and interior design leaders celebrated georg Jensen’s new book, Refections. Attendees shopped and mingled with viladas and moss as they enjoyed champagne and danish inspired hors d’oeuvres throughout the evening. DIOR on september 23, 2014, T&C and dior partnered with the Boston Ballet for an exclusive in-store event celebrating the opening of swan lake and dior’s latest collection. hosted by Boston Ballet Artistic director mikko nissinen, this private occasion was held at the dior Boston boutique and featured a special preview of the ballet’s costumes. over 50 stylish guests enjoyed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres as they…

FOR SUCH SIMPLE GARMENTS, khakis carry a surprising number of negative associations. Some women dismiss them as the uniform of prep school boys (especially when they’re paired with a blazer). Others recoil at the memory of the 1980s pleated variety. Te spring 2015 collections dismissed those reservations by showing khakis in finer fabrics— linen, suede, satin—and by pairing them with luxe accessories and exotic skins. Ali MacGraw Evidence of the enduring allure of pareddown American style. She rarely wore heels, or jewelry other than a wedding band, and she still looked better than most Jane Birkin Te inimitable Euro confidence helps, of course, but the power of a very good watch to erase any work uniform connections should not go unnoticed. Leandra Medine What becomes a blogger most? Classic shapes…

ONE OF A KIND BOTTICELLI’S VENUS WORE NO JEWELRY, BUT THE PAINTER, who happened to also be a trained goldsmith, was not averse to draping an elaborate necklace around a subject’s neck (see his portraits of the young Simonetta Vespucci, c. 1480). Te women rising out of the water at Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda couture show in Capri last summer followed the latter model. It was the company’s fifth such collection, and each one-of-a-kind gown was accented with a unique jewel. And, like the dresses, many of which were made from vintage Italian fabrics, the gems bore an unmistakable stamp of tradition. Scenes of the island’s Faraglioni rocks, the setting of the show, were hand-painted on pendants that hung from earrings and a necklace, reflecting a 16th-century art form…

BEAUTY ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. THAT IS HOW much makeup models wore down the runway at the Marc Jacobs spring 2015 ready-towear show. Jason Wu, Proenza Schouler, Simone Rocha, and others also embraced the minimalist trend—albeit with a little help fom hydrating serums and strategic highlighter on cheekbones and under brows. But the au naturel look still takes a bit of work, starting with skincare. Chanel’s new Hydra Beauty Micro Sérum releases spheres of concentrated camellia oil on contact for intense moisturization, while Shiseido’s Ibuki Multi Solution Gel is a targeted treatment aimed at diminishing the visibility of pores and healing breakouts. On the cosmetics font, new lightweight foundations fom By Terry and Clinique are meant to be applied only where they’re needed, so skin is even and clear, not overly…

LOVE, INFINITELY WITH HEARTS OF GEORG JENSEN The Hearts of Georg Jensen collection artfully interprets an iconic symbol. Both feminine and modern, the heart pendants express sentiments of the heart and celebrate life’s important moments, and are truly timeless tokens of love. Available in 18-karat gold and sterling silver, $135-995. For more information, please visit georgjensen.com or call 800.546.5253. ROUGH ELEGANCE COLLECTION An exotic array of natural multi-color rough diamonds enhanced in 18-karat gold, combined with baroque South Sea pearls. These new designs will be featured at the Yvel Miami Boutique, along with the new 2015 Yvel collections. For more information, please visit yvel.com. THE ONE AND ONLY ONE™ This mesmerizing 3-carat Natural Fancy Intense Blue Diamond is GIA-certified Internally Flawless. Considered the rarest of the rare, it’s the perfect combination…

It’s easy now to forget that, in the days before Pan Am introduced the Boeing 707 and with it easy transatlantic travel, people on either side of the ocean tended to attire themselves with regional, national, and often chauvinistic specificity. »Page 162 The satisfaction I felt watching faces change when I told them about my reservation reminded me of telling young mothers that my little niece had gotten into a top school on the Upper East Side. »Page 188 During filming, Kill the Vibrato became something of a mantra for Mbatha-Raw, who spent her childhood idolizing Cole Porter and Ella Fitzgerald. »Page 142 The menu, which features all-American fare like crab cakes and corned beef sandwiches, seems designed to soothe that aging relative still unnerved by the exoticism of California…

WHEN THE WASHINGTON POST critic Jonathan Yardley slammed William Stadiem’s nutty social history Jet Set in a review last summer, he also took aim at its unwitting subjects. They were a “motley collection of occasionally beautiful but invariably contemptible men and women,’’ Yardley wrote, strafing both book and the early jetsetters with high Puritan contumely. Back in their day, Yardley added, this apparently benighted bunch futtered around the world in quest of “expensive if evanescent pleasure’’— as if that were somehow a problem. What the critic neglected to mention was how very good these contemptible types looked while seeking their evanescent pleasures. Tat, perhaps, was their greater sin. It’s easy now to forget that, in the days before Pan Am introduced the Boeing 707 and with it easy transatlantic travel,…

I DID WONDER HOW people would react to just chairs against a wall,” says Adolphus Andrews Jr., himself impressively seated in his San Francisco home next to a table strewn with decorative porcelain boxes. (Te auction of Bunny Mellon’s estate, filled with excellent examples of this miniature art form, is days away, and Andrews later admits to bidding on a few. He also “danced with Bunny once in New York.”) Andrews is a reigning member of San Francisco’s Old Guard and a chief fundraising force behind the innovative restoration of the 18th-century Salon Doré, which was originally in the Hôtel de la Trémoille in Paris and is now at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor museum. There are 21 of them—the chairs he’s referring to—in total, placed around the perimeter of…

DRESS CODE…

Will they ruin the Ritz? As regulars await the unveiling of that palace hotel’s three-year, $183 million makeover (now scheduled for late 2015), a different breed of lodging has cast a spell. Those who have had five-star service in Paris’s smaller, more personal hotels are often resistant to giving up their secrets. But we made them do it—or at least divulge how to make even the grandest place feel like home. One of my favorite under-the-radar places to stay is little LENOX MONTPARNASSE. Its upper floor has the rarest of features among Paris boutique hotels: a room large enough to ft two fold-out beds for children—with a charming view of the roofops of Paris (15 Rue Delambre; 14th Arr.; 4335-3450). I love the ST. JAMES, set in an 1892 mansion…

The French are in no danger of running out of places to exhibit art. Creating them may not qualify as a national mania, but the obsession does come from the very top: Giscard d’Estaing got the Musée d’Orsay going, and François Mitterrand started the Louvre pyramid. Those two, of course, are musts, but when a city also boasts museums dedicated to taxidermy, money, and weird medicine, why stop at the Mona Lisa? The Musee Du quai branLy is not really a secret, but it’s carefully hidden. Architect Jean Nouvel made its profile on the banks of the Seine lower than the surrounding buildings and fit its streetside facade nicely into the Haussmann-era architecture. Inside, art and exotica from centuries of French exploration sit in treasure box displays (37 Quai Branly;…