Town & Country March 2018

Ode to JOY If you were part of a certain crowd, the morning when word broke that Gianni Versace had been murdered in Miami Beach is a moment you remember in detail: where you were, who told you. I was an assistant at Vogue when then fashion news director Kate Betts came storming down the hall with the news. In “Family Drama” (page 120) Betts takes us back 20 years, to the era of fashion excitement that Versace reigned over. She remembers his “muffled baritone” calling after her in the halls of the Ritz Paris, but even more vividly she recalls “Versace’s intoxicating mix of rock and royalty” and what she calls the “ineffable Versace ingredient” that superseded all his “glamour and sex and over-the-top exuberance”: joy. “Gianni Versace,” she…

PAUL TULLIS Can a robot learn refined style? In “THE FUTURE OF GOOD TASTE” (page 144), the L.A.-based writer delves into the limits and potential of artificial intelligence. “Researching this story made me glad I chose the profession I did, as it seems AI is still a ways off from replacing those of us in the creative fields.” [Ed. note: The preceding quote was written by an AI.] VICKY WARD In “EIFFEL ON THE HUDSON” (page 164), Ward, who writes frequently for T&C, profiles Stephen Ross, the man behind the $150 million Vessel installation, part of New York’s Hudson Yards development. “Both Ross’s rise from humble origins and the story of how Vessel grew from a wild idea into reality are the stuff of American legend,” she says. TOM MUNRO…

MAN ON A MISSION Our Fashion Market & Accessories Director, Will Kahn, iPhone firmly in hand, snapped his way through Milan and Paris, bringing back the best and brightest bags for spring. SEND A LETTER TO TOWN & COUNTRY: T&C INBOX, 300 West 57th Street, 33rd floor, New York, NY 10019, or e-mail us at tnc@hearst.com Please include your name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity and may be published in any medium. All submissions become the property of the magazine.…

For many Americans with dreams of one day becoming royalty, November 27, 2017, the day Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made public their engagement, was highly charged. The announcement was especially complicated— emotionally, at least—for people in Hollywood, due to Markle’s spot in their food chain. Although her story is not something out of a romantic comedy—a cleaning lady swept off her feet at a five-star hotel, as in Maid in Manhattan—she’s not an untouchable movie star, either. Indeed, until recently she was one of their own: a working actress. And in a town where “everyone’s a climber,” in the words of someone who knew Markle before all this, the question seems to be, by becoming a royal, has Markle outhustled them all? “It’s almost too close to home,” says…

The art world as we know it today began, in some ways, with a canceled auction. In February 1957 the sale of movie star Edward G. Robinson’s collection of Post-Impressionist paintings was preempted at the last moment by Stavros Niarchos, who bought the whole kit privately. Did Niarchos love every piece? Who knows, but he nevertheless scooped them all up for the now quaint sum of $3.5 million and installed them in his Hôtel de Chanaleilles in Paris, where they remained for decades as part of the greatest museum you’ve never heard of. The sale revealed that Little Caesar had been as accomplished and passionate a collector as he was an actor. But it also marked, in hindsight, a turning point in the history of collecting. From then on, when…

ARTS & CULTURE March 2 “David Bowie Is” The touring exhibit celebrating the late pop icon makes its final stop, at the Brooklyn Museum. March 15 My Fair Lady The return of the iconic musical, starring Lauren Ambrose, begins previews. March 8 Picasso London’s Tate Modern mounts its first solo exhibit of the artist’s works. March 6 Box of Butterflies Actress and producer Roma Downey has written a book of personal stories. March 25 “Cézanne Portraits” Sixty paintings by the Post-Impressionist will be displayed at the National Gallery of Art in DC. March 3 Martin Margiela Paris’s Palais Galliera hosts the city’s first retrospective of the avant-garde Belgian fashion designer. March 4 “Royal Arts of Jodhpur, India” Jewels, artworks, and other relics from the Rathore dynasty make their public debut…