Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2020 i Town & Country

2008 MORE WILL BE REVEALED “Every December I attend an Alvin Ailey performance for my birthday (okay, I missed one year to see Hamilton),” says Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. While we don’t know if this annual ritual will be possible in 2020 (which marks the 60th anniversary of Ailey’s Revelations, performed here by Linda Celeste Sims and Glenn Allen Sims), we do know that we need it more than ever. “Seeing Ailey on my birthday is like a rebirth. For just a little while I’m on a journey with these exceptional dancers to restore myself by tapping into our heritage, our artistry, our resilience, and our soul. I emerge renewed and inspired, grounded and lifted.”…

DESIGNER VIRTUE SIGNALING / FASHION’S FALL PLEDGE / FOUR QUADRANT GLAMOUR The Réjane’s leather finish must be polished and painted eight times. It takes artisans 20 hours to make one. Bryan Grey Yambao, better known by his nom de internet, Bryanboy, made his last big haul in Paris at the start of the year: two Chanel jackets, a few Hermès bags, eight pairs of shoes from various designers, and “Saint Laurent everything.” He tends to do his seasonal shopping mostly during fashion week, as the new collections hit stores, adding something here or there in between. Nearly every aspect of public life has been upended since then, and now, as shoppers begin to dip their Prada flat–clad toes back into real life after a long lockdown, Yambao, 38, finds himself…

HAUTE HAND-ME-DOWNS / LOCKDOWN AMULETS / FALL’S FORBIDDEN FRUITS Can a cameo double as a Chanel campaign pin? It would be in keeping with the history of this ancient stone carving method, which dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, where intaglios were used as official seals. During the Hellenistic period the technique evolved into an art form and sometimes a political one, as portraits of notables began to appear—how better to pledge allegiance to one eminent figure or another than by wearing his or her face pinned to your toga? Or, later, your ruffled collar, as was the case during the reigns of Elizabeth I and George IV, who made cameos of themselves and offered them to their loyal supporters as thanks. And what about the person who wears this agate…

Kerry Washington is doing more than you know. Yes, she’s a celebrated actress (she has nabbed Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her role in Scandal and will star later this year in Ryan Murphy’s screen adaptation of the Broadway musical The Prom), as well as a director (Insecure) and producer (Little Fires Everywhere, which she also starred in), but Washington’s work is about more than entertainment. For her, telling stories is also about a passion for justice. “We, the people,” she says. Thinking of the first three words of the Constitution inspires in her an almost romantic admiration and a sense of mission. “I know that I was not included when those first three words were written,” she says, but the idea that culture can invite more people into…

WOMEN’S FALL 2011 Thom Browne infused his womenswear debut with signature quirk and impeccable tailoring. MEN’S FALL 2013 Browne won his second (of three) CFDA Fashion Awards for menswear design. It’s not hard to see why. WOMEN’S FALL 2020 Staged in Paris just before the coronavirus shut everything down, Browne’s latest show had a prophetic Noah’s Ark theme.…

VIRGO AUGUST 24–SEPTEMBER 23 An emphasis on details and fine tuning is in the air this month, as are emotional turning points. Be generous in your dealings with others, and give a great deal of thought to what you ultimately want to achieve. With Mars losing momentum in Aries, you may find that negotiations, especially financial ones, hit snags. Being patient and alert is the way to win the day. MELISSA KAYE ($10,150), MELISSAKAYEJEWELRY.COM LIBRA SEPTEMBER 24–OCTOBER 23 Others are a bit needy as September wafts in, so be ready to cut them a little slack. You’re giving by nature and adept at handling difficult people with grace. Jupiter’s direct motion from the 13th on puts a blessing on home-related matters and family ties. You will, however, run into communication…

Patience may be a virtue, but does it always have to take so long? As the world sputtered to a halt this spring—movie releases were pushed, books delayed, art exhibitions rescheduled—culture aficionados took solace in the embarrassment of riches promised for the fall. They weren’t wrong. This autumn brings numerous treasures: a movie from Wes Anderson, a novel from Don DeLillo, and the planned reopening of Jordan Casteel’s must-see exhibit at New York’s New Museum. While it can feel as if we’ve waited a lifetime for new work (however much we’ve enjoyed old favorites—Hi, Tony Soprano!), an idea that has vanished in our culture of instant gratification is that waiting for a masterpiece is the price we pay for enjoying it. What’s a delay, after all? In April the art…

Several weeks into Covid-19 quarantine, a Sotheby’s client in New York made the winning bid on a pair of stunning 19th-century diamond drop earrings at her first online auction. Her $28,000 purchase was an act of hope—that life would soon resume and she’d be able to wear the earrings to a fabulous party with her friends. She wasn’t alone; during lockdown, jewelry sales have soared at auction houses and retailers. This isn’t a new phenomenon. Women have historically turned to jewelry as a security blanket in trying times. “During this restrictive period, when people are confined to their homes and surrounded by so much uncertainty, buying jewelry for themselves or their loved ones is very meaningful,” says Graeme Thompson, worldwide head of jewelry at the Phillips auction house, which, during…

GEE, YOUR HOUSE SMELLS TERRIFIC / MEDICINE CABINET SECRETS / BEAUTY BEHIND THE MASK Who would deny the allure of a beautifully scented home? Fragrance fanatic Louis XIV commissioned a perfumer to fill his chambers with a different scent every day. Estée Lauder reportedly dabbed Youth-Dew onto lightbulbs with cotton balls. Diana Vreeland injected perfume into pillows with a hypodermic needle. During domestic quarantine this year, we discovered anew ambient aroma’s transformative magic—to soothe anxiety, to transport us to longed-for places, to give shape to shapeless days. We have come a long way from the special occasion candle, sparked only to dress our living rooms for guests (or to conceal eau de dog). Sophisticated environment-enhancing fragrances are created with the same artistry as fine parfums. They’re desirable decor items as…

BRIGITTE AMIRI The deputy director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project appears in the movie representing a pregnant Jane Doe client in federal custody. CHASE STRANGIO Working with Block, Strangio, the ACLU’s deputy director for Transgender Justice, advocates for transgender people serving in the military. DALE HO As the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, Ho argues his first Supreme Court case—regarding the 2020 census—in the film. JOSHUA BLOCK Block, a senior staff attorney, works with Strangio in the film to fight against the federal government’s proposed transgender military ban. LEE GELERNT Onscreen, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants Rights Project fights to end the separation of immigrant families in the U.S.…

Fifteen miles downstream from the cathedral city of Exeter, in southwest England, an ancient home looks over the estuary of the River Exe, like a grand dowager unimpressed by the passing of time. Deer graze in the park, the family flag rises every morning, and Powderham Castle stands tall, its frosty appearance a monument to six centuries of hardship and resolve. Its story begins during a dark period in Europe not unlike the past year. A disease originating in Asia traveled along the Silk Road, took hold in Italy, and eventually made landfall in Britain. Powderham rose from the ashes of the Great Plague, but that wouldn’t be its last brush with adversity. “The long history provides a helpful perspective. However terrible things may appear at the moment, they will…

Hands up if you had Claudia Conway, the daughter of conservative power couple George and Kellyanne Conway, emerging as a liberal poster child on your 2020 bingo card? Congratulations if you did. As chance would have it, the 15-year-old became as beloved on the left as universal healthcare thanks to a series of videos that she posted on TikTok in which she trolled the Trump administration, at one point urging her followers to leave “one star reviews on all of trumps restaurants, hotels and golf courses.” The Conways made their eldest daughter delete her social media accounts, but like any tech-savvy teen she figured out a way to outsmart her parents and returned online with a vengeance. It was a public betrayal that Mom and Dad, a political Punch and…

WHAT’S #VERYTANDC HERE? The history: The original recipe for this scrumptious cloud of whipped cream, sponge, crème pâtissière, and marzipan appeared in the 1948 edition of a cookbook written by a tutor to the daughters of Sweden’s Prince Carl. The princesses loved the cake so much it came to be known as the Princess Cake. Milanese export Sant Ambroeus has perfected its own version of the dessert, sheathing it in an intricately piped—and rather regal—pink marzipan dome. The fans: The aforementioned Swedish princesses, Margaretha, Astrid, and Märtha; The Great British Bake Off’s Mary Berry. The news: For the ambitious, Sant Ambroeus’s rendition (the cake of choice for T&C fetes) can now be created at home thanks to The Coffee Bar Cookbook, out this month. Extra points for imitating that piping.…

Olivia Cheng is delusional. That’s how the founder of the label Dauphinette describes her creative mindset, though she says with a laugh that it’s maybe “not the word you want to put in print.” (Oops.) The New York City designer’s earrings, composed of flowers, fruits, and other natural features preserved in resin, are adored on Instagram, one-of-a-kind curios that elevate the ordinary to the exquisite and test the limits of artisanal craftsmanship. Her botanic bijoux also happen to look delicious. “You feel it burning inside your soul and mind and gut,” she says. Status produce has appeared in jewelry for millennia—the ancient Egyptians strung fruit-shaped beads into necklaces, and the Greeks are credited with inventing the flower crown—but in the 19th century the Arts and Crafts movement ushered in a…

In 1975, Halston was loved by everyone—except the execs at Max Factor working on his first fragrance. They called Halston a nut and the scent’s sublime bottle—that sensual teardrop designed by Elsa Peretti—a “glob.” Halston refused to mar the flacon with a label, accepting only a sliver of branded ribbon wrapped around the neck. By 1977 the glob had racked up more than $85 million in sales, making Halston by Halston the second-best-selling fragrance in history at the time (just behind Chanel No. 5). And 45 years later, less-is-more brands are finally giving skincare shelves a Halston/Peretti makeover, releasing thoughtful, powerful formulas in spare, label-free bottles. Until recently the combined word count on the skincare products in my small New York City bathroom rivaled that of Infinite Jest. Ages ago…

I have a Comme des Garçons cape-collar that is composed of hundreds of tartan strips sewn together in a madcap yet painstakingly deliberate fashion. I bought it a few winters ago at the label’s Chelsea store, and the salespeople said they were pretty sure it was the only one ever made. It’s a nutty, extravagant item and though Harold Koda, the former curator in chief at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, said he thought it made me look like Dickens’s Little Nell, I love this thing to death. Every time I button it over a coat, I thank the unsung genius who thought up this creation and had the time and imagination to put it together. I have bought many things (Oh, far too many things!) since I…

Some clothes speak a secret language. Pieces made by the New York designer Thom Browne can look like uniforms (Browne is famous for snug suits, sometimes with short pants, which he himself wears religiously) or cutting-edge takes on red carpet glamour (recall, if you will, Cardi B’s red feathered ensemble at the 2019 Met Gala), but they all offer a message about originality, character, and gusto that can be deciphered only by the members of a very exclusive club. This month Browne’s designs will be transmitted digitally, as a virtual presentation replaces the traditional Paris Fashion Week extravaganza. It’s no wonder, then, that Browne has found kindred spirits in the powerhouse theater producer Jordan Roth and the Tony-winning actress Cynthia Erivo. Both are as daring in their fashion choices as…

LAURA RICKETTS INSTRUCTOR: The openly gay daughter of Joe Ricketts, the conservative billionaire who owns the Chicago Cubs. CASE STUDY: Dad tried to unseat President Obama; Laura was one of Obama’s top bundlers. THE LESSON: Learn to play defense—to cover up for toxic relatives. PORTER McCONNELL INSTRUCTOR: Mitch McConnell’s daughter. CASE STUDY: The Senate majority leader favors financial deregulation. Porter is campaign director of the coalition Take on Wall Street. THE LESSON: Time your attacks for maximum impact, like during Senate confirmation hearings. MARK DAYTON INSTRUCTOR: An heir to the Target Corporation department store fortune. CASE STUDY: In the ’60s Dayton was a vocal antiwar protester, while his father Bruce sat on the board of directors of Honeywell, a major defense contractor. THE LESSON: When in doubt, marry a Rockefeller!…

No one single culture can take credit for tapestry. Ancient fragments have been found all over the world, with no relation to one another. But symbols were woven in over time, hinting at connections. Some were lost to history. Others reflected trade routes—Syrian patterns in Ukrainian tapestries, European designs in Incan weaving. The results are a global mix-up that can be difficult to untangle, though some people try, like Aiko Tezuka (see below). But if there’s one uniting factor, it’s that whatever the provenance, a tapestry’s rich colors and patterns are exquisite. NOW Berlin-based Japanese textile artist Aiko Tezuka unravels tapestries to form new designs; her latest works will be exhibited this fall at Germany’s Stadtgalerie Kiel. For her series Certainty/Entropy, she designed tapestries based on archival fabrics found in…

All dressed up and nowhere to go? That’s precisely the point. When talking about fashion, the sacred daily act of choosing what to wear is too often overlooked. But Paula Sutton, founder of Hill House Vintage, takes joy in assembling the perfect outfit to set the scene at her English country house—regardless of who else may see it or how leisurely the day may be. Like the pleasures of cooking dinner at home or traveling solo, getting dressed just for the fun of it is a true celebration.…