Innholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2017 i Town & Country

1976 SECOND LOOK Four years after she announced she was becoming a woman, the noted writer Jan Morris went to the Paris shows to interview Yves Saint Laurent. She found a fashion business that, much like today’s, was in the midst of transition, and a designer who was grappling with how to honor the past but create for the present. Morris also discovered a society adjusting to changing mores and notions of feminine identity—a tale as relevant today as it was 40 years ago.…

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When it comes to planning a Broadway musical, the devil is almost always in the details. In the case of December’s Dear Evan Hansen, Satan just so happens to be in the sofa. The show’s director, Michael Greif (the master of youth in musical revolt who brought us Rent and Next to Normal), and its set designer, David Korins (Hamilton), are attempting to devise a way to have one couch signify two separate homes and help the show distinguish between the two very different families it portrays. “It has to go from being the Hansens’ couch to the Murphys’ couch in one transition,” Korins says, recounting the discussions he and Greif had about what props actors could add or remove to indicate which family’s couch it was from scene to…

PRINCESS OLYMPIA PRINCESSES STUDYING STATESIDE They’ll have to leave the tiaras in their dorms, but these coeds won’t ever look common. GISELE BUNDCHEN SIDELINE SUPPORTER After a deflating year, football’s most photogenic spectator deserves a new roster of coats. PRINCESS MAFALDACECILIA MAYE MUSK FIRST MOM ON MARS The mother of billionaire Elon has a skyrocketing modeling career. Here, things to add to her orbit. WENDI DENG MURDOCH GLOBAL CITIZEN Pieces for vacations with travel buddy Ivanka. We hear Russia is beautiful this time of year! TRACEE ELLIS ROSS GOLD CLASS Her Emmy nomination for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Comedy is historic. So are these jewels. Brilliant ORIGINS This encounter sparked lasting creations. They ran in the same Paris circles, but when Salvador Dalí and Fulco di Verdura met, in…

There is an unbreakable link between scent and season. But the key to holiday candles is in the way they elevate the familiar. Diptyque and Space NK modernize classic gingerbread with notes of honey and cedar, while Molton Brown’s musky pine is a sophisticated update of the Christmas tree farm. The warmth of rose and oud in Armani/Privé’s Rose d’Arabie evokes curling up by a crackling fire. Cire Trudon pays homage to the splendor of the magi with a joyful blend of mandarin and blackcurrant, while cinnamon, pomegranate, and amber come together for Nest’s effervescent and aptly named Holiday. Decorative vessels and chic matchboxes keep the merry mood going long after the flame burns out.…

THE SPA Hotel Urso Situated inside a 20th-century palace centrally located between the Chamberí, Tribunal, and Chueca neighborhoods, the Hotel Urso is a small and serene refuge. The urban spa, a discreet honey-colored wooden hideaway, has only three treatment rooms, with Barcelona-based skincare brand Natura Bissé stocking the shelves, as well as a Turkish hammam and pool. The service to get is the Diamond Sublime ($276), a sculpting treatment for the face and body that uses the Diamond Body Cream ($225, NATURABISSE.COM). HOTELURSO.COM THE HOUSE CALL Casa de Madrid At the discreet sevenbedroom boutique hotel Casa de Madrid, a favorite of Carolina Herrera Jr., makeup artists and hairstylists from the Llongueras salon are on call for inroom services. The familyowned business, which has locations around the country, is named for…

My, how times have changed since the writer Robert Benchley said that “there are two classes of travel: first class and with children.” In recent years cookie-cutter accommodations, endless chicken fingers, and ubiquitous water slides have given way to a superlative array of vacation choices for parents who want family time and creature comforts in equal measure. On the following pages we present 10 five-star adventures, from the turquoise waters of Indonesia to the far reaches of the Arctic Circle, for everyone in your tribe (even Grandma). So scuttle plans for that all-too-familiar 27,000-acre theme park in central Florida and head instead to a 37,000-acre dude ranch in A River Runs Through It territory. Or sip a frozen daiquiri in a winter wonderland on par with Elsa’s kingdom in Frozen.…

PRINCESS DIANA The late royal’s bodyguard, Ken Wharfe, wrote a memoir in 2001 detailing Diana’s several affairs. DONALD TRUMP Back in the ’90s bodyguard Spencer Wagner was accused of having an affair with Trump’s wife Marla Maples. KIM KARDASHIAN Following the robbery of Kardashian’s jewels in Paris, her former guard Steve Stanulis (whom husband Kanye West fired) called the incident “karma.” BARACK OBAMA POTUS bodyguard turned GOP politician Dan Bongino wrote a tell-all about working for the first family, declaring that Obama was too inexperienced to run the country. ANDY WARHOL After stashing away the artist’s painting of Elizabeth Taylor for 30 years, former Warhol bodyguard Augusto Bugarin tried to sell the piece to art galleries in 2014.…

Although she’s just 31, Athina Onassis, the only surviving descendant of Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, is already familiar with the concept of the “Onassis curse.” Her grandmother, for whom she is named, died at the age of 45, her uncle Alexander was killed in a freak airplane crash at 24, and a year later her legendary grandfather, Aristotle, who was devastated by the loss of his son, succumbed to myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune neuromuscular disease. Athina’s own life has been scarred by the death of her mother Christina when she was three, a much publicized legal battle with her father Thierry Roussel over control of her fortune, and a show jumping accident that caused the death of her beloved horse. Then, last March, her Brazilian husband of 11 years,…

When does a holiday party begin? Is it when you exchange your coat for a glass of champagne? When you are greeted warmly by your host or hostess? Perhaps it’s a bit before that. After all, getting dressed and made up—securing a jewel or adding one more, dabbing on lipstick, liberally spraying an unforgettable perfume—are the lighthearted acts that set the mood for all that follows.…

Emeralds, those most alluring of green gems, are often judged by four simple yet defining characteristics: color, clarity, cut, and (naturally) carats. Add conscience to that list. That’s the goal, at least, behind a new collection of high jewelry by Chopard made entirely with ethically produced emeralds from Gemfields mines in Zambia and created in collaboration with Julianne Moore. The Oscarwinning actress debuted the pieces at the Cannes Film Festival in May (“the most exciting carpet in the world,” she says). It’s not the first time the company has taken a stance on the issue of where the materials come from for its extravagant pieces, some of which fetch prices in the millions. The journey to fair trade emeralds actually started on another red carpet (at the Oscars) four years…

Allegra Fanjul, of the Fanjul sugar dynasty, met Calixto Garcia-Velez IV when they were in sixth grade, but it wasn’t until their sophomore year of college that they started dating. Calixto (“Cachi” to friends), a risk adviser at Celedinas Group, contends Allegra never wanted to date him. “I was playing hard to get,” says the jewelry designer and style blogger. “It clearly worked.” Seven years after becoming a couple, they married in Palm Beach over Memorial Day weekend. A ceremony at St. Edward Church—where the bride’s parents were wed—was followed by a reception at a private club. Just after midnight the 458 guests were surprised with “la hora loca,” a Latin tradition meant to keep a party going—think Brazilian dancers, a robot on stilts, and lots of confetti. “It was…

It’s been more than a decade since Stephen Gaghan directed Syriana, his last feature film, but to hear the Kentucky native tell it, his new movie is worth the wait. December’s Gold stars Matthew McConaughey as an accidental prospector who finds the titular treasure in the Indonesian jungle—and has to figure out how to keep it. Here, Gaghan opens up about his process for a peek inside the habits of a mastermind. How do you prepare yourself to be creative? Writing tends to be a blank page and trying to steel yourself for the terror of that. Directing is different: You’re trying to remember where true north is and making sure you’re always in touch with it. What time of day do you prefer to work? I’m 100 percent a…

The iPhone came directly at me across a dinner table last November, already in Notes mode. “Can you please,” the man asked, “write down 10 things I should buy her for Christmas?” I knew the impetus behind the request. There were only a few weeks of shopping before the tree. I have been writing about jewelry for almost 20 years and have experience with desperate e-mails from men in need of gifts. I respond promptly with my recommendations, tailored to the taste of the woman in question and sometimes aided by subtle hints dropped throughout the year. My friends, family, and colleagues have long had access to what I call the #TANDCHOLIDAY HOTLINE—a hashtag I started using for real on Instagram after the Notes request. Buying a woman jewelry is…

For 10 days last spring, Jennifer Firestone Beerman scraped her tongue with a stainless steel instrument, drank water with lemon, cayenne, and turmeric, and said a mindful prayer before eating her quinoa salad. She wasn’t preparing for Burning Man; she was on the Layer, a total mind-body cleanse codesigned by her fitness instructor. Welcome to the new age of working out, in which the guru leading your cardioblasting, core-building class is likely guiding your daily food choices, too. For Beerman that inspirational force is Taryn Toomey, a former fashion industry executive who teaches a highly sought-after routine called the Class that is loved by Naomi Watts and Christy Turlington Burns. Part elimination diet, part spiritual journey, the Layer was designed in collaboration with nutritionist Dana James and culinary nutrition consultant…

From the year of its founding, 1846, Town & Country has memorably declared as its mission “to instruct, to refine, and to amuse.” And no shortage of its content since then has focused on social do’s and don’ts in the hopes of establishing and preserving those traditions that maintain civility and show humanity in its softest, most flattering light. And yet. There are times, however rare, when even those of us who care very deeply about such things simply cannot be reasonably expected to adhere to the advised mores. So it is in the same “instruct/refine/amuse” spirit that I have put together, based on personal experience, a sort of manual of when good manners were tried, without success, and had to be abandoned. “Break Glass Only in Emergency”—that kind of…

There’s a moment in the new film Lion when you can actually see a mother’s heart swell with love for her son. He has come to his adoptive mother to explain why he needs to find the woman who gave birth to him, and he’s worried she won’t understand. In the same moment you also watch her heart cracking just a tiny bit because of all that he doesn’t comprehend: that’s there nothing she wouldn’t do for his happiness. It’s a breathtaking reveal—seeing a woman’s complex emotions battling for dominance—and also worth noting as the moment when Nicole Kidman manages to once again disappear completely into a character. “As I was filming her in this scene I forgot where I was,” says Garth Davis, the movie’s director. “I was completely…

DAVID NETTO Having a firm grasp of social do’s and don’ts is the first step in knowing when you can break the rules, Netto explains in “THE 7-DAY ETIQUETTE REBELLION” (page 146). The interior designer and author of the recently published François Catroux says he received an early education in manners from his mother, who often finished advice to him with, “And don’t shoot off your mouth!” Another influence: “George Hamilton. He made everyone feel special and loved.” ERIC KONIGSBERG In “PIRATE OF THE CARIBBEAN” (page 202), Konigsberg describes the high-stakes world of politics on the island of St. Bart’s. “As it goes for a lot of resort communities, once the secret gets out, more people start coming, and then the risk is that it becomes something other than what…

He really did say greed is good—and was applauded at a Berkeley business school graduation in 1986. The line would be immortalized in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street by Gordon Gekko, the perfect hero/villain for the Decade of Greed. And while that’s every decade on Wall Street, in the 1980s the unapologetic pursuit of money became a sacrament. At the apex of his renown, before his spectacular fall, Ivan Boesky parlayed a 10-year run of bafflingly prescient stock picks (using his wife Seema’s money) into finance superstardom, with laudatory magazine profiles, a book deal, and lecture invitations from the best business schools. Boesky sat at the epicenter of the hostile takeover/leveraged buyout/junk bond bonanza. As an arbitrager, or “arb,” his job was to buy stocks of undervalued companies likely to become…

Adriana Ugarte was used to seeing Pedro Almodóvar at the movies. Of course, the Madrid native would watch the director’s whimsical, offbeat, and very funny films (he’s made 20, including classics like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Volver), but she would also see him in the flesh. “I would notice Pedro at my local cinema,” Ugarte says, still sounding a bit starstruck. “So it was possible to see an Almodóvar film and, in the same place, see the real Almodóvar.” Despite this proximity, she says, “I never in my life believed that one day I could work with him.” She should have had more faith. This month the 31-yearold actress stars in the tightly wound drama Julieta, which Almodóvar adapted from a series of short stories…

.COM FOR ADDITIONAL READINGS BY KATHARINE MERLIN, GO TO TOWNANDCOUNTRYMAG.COM SAGITTARIUS NOVEMBER 23–DECEMBER 21 Caroline Kennedy Saturn is well aspected in your sign in December, so it’s time to make commitments and sign agreements—as long as you act before Mercury turns retrograde on the 19th. Fortune seems to be smiling on you later this month, and the financial picture should be brightening. Tricky aspects loom as January begins, but don’t succumb to momentary fears. Despite the resistance you’re encountering, the road to success will come into view by month’s end. CAPRICORN DECEMBER 22–JANUARY 20 Lin-Manuel Miranda Private time is something you are going to need in December, because you’ll have a number of issues to unscramble. Financially, the moment is ripe to make longconsidered changes, and personally you will find…

It was about halfway through the evening when Caroline realized they were being followed. She and her husband, who works for a hedge fund, were out to dinner with another couple on the Upper East Side. The other couple were extraordinarily wealthy, they knew. Everyone knew: He was the kind of guy whose stipple portrait you see in the Wall Street Journal; she was a regular on the charity circuit. But they weren’t showy, as evidenced by their choice of restaurant, which was nice but not over the top. They were clearly discreet—which was something that Caroline, who requested that her name be changed for this story, appreciated. She was relaxed and was enjoying the evening, until she noticed the tough-looking guy in a suit up at the front of…

NATHANIEL HORWITZ THE HARVARD VOTE This election was as strange, and about as appetizing, as the ambiguous mold that has been colonizing my roommate’s leftover Chipotle since Trump won the primary. You’ve got to remember: For some of us on campus this was our first time getting to vote in a presidential election. For the rest of us this was our first time forgetting to vote in a presidential election. Either way it’s too bad, because in high school we got to watch our country reelect the guy who killed bin Laden. In college we got to vote for the one who wouldn’t kill us—or, worse, our job prospects. It kind of felt like taking that Wall Street internship your mom likes, instead of dropping out to write a dystopian…