Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i Town & Country

There are many things I miss about our offices on the 27th floor of Hearst Tower, and the T&C archive closet is high on the list. There, in bound volumes of varying condition, is the history of Town & Country, almost all of the 175 years of it. This issue is the first in a big anniversary year for us, and if we were back at the tower we would all be combing through those black-and-white photographs, studying how we wrote about the Spanish flu pandemic a century ago, marveling at those outrageously wonderful cover lines from the 1960s, looking for people we know in the wedding announcements. And we would, inevitably, stop short at the illustrated covers, a selection of which appears here. “Did you know Dalí did the…

Cicely Tyson has always been ahead of her time, and by dint of sheer will and faith she has forced the modern era to finally catch up with her. Now 96, she’s one of the few African-American artists of her generation to receive something approaching her due. In the past decade alone she has won a Tony, co-starred in a hit television series, been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and, adding to her extensive list of firsts, become the first Black woman to receive an honorary Oscar. All along, Tyson has been notoriously private, but this month she shares the story of her life—the successes and struggles, the loves and losses—with the publication of her memoir, Just As I Am. Tyson’s is an odyssey worthy of one of the…

Jeanna de Waal is used to waiting. She first landed the title role in Diana: A Musical, which explores the life story of the Princess of Wales, almost four years ago, beginning with a 2017 workshop at Vassar College’s Powerhouse Theater, which was followed by a run at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2019. The show’s Broadway debut at the Longacre Theater was scheduled for March 31 of last year—but Diana made it through only nine preview performances before Broadway was shuttered. Weeks turned into months, but de Waal remained optimistic. “I’ve kept the faith that we’re coming back this whole time,” she says. And coming back they are. Diana: A Musical will be released on Netflix before finally appearing on Broadway this summer, making it the first Broadway musical…

Whenever there is a notable resurgence of shoulder pads in fashion—as we have seen in several instances these past few seasons, from the Balenciaga and Saint Laurent shows last March to the Givenchy and Balmain collections at Paris Fashion Week in October—tribute must be paid to the enduring legacy of Dynasty. The ’80s prime time soap opera, in the hands of its legendary costume designer, the late Nolan Miller, epitomized everything that era stood for: decadence, wealth, and glamour. It also gave us the style icon Alexis Carrington (the role that turned Joan Collins into a Golden Globe–winning star). As Dynasty’s resident villain, she gave rise to a new breed of woman: powerful, power-hungry, and armed with a fabulous wardrobe so she could dress the part. (Miller never repeated a…

THE UNDOING By now we know who did “it.” But learn the name of the woman behind the rings and earrings worn by Nicole Kidman’s character: Rebecca Elbek. THE CROWN The Spencer tiara is almost as famous as Princess Di herself, and its turn in season 4 was as convincing as Emma Corrin’s acclaimed performance. NORMAL PEOPLE Paul Mescal’s Connell, in Hulu’s adaptation, became the internet’s boyfriend, but it was his chain necklace that had us panting. LEBRON JAMES The basketball great just won his fourth championship. Off the court he’s an MVP watch collector of Patek Philippe, Richard Mille, and Rolex. MICHELLE OBAMA The V-O-T-E necklace worn by the former first lady at the DNC was a gold-plated civics lesson, and it helped out an upstart label, LA’s ByChari.…

• LISA EISNER, designer: “Gold nuggets. The ones I love are from Australia or the Yukon. The best thing to do is let them shine on their own, like on a 22K necklace—untouched perfection straight out of the earth.” LISA EISNER JEWELRY NECKLACE ($42,895), LISAEISNERJEWELRY.COM • MELANIE GRANT, author: “A cuff by Fawaz Gruosi in amber, a humble prehistoric material, and emeralds, amethyst, and gold. There is a certain purity to the bareness of the design. It’s a triumph of scale and artistry.” FAWAZ GRUOSI BRACELET ($157,800), FAWAZGRUOSI.COM…

I’m not speaking to Tessa Thompson in person, and that’s honestly kind of a relief. It’s just before Thanksgiving, and Thompson is at home in Los Angeles, beautiful as ever, sitting in a chair with a knee pulled to her chest. We’re talking over Zoom and having a great conversation, but, given that this is how interviews take place these days, there’s no opportunity to witness a quirky encounter with a fan or to remark on her wardrobe or to see what and how she eats. Without superficial distractions, we’re able to get real and go deep. During the initial moments of our conversation, Thompson remarks, “‘How are you?’ feels like a cruel question these days,” and indeed, she’s right. It’s late November, and while we’re past the 2020 presidential…

WHAT’S #VERYTANDC HERE? The history: In case you haven’t noticed, chess has been having something of a moment lately. Quarantine boredom first piqued renewed interest in one of the world’s oldest games, which originated in India’s Gupta Empire during the 6th century AD; then Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit catapulted the trend. The fans: Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once played against grandmaster Garry Kasparov, turned to the game during lockdown, as did Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. The news: Thanks to Anya Taylor-Joy’s masterful portrayal of fictional prodigy Beth Harmon—in which she proved that chess can be a woman’s pursuit, and a fashionable one at that—sales of chess sets have soared. Luxury antiques site 1stDibs saw a 100 percent increase in purchases of boards, pieces, and tables. Thankfully, a few select vintage…

Confined to her home for reasons unknown, a woman stares at the wall, paces, picks out outfits, makes phone calls, and slowly begins to unravel. Sound familiar? We all performed a version of that scene during lockdown, but Pedro Almodóvar translated the experience into a meditation on forbearance and the new lease on life that awaits on the other side of heartbreak. Except, in his telling, we’re all wearing Balenciaga gowns straight off the runway and look like Tilda Swinton. If only. The Spanish auteur didn’t set out to make a film about the strangeness of 2020, but his new work, The Human Voice, may end up the first definitive portrait of a most surreal period. “It’s very odd, isn’t it?” he tells T&C. “The film became almost like a…

Does spring break by the sea—swimming, sand, sundowners—seem to you more a right than a privilege? Aghast at the prospect of being denied it this year? No need for guilt: The desire to get to water—be it ocean, lake, or pool—is in your genes, baby, an urge born of a primordial survival instinct. “All our senses respond positively to water,” says marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols, author of Blue Mind, because it’s an evolutionary trigger “telling your brain you’re in the right place.” The Caribbean, of course, has long been that place. It has been opening slowly to Americans over the last few months, and there’s a thicket of Covid-era regulations to consider—not because cases are high but because they’re low, and the islands want to keep it that way.…

Leave it to Rick Owens to say what few in fashion dared. With many designers doubling down on runway escapism after a challenging year, Owens took the opposite tack on the Venice Lido in October. His models emerged from the Palazzo del Casinò masked and ready to slay any foe in thigh-high wading boots and tough, postapocalyptic shoulders. The California expat was, as he wrote in his show notes, mischievously extending “an exaggerated middle finger to doom.” “I always want to honestly show the full spectrum of our life experience by pursuing beauty but acknowledging life’s fragility,” he tells T&C. Owens has long been fashion’s Cassandra, and with his spring 2021 collection he looked toward a future in which doomscrolling is just something we used to do on our phones.…

BEWITCHING HOUR Lose track of time with Chopard’s entrancing ruby watch, set against a floral-patterned dial. COLOR CRUSH This mesmerizing ring—featuring a rare Burmese ruby—is the definition of a showstopper. LUCKY CHARM Greek designer Ileana Makri puts a stylish spin on the evil eye charm—because everyone needs good karma. THE POWER OF A PEARL A symbol of purity and wisdom, a pearl is captivating, especially when surrounded by violet sapphires, garnets, and spinels. RADIANT BEAUTIES These raspberry-hued garnets will cast a flattering blush of glowing color. HEAR ME ROAR The lion signifies courage and strength. Here, it’s transformed into a stylish power piece set with bold diamonds and rubies. HOOP DREAMS Melissa Kaye elevates the classic diamond hoop with a line of radiant rubies.…

Tabula Rasa for Spring What is the true meaning of luxury? The late writer Julia Reed once made a list: perfectly ironed sheets, starched Sunday shirts, latticework pie crusts, a well-tended rose garden. The question comes up every season, but the year that is just beginning is, perhaps more than any in recent memory, ripe for a fresh start, for making your own list. Designers did just that with their latest collections, finding inspiration not in new trends but in their own back yards, in creative bulbs planted long ago that have since flowered into house codes. Maria Grazia Chiuri recalled Christian Dior’s obsession with lilies of the valley in a collaboration with the Italian artist Pietro Ruffo that resulted in delicate floral slingbacks; she nodded to her own roots…

Angela Gulbenkian was on a tear. In the summer of 2017 the German-born art adviser spent $10,500 to charter a private jet; $3,920 at the Hotel Café Royal, in London’s Soho neighborhood; $16,985 at Harrods; and $2,610 at Agent Provocateur. She also made stops at Rolex, Gucci, and Christian Louboutin. Her spending wasn’t especially lavish by the standards of the circles she claimed to move in, but there was a problem: The money may not have been hers. In a bizarre swindle that would wind through Europe and Asia and involve some of the most celebrated names in contemporary art, the Hong Kong–based art dealer Mathieu Ticolat claims that Gulbenkian duped him out of $1.4 million, and that the fortune she was spending was stolen. In March 2017 Ticolat, who…

AQUARIUS JANUARY 21–FEBRUARY 19 Don’t be alarmed by slow starts or conflicts as February begins. The pace will soon quicken, and positive responses will come your way. It’s time to begin pursuing a dream and daring to believe in your intuition and talent. Once Mercury changes direction on the 21st, you’ll be able to finalize new arrangements. With the Sun and new Moon in Pisces, it’s also time to reorganize finances. PISCES FEBRUARY 20–MARCH 20 It’s about surveying the landscape this month, then setting the stage for new endeavors. Close relationships will blossom if you give them the attention they deserve; emotionally, you’ll be turning over a new leaf that refreshes your perspective. Once the Sun enters your birth sign on the 18th, you’ll be heading into an exciting new…

Decades before kids were stanning one another on TikTok, the influencers of the day would stroll along promenades and gardens to preen and gossip. Cold weather was not a deterrent to posing alfresco; photographer Slim Aarons captured tout le monde reveling on the slopes of the Austrian Alps and St. Moritz. This year revisit the tradition of an outdoor affair, if not on the slopes (explore Utah’s most remote runs, below) then in a back yard or on a restaurant patio. Zip up that snowsuit—don’t forget to accessorize Fido—and embrace a wintry wonderland all season long. NOW Ski season in Park City, Utah, can last through April, making it the perfect location for an extended spring getaway. Skip the socially distant lift lines and book a room at the Lodge…

In the spring of 2013, Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump held court at the Four Seasons restaurant to toast the 25th birthday of the New York Observer, the little-read but influential salmon-colored newspaper Kushner bought to be taken seriously as a macher in the financial capital of the world. He was the fresh-faced son of a disgraced New Jersey real estate developer, Charles Kushner, recently married to the daughter of another developer who was then best known for his braggadocio, but he had a deep well of ambition. And his social debut was off to a splashy start, greeted by the city’s movers and shakers, then-mayor Michael Bloomberg, future senator Cory Booker, tycoons Stephen Schwarzman and Steve Tisch, even celebrities like Katie Holmes, Katie Couric, and Spike Lee.…

I always considered myself lucky, a winner in at least one, slim silo of the genetic lottery. While all my friends spent middle school picking out contrast color rubber bands as the consolation prize for two years of braces, my molar-to-molar smile was close enough to perfect that I skipped the orthodontist. Until I was 37. I found myself routinely grinning into the mirror, taking note. Was my bottom left canine suddenly making a break for some invisible finish line outside my mouth? Had a premolar decided to lie down on its side while its neighbors huddled inward, as if my mouth had decided to clench into a fist? My dentist told me I had crowding and suggested Invisalign. I went for a consultation. Three years later, five months into…

It can’t be easy to renovate a place beloved because it never changes. And it’s not just Holden Caulfield, though one can’t help hearing that quote from The Catcher in the Rye when entering the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. You remember the one: “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. Nobody’d be different.” But something is different now. And many things have moved. In spring 2021 the new 11,000-square-foot Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals will officially open, after a pandemic-induced delay. The day the space closed for renovation in 2017, the lamentations began. Essays appeared about the vanishing of New York’s “weird hidden glen.” Instagram posts highlighting the film rooms, the dark corners,…

In the lead-up to the 2016 election, former president (and, at that moment, aspiring first gentleman) Bill Clinton trotted out a stump speech line at an event for his wife, telling reporters, “I am tired of the stranglehold that women have had on the job of presidential spouse.” Four years later, when presidential candidate Joe Biden promised to pick a woman as his vice president—and to bean-count his cabinet to ensure that it met a level of racial and gender diversity that reflected America itself—he perhaps did not think of the trailblazing first he might be furnishing by proxy: a male vice presidential spouse. With his appointment of Kamala Harris as running mate, a Magritte-style defamiliarization of the familiar took place, as the most traditional image in American politics—a blue-suited,…

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At eight, I was obsessed with other people’s travels as much as I was with my parents’ or mine. I wanted to hear about minutiae most people consider irrelevant. If they went to Rome, it was nice to see their small black-and-white snaps of the Vatican and the Forum, but I was far more interested in what airline they had flown. It amazed and frustrated me then, just as it amazes and frustrates me still, how I could ask Aunt Hilda what kind of aircraft she had flown on her recent visit to Brussels and be met with a disconcerted, “I haven’t the slightest idea, darling.” Clearly, for almost everybody I knew, the plane or the boat or the train was merely a device for reaching their destination, just as…