Town & Country articles from April 2006

Town & Country archives from April 2006

Weighing in.(EDITOR'S LETTER)
April 1, 2006... "YOU CAN NEVER BE too rich or too thin," proclaimed the vainglorious Duchess of Windsor. It is an adage that has been adopted by wannabes the world over, often needlepointed onto pillows prominently displayed on expensively upholstered sofas....

Keep it to yourself.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... I read "A Second Honeymoon in Fiji," by Anne Taylor Fleming [February], with interest, and I couldn't agree more with David Gilmour's comment that "tourism is the great polluter of the world." I recently went to Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San...

Applause for Zhang.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Town & Country's January cover story on Ziyi Zhang ["Face of the Future," by Anthony Barzilay Freund] added the right spark to start 2006. Zhang is talented, intelligent and well on her way to superstardom. Whether she continues her career in...

Saluting boomers.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... The January feature about wealthy boomer women ["Woman of the Year," by Joan Hamilton] brought to mind my winter trip to a ski resort that has apparently decided boomers are irrelevant. Companies that want to attract and retain these customers...

Get with the program.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... When I receive my Town & Country in the mail, I turn to Pamela Fiori's letter first. If I could save only one page from the magazine every month, that would be it. Fiori wrote in her January column that if you fight change, you lose. My...

A sense of belonging.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... I eagerly await the arrival of my T&C each month, but I rarely have the pleasure of reading it cover-to-cover in one sitting. However, I was afforded such an opportunity in February, and, oh, how I was rewarded. Tom Connor's essay, "No...

Close to the Castle.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... As a longtime reader of T&C and a resident of San Simeon, California, I want to comment on "Castle in the Sky," the February feature about Hearst Castle. Anthony Barzilay Freund's writing was interesting and factual, and Brian Doben's...

Correction.(In Your Own Words ...)(Correction notice)
April 1, 2006... In our March cover story on Salma Hayek, we incorrectly printed the name of her new film, Ask the Dust (Paramount Classics), now in theaters. We sincerely regret the error.

Palm Beach Connoisseur Fair.(scene & be seen: A calendar of events, trunk shows and benefits taking place ara store or location near you.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Town&Country was once again the Corporate Media Sponsor of the second annual Palm Beach Connoisseur Fair held January 6-8. The festivities surrounding this elite fair--featuring fine art, antiques, jewelry and more from around the globe--began...

Jewelry Information Center Fourth Annual Gem Awards.(scene & be seen: A calendar of events, trunk shows and benefits taking place ara store or location near you.)
April 1, 2006... On January 13, The Jewelry Information Center's Fourth Annual Gem Awards was held at Cipriani 42nd Street, New York City. This year's honorees were Katie Couric of NBC's Today and Datefine, for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism; Pamela Fiori,...

Chicago sparkles.(PARTIES: University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation)(Chicago Cancer Research Foundation )(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Winter Palace: Chicago is no stranger to wintry weather, but for its thirty-ninth annual gala, the Women's Board of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation showed off the season in an entirely new light: the grand ballroom of the...

Boston at bat.(PARTIES: Storybook Ball)(Boston's Fenway Park site of MassGeneral Hospital for Children event)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Major League Fun: There were no strikeouts at Boston's Fenway Park when the famed field was transformed into an open-air "ballroom" in honor of MassGeneral Hospital for Children. The sixth annual Storybook Ball was a grandslam success in every...

Ballet ball.(PARTIES: New York City Ballet)
April 1, 2006... Good Company: The New York City Ballet's season-opening benefit at Lincoln Center draws many of the city's most prominent residents, who dress in their best to support the valued and vital dance company. This year the women in attendance,...

Good deeds in Dallas.(PARTIES: Two by Two for Aids and Art)(Two by Two for AIDS and Art gala)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Hosts With the Most: Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, of Dallas, are well known for their contemporary-art collection, and for the seventh straight year their Richard Meier-designed house was the site of one of the city's most popular parties: the...

Cooking for the crescent city.(PARTIES: Carnivale du Vin)(New Orleans )(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Kicking It Up: Good food, fine wine and rollicking entertainment are three things with which New Orleans is inextricably linked. In celebration of this trio, and to raise funds for young victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Big Easy's Emeril...

Rocky mountain high notes.(PARTIES: Opera Colorado)(Ellie Caulkins Opera House)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Opening Act: Opera seasons often feature one kind of debut or another--a new piece, a new staging, a new star. Opera Colorado's most recent season, however, included even more: the unveiling of the Denver-based company's state-of-the-art new...

Making history, naturally.(PARTIES: American Museum of Natural History)(American Museum of Natural History's annual benefit)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Comedy Tonight: Have you heard the one about the comic, the TV host and the giant blue whale? No? Then you must have missed the American Museum of Natural History's annual benefit, cochaired by Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels and...

For the cure.(PARTIES: Breast Cancer Alliance)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Double Billing: Not many organizations can boast of attracting a governor and a world-famous fashion designer to the same event, but the Breast Cancer Alliance had no problem doing so at its tenth-anniversary luncheon and fashion show, which...

Phoebe's first.(ON THE TOWN)
April 1, 2006... Phoebe Cates, a fourteen-year resident of Carnegie Hill, on Manhattan's Upper East Side, knew that her swank neighborhood didn't need another store. It needed the right store. If the enthusiastic local response to her new shop, BLUE TREE, is...

A fine cup.(ON THE TOWN)(Elegant Egg Cup boutique)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... THE ELEGANT EGG CUP, a boutique on Manhattan's Upper East Side, melds classic entertaining items with contemporary ones, to brilliant effect. Owner Charlie Akwa, a former caterer and tabletop designer, opened the shop in 2004, naming it after a...

Cashmere dreams.(ON THE TOWN)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... The pleasures of cashmere are easy to come by these days, with mail-order catalogues providing affordable versions of what was previously the prerogative of the privileged. But if scarves, hats, gloves and sweaters are just not enough and you...

A Georgetown gathering place.(ON THE TOWN)
April 1, 2006... In Washington, D.C., an eclectic mix of politicians, lawyers, local luminaries, media types and visiting movie stars choose Georgetown's ultrafashionable CAFE MILANO (below) for its serious Italian cooking. Milano's top chef, Domenico...

India in Belgravia.(ON THE TOWN)(Amaya Indian restaurant)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... A sibling of Chutney Mary and Veeraswamy--two of London's most esteemed Indian restaurants--AMAYA (left) takes subcontinental hospitality to unprecedented levels of sophistication. Secreted behind smoked glass in a small shopping mall in...

How now, Rau?(ON THE TOWN)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... For M.S. RAU ANTIQUES in New Orleans, the storm clouds of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent exodus of many of the store's local clients had a sliver of a silver lining. The catastrophe prompted third-generation owner Bill Rau to take a step...

Christine's world.(IN THE COUNTRY)(ETRE home furnishing store)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Last fall, when Christine Curry launched ETRE, her charming home-furnishings shop and beauty boutique in Sonoma, California, her carefully refurbished European antiques and cosmetics from such lines as Fresh, T. LeClerc and Serge Lutens were...

Miller's tale.(IN THE GARDEN)(Lynden B. Miller's hydrangeas)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... "My sacred burial site" is what garden designer Lynden B. Miller called the huge mound that rose up like a beached whale in the middle of her northwestern Connecticut garden when I visited this winter. For the last few years, Miller has been in...

Grandmother knows best.(IN THE GARDEN)
April 1, 2006... When Angelo Gaja, the famed winemaker of Italy's Piedmont area, was ten years old, his grandmother Clotilde Rey asked him what he wanted to do with his life. He was silent, so she answered for him: he would join the family business, founded in...

What's up upstate.(IN THE GARDEN)(Skaneateles)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Skaneateles (pronounced "skinny-atlas"), in New York's Finger Lakes region, is one of the area's most picturesque towns. A four-and-a-half-hour drive from Manhattan or Boston, Skaneateles features charming shops, grand 19th-century houses...

An Italian spectacle.(IN THE COUNTRY)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Don't expect to see an actual villa during your visit to PARCO VILLA GREGORIANA, an extraordinary eleven-acre park less than an hour's drive northeast of Rome, in Tivoli. Unlike the nearby baroque Villa d'Este and the ruins of the Roman-era...

Morel oil.(IN SEASON)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... One of the benefits of a harsh, snowy winter followed by a warm, rainy April is the sudden appearance of wild morels (morilles, in French), recognizable by their honeycombed, cone-shaped caps and prized for their earthy, nutty flavor. Even if...

Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti.(FASHION & STYLE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... OCCUPATION: Founder and CEO of Vivre, the uberluxury shopping catalogue and Web site. BACKGROUND: Born and raised in Switzerland, the former investment banker now lives in New York with her husband and two children. SIGNATURE STYLE: Bold...

Ralph Lauren Collection.(FASHION & STYLE News)
April 1, 2006... All We Want for April Is... to breeze by in a maritime look from RALPH LAUREN COLLECTION Linen jacket ($1,398), cotton blouse ($355) and linen pants ($798), at selected Ralph Lauren stores, 888-475-7674; runway.polo.com. [ILLUSTRATION...

Hogan.(FASHION & STYLE News)
April 1, 2006... Thanks to HOGAN, you'll look like a winner just by carrying your tennis racquet. Leather bag ($975), at Hogan, NYC, 212-343-7905. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Salvatore Ferragamo.(FASHION & STYLE News)
April 1, 2006... Arts and Crafts details abound this season, but we love the casual, down-to-earth stylishness of crochet the most. From top: SALVATORE FERRAGAMO crochetand-wicker bag ($1,650), ferragamo.com. TSE longsleeved cashmere/linen sweater with...

Nokia.(FASHION & STYLE News)
April 1, 2006... Coming soon, a phone fit for a fashionista: NOKIA's 7370 model ($450) from its L'Amour Collection features a floral pattern etched into its metal trim and a textured faceplate. Checking voice mail was never so chic. Sign up now for May or June...

Ruffle up.(FASHION & STYLE News)
April 1, 2006... Nothing evokes femininity and romance as strongly as ruffles, so leave constrictive tailoring and hard edges behind, and layer on the soft, flirty trim. From left: YVES SAINT LAURENT organza gown ($19,990), 212-980-2970. VALENTINO taffeta...

Purple reigns.(FASHION & STYLE)
April 1, 2006... Add a burst of this regal color, in its many hues, to your wardrobe. Clockwise from top: JIMMY CHOO Byrd sandals ($495), NANCY GONZALEZ ostrich box clutch ($565). ALEXANDRA NEEL Fame sandals ($590). ALEXANDRA KNIGHT alligator Slim clutch...

Strong on straw.(FASHION & STYLE)
April 1, 2006... Welcome spring with wonderful woven accessories sophisticated enough for special occasions Clockwise from top left: YVES SAINT LAURENT Sol slides ($465). PRADA leather-trimmed jute frame bag ($1,395) and jeweled wedges ($850). ANYA HINDMARCH...

High and dry.(FASHION & STYLE)
April 1, 2006... Wet-weather wear that's stylish when soakedbut still keeps you comfortable--is right as rain. Replace that conventional raincoat with a JACK SPADE orange mackintosh ($595). At Jack Spade, NYC, 212-625-1820; jackspade.com. BURBERRY LONDON...

Delicate Deco.(JEWELRY)
April 1, 2006... Art Deco-inspired jewels in soft pastels are a perfect complement to the neutral tones popular in today's fashions. From left: HENRY DUNAY moonstone and diamond earrings ($27,840), at Bergdorf Goodman, NYC, 800-558-1855. KH DESIGN GROUP LIMITED...

Kind of blue.(JEWELRY)
April 1, 2006... Long a symbol of truth and peace, lapis lazuli is said to bring harmony to its wearer's relationships. The stone's deep azure, infused with golden highlights, is an other part of its allure. Counterclockwise from left: PEGGY S. GUINNESS...

Casual chic.(WATCHES)
April 1, 2006... Watches with bands made of rubber are dressing up with precious gemstones, sleek lines and vibrant colors. Clockwise from top left: RITMO MUNDO Divina ($400), at Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 212-753-4000; 866-RITMO-US. MONTBLANC Sport Lady Jewels...

Finger paints.(BEAUTY & HEALTH)
April 1, 2006... Look what's hatched for spring: half a dozen eye-popping colors to dip your digits into. Paint a bright shade on your sun-starved tootsies, and choose a delicate pink for your fingernails. Clockwise from top: CREATIVE NAIL DESIGN Inspire ($6),...

Stuart's scents.(BEAUTY & HEALTH)
April 1, 2006... "I'm a girl's girl. I like femininity," confesses fashion designer Jill Stuart. So when she turned her attention to fragrance, it was only fitting that she would create a whimsical trio of eaux de parfum suitable for a grown-up princess's...

Hint of mint.(BEAUTY & HEALTH)
April 1, 2006... Alerting all lip-gloss buffs: you'll want to add co BIGELOW's ingenious Mentha lip tints ($7.50 each) to your stash. The four ultrasheer washes contain a hefty 2 percent concentration of peppermint oil, which keeps breath fresh for hours. At...

Dry-eye remedy.(BEAUTY & HEALTH)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Until recently, contact-lens wearers who experienced eye dryness and irritation had to just tolerate it, use wetting drops regularly or give up on contacts altogether. Now Acuvue offers a real solution with its latest invention, Oasys With...

Total skin care.(BEAUTY & HEALTH)
April 1, 2006... CHRISTIAN DIOR's new Capture Totale serum ($125) and cream ($115) do indeed totally capture all skin-care remedies, addressing wrinkles, loss of elasticity, dark spots, dullness and even large pores. Dior's powerhouse discovery? Botanical...

Quick cleaners.(BEAUTY & HEALTH)
April 1, 2006... Imagine you're tracking lions in the Serengeti, and water is in short supply. Or for us less adventurous types, it's a late night, and we can't be bothered with a trip to the sink. Thanks to CLARINS'S clever Water Comfort (for normal or dry...

Inhale good scents.(BEAUTY & HEALTH: Must-Dos for April)
April 1, 2006... When your spirit feels steamrolled, just inhale: the new aromatherapy bath and body line BREATHE ($12.50-$22) offers six revitalizing scents, including a comforting blend of sweet vanilla and milk and the energizing notes of lively ginger and...

Exfoliate with enzymes.(BEAUTY & HEALTH: Must-Dos for April)
April 1, 2006... If you've shied away from such skin-care products as glycolic acid for fear of overdoing it, try the latest enzyme-based exfoliator instead. The "intelligent" protein molecules in Babor's foolproof Intell-zyme ($88, with a cleanser) eat only...

Spritz on body oil.(BEAUTY & HEALTH: Must-Dos for April)
April 1, 2006... CARITA's cult-favorite Fluide de BeautE 14 body oil ($63) soaks right in and softens dry skin, creating a light, even sheen, www.carita.com. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Add a little luster.(BEAUTY & HEALTH: Must-Dos for April)
April 1, 2006... Forget sparkle and glitter. For eyes and cheeks, just use makeup with a demure bit of luster or glow, like FLIRT!'s new I'm Whipped eye shadows and blushes ($12 each). At Kohl's stores; kohls.com. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Disarm the metals.(BEAUTY & HEALTH: Must-Dos for April)
April 1, 2006... Rinse your face with tap water, and you're also splashing on heavy metals such as iron and zinc, which, like free radicals, damage collagen and exacerbate the signs of aging. MD SKINCARE's new all-duty moisturizer, Hydra-Pure Intense Moisture...

Clean up your act.(BEAUTY & HEALTH: Must-Dos for April)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... A study published in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY last year showed that people prone to compulsive hoarding, a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), experience less activity in the area of the brain associated with decision making....

Fernanda's bag of beauty tricks.(BEAUTY HEALTH)
April 1, 2006... New York handbag designer Fernanda Niven's sophisticated creations are thoroughly modern and fun. So it's no wonder the ten things that make her feel beautiful are a mix of the latest beauty techniques and no-fail classics. 1. RADIANT SKIN...

Living with Lupus.(BEAUTY HEALTH)
April 1, 2006... Lupus is a disease with a low profile and a big impact. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it affects 239,000 Americans (the Lupus Foundation of America [LFA] estimates are far higher). Most sufferers are women,...

Celebrating the song.(ARTS & CULTURE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Songs are cheap. That's their reputation, at least. A song is music anybody can make: workers in the fields, mothers by their cradles, all of us in the shower. Perhaps that's why buying something "for a song" means getting it for nothing. ...

High standards.(ARTS & CULTURE: Celebrating the Song)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Ninety-nine percent of the songs collectively known as the Great American Songbook-a forty-year golden age of Broadway show tunes, Hollywood movie melodies and popular standards dating from ShowBoat, in 1927, to the mid-'60s-are thirty-two bars...

An aural history.(ARTS & CULTURE: Celebrating the Song)
April 1, 2006... If you want to explore lieder through recordings, you can spend a long time hooked up to your headphones. A chronological course might start with the German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the dominant lied singer of the postwar period; try...

Follow the Lieder.(ARTS & CULTURE: Celebrating the Song)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Every lied is a song, but not every song is a lied. Lieder, or German-language songs, make up a considerable part of the classical-song repertory-but not, by any means, all of it. There is the melodie of France (the term chanson applies,...

Songs, center stage.(ARTS & CULTURE: Celebrating the Song)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... The New York Festival of Song, says its artistic director, Steven Blier, is "the DustBuster of the repertory, getting into those hard-to-reach corners." Blier, an accompanist and vocal coach at Juilliard, and Michael Barrett, general director...

Tuning in: some musical titans share the songs that rock their worlds.(ARTS & CULTURE: Celebrating the Song)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Michael Tilson Thomas (music director, San Francisco Symphony) "Let Yourself Go," by James Brown "One of James Brown's greatest moments. The song is so up. The harmonies are provocative. The band is cutting-edge tight. And after all...

A Princess bride's gown.(ARTS & CULTURE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Grace Kelly was famous for her on-screen chic. Remember the mint-green day suit in Rear Window? The white strapless chiffon gown in To Catch a Thief? But it was a garment she wore in real life, after she retired from her five-year movie career...

Tut's back in town.(ARTS & CULTURE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... The first time I saw the treasures of KING TUTANKHAMEN was at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in the early 1970s. Discovered in 1922 by archaeologist Howard Carter, the tombs of Tut, the boyking (he was nine or ten years old when he assumed the...

McDiamonds.(ARTS & CULTURE)(Joan Kroc's jewelry to be auctioned off)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... When Joan B. Kroc, the McDonald's heiress, died in 2003, she made headlines because of her remarkable philanthropic bequests ($200 million to NPR, more than $1.5 billion to the Salvation Army). This month Kroc will be in the news again, when...

Mad togs and englishmen.(ARTS & CULTURE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... The Costume Institute at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art kicks off May with its latest provocative show, ANGLOMANIA: TRADITION AND TRANSGRESSION IN BRITISH FASHION (May 3 to September 4), a look at bold English style, for both men and...

Marketplace.(ARTS & CULTURE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... WHAT TO BUY: They may not hog the spotlight like contemporary art, but AMERICAN PAINTINGS created in the 19th and early 20th centuries are hot. Billionaires Bill Gates (he dropped $27 million on Polo Crowd, 1910, by George Bellows) and Alice...

Scotland's enchanted skye: two women leave family at home to savor a magnificent Scottish island and their special friendship.(TRAVELER's NOTEBOOK)
April 1, 2006... IN NORSE, the word for "cloud" is sky. In Gaelic, the Isle of Skye is called Eilean a Cheo, "island of mists." But when my friend Debra and I drive over the Skye Bridge from mainland Scotland, the entire island is bathed in golden-pink light,...

Go to college.(TRAVELER'S NOTEBOOK)(College Hotel in Amsterdam)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... It may be called the COLLEGE HOTEL, but Amsterdam's most stylish new lodging is for a strictly postgraduate, designer crowd. Opened last year in a former school (hence the name), the hotel has retained the building's grand 19th-century brick...

To the max.(TRAVELER'S NOTEBOOK)(MAXjet's London service)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... A new all-business-class airline is making traveling from New York or Washington, D.C., to London quite civilized. Launched last November, MAXJET uses Boeing 767 planes that have been reconfigured to hold only 102 passengers. On most commercial...

Outlets on the outskirts.(TRAVELER'S NOTEBOOK)(shopping in Florence)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Florence used to be one of the great shopping cities in Italy. But since the advent of the euro, Florence isn't the bargain it once was-unless you head for one of several factory outlets that have popped up outside the city. There is, of...

Ducasse's new domaine.(TRAVELER'S NOTEBOOK)(restaurant Domaine Des Andeols)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Acclaimed French chef Main Ducasse, who already manages four alluring country inns in France and Italy, has brought his savoir faire to a fifth: the DOMAINE DES ANDEOLS, in Provence. "I couldn't resist helping people discover this special inn,...

A gorgeous inn.(TRAVELER'S NOTEBOOK)
April 1, 2006... The barrel-top rooflines of the new CAVE B INN AT SAGECLIFFE,: built 900 feet above the Columbia River gorge, in central Washington, seem to roll right into the distant basalt hills. A scenic three-hour drive due east from Seattle, the inn is...

Jamb.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... Showcase your garden's star blooms in JAMB's Shallow Lobed Tazza marble urn (twenty-seven-inch diameter, $2,800). At the Shop, 212-288-4971. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Zelen.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... ZELEN's elegant ebony-and-sterling-silver shoehorn ($535), letter opener ($380) and magnifying glass ($615) are generously sized for a gentleman's palm. zelenhome.com. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Kohler.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... Boiling water is the easiest culinary task; make it stylish, too, with KOHLER's HiRise pot filler ($855). kohler.com. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Hickory chair.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... Noted antiquarian Albert Sack has collaborated with HICKORY CHAIR to bring 18th-century inspiration to modern living. This Seymour side chair has a kingwood striped inlay and a repeated circular back--classic in any setting ($1,056)....

Frette.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... FRETTE has transformed durably plush terry-cloth towels into alluring accessories with its Barcellona Fiore Pizzo lace-inset towels ($855 for a set). 800-35FRETTE. Pair them with WILLIAMS SONOMA HOME's monogrammed scented soaps ($28 for four)...

Clio.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... Hand-turned in Indonesia from one piece of teak, this curved-lip bowl from CLIO ($110) measures twelve inches in diameter: deep enough for a substantial salad, powerful enough to stand alone as a centerpiece, clio-home.com. [ILLUSTRATION...

Baker.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... When reading by the light of the Kim lantern by Bill Sofield for BAKER ($1,218), be prepared for a distraction. Its wooden base, cast-brass arms and silk-shantung shade make a seductive trio--and not just because they're almost two feet wide....

New room.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... With legs of hand-forged I iron and a sleek leather top, NEw ROOM'S Ring table and chair would stand out in a master bedroom as a smart vanity or a writing desk. To the trade at Dennis Miller, 212-684-0070. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Peter Dunham.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... Bring some sunny California weather into your living room with printed cotton-blend fabrics by PETER DUNHAM, the L.A.-based British decorator (Jaipur and Fig Leaf shown). To the trade at John Rosselli, 212-593-2060. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Monogrammed linen shop.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... Make an ordinary dressing room more inviting with accessories ($17-$990) from London's MONOGRAMMED LINEN SHOP; try an embroidered lingerie bag, potpourri sachets or a cashmere throw.monogrammedlinenshop.com. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Clarence house.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2006... From CLARENCE HOUSE's Eugene collection whimsical Candle Fringe, made Egyptian cotton in unexpected color pairings, would snap a set of while muslim curtains to attention in no time. To the trade, 800-803-2850. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]