Town & Country articles from April 2009

Town & Country archives from April 2009

Straighten up and fly light.(EDITOR'S LETTER)
April 1, 2009... I REMEMBER my first commercial flight as if it were yesterday. It wasn't. The year was 1965, forty-four years ago, in the summer before my senior year in college. The trip was on an Eastern Airlines shuttle from New York's LaGuardia to...

Sound advice.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... Usually, I just scan the "Editor's Letter," but for some reason I stopped to read the one in December, "Taking Stock (So to Speak)." I was especially touched by Pamela Fiori's comment that "confidence has a funny way of turning into...

Presents of mind.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... Regarding "Where Have All the Presents Gone?" ["Social Graces," December], I commend Joan Caraganis Jakobson for admitting that she enjoys the gifting process. I do, too, and I have devised a way to continue this tradition without straining the...

Voter Approval.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... Thank you for the eloquent remarks in the January "Editor's Letter" about the election of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth president of the United States. Good job! SHARON FORTUNAK, Cottage Grove, MN

Keeping up with Miss Jones.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... I received the January issue, my first as a subscriber to Town & Country, and being from South Dakota, I was delighted to see Mad Men's January Jones on the cover. We in her home state are very proud of all her accomplishments! CINDY WEST,...

Metal detector.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... I have just returned from a shopping spree in Buenos Aires and discovered a most amazing Argentine artisan designing silver jewelry to rival any of the work pictured in "Hot Metal" [January]. Diana Pinhasi [491 Ricardo Rojas, Plaza San Martin;...

Wonder-ful.(In Your Own Words ...)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... This is my first year subscribing to Town & Country, and my impression after about four issues was that the magazine was just gorgeous fluff--I loved the pictures of glamorous couples and parties and lovely, innovative fashion you could wear...

Celebrate!(Washington, D.C. PARTIES)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Those who traveled to a wintry Washington, D.C., to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama encountered a breathtaking lineup of parties and balls that took place back-to-back, night after night. No one...

Say yes to Nolita.(ON THE TOWN)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Along Elizabeth and Mott streets in Nolita--the downtown New York City neighborhood just north of Little Italy--boutiques still feel like boutiques, and the name on the merchandise's label is often the name of the...

Ducking for cover.(ON THE TOWN)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When spring rain is in the forecast, stay dry--and colorful--with one of Davek's ultracompact (nine inches when folded) Traveler umbrellas, which come in eight colors, including fuchsia, sunflower yellow and royal...

Pour on the words.(ON THE TOWN)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Like any good private library, the very public Library bar, in Portland, Oregon's new Nines hotel, refuses to be orderly or easily classifiable. The hundreds of books that fill the shelves in the dark and comfy room,...

Tea cozy.(ON THE TOWN)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] San Francisco has brewed up a fresh dose of London chic with the opening of Crown & Crumpet, a stylishly whimsical tearoom in newly revitalized Ghirardelli Square. Owners Christopher and Amy Dean (he a droll Brit,...

Giorgio Armani celebrates in Palm Beach.(scene & be seen: A calendar of events, trunk shows and benefits taking place at a store or location near you.)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Town&Country and the Giorgio Armani boutique in Palm Beach hosted a book signing to celebrate Clos-Ette founder Melanie Charlton Fascitelli's "Shop Your Closet: The Ultimate Guide to Organizing Your Closet with...

Martin Katz.(scene & be seen: A calendar of events, trunk shows and benefits taking place at a store or location near you.)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This stunningly original black opal ring from Martin Katz, LTD is mounted with over 500 micro-set stones including diamonds, sapphires and amethysts, and is just part of his beautifully crafted and sophisticated...

Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair.(scene & be seen: A calendar of events, trunk shows and benefits taking place at a store or location near you.)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair takes place from June 11-17, 2009. This year the Fair celebrates its 75th anniversary. Since 1934 it has attracted collectors and art lovers from around the world with the best...

A mudroom of one's own: everyone knows what April showers really bring--mud. T&C shows you how to keep the dirt in its place.(IN THE COUNTRY)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MAKING A MODEL MUDROOM The spring--April in particular--is high season for mud. But if you're fighting a losing battle against the great, muddy outdoors, take heart. Architect Gil Schafer offers a few pointers to...

Catherine Moellering.(FASHION STYLE)
April 1, 2009... OCCUPATION: President of Best & Co., a luxury children's-clothing firm established in 1879. BACKGROUND: Grew up in Weston, Massachusetts, "surrounded by academics and doctors." Attended Harvard; did executive stints at Bloomingdale's and Liz...

Beach time.(FASHION & STYLE: Resort Wear)
April 1, 2009... A roundup of tunics, sandals, swimsuits and more--all in standout colors. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Adriatic paradise: The fully refurbished Aman Sveti Stefan resort, in Montenegro, opening this summer (doubles from $520 a night at the...

In step with Ferragamo.(FASHION & STYLE: Men)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JAVIER SUAREZ, creative director for men's shoes at Ferragamo, remembers as a boy opening a trunk filled with elegant clothes once worn by his father. "I lost him when I was very young," says Suarez, who was born in...

Mix it up!(JEWELRY)
April 1, 2009... Who says jewelry has to be predictable? Designers have taken to creating whimsical colored-gemstone earrings in mismatched pairs. 1. PAOLO COSTAGLI peridot, tourmaline and diamond ($24,300), 212-974-9360. 2. PALOMA PICASSO FOR TIFFANY & CO....

Ring leader.(JEWELRY)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Tourmalines, the centerpiece gemstones shown here, are found predominantly in Brazil and Africa. They come in a broad range of hues but are the most alluring-and springlike--in green. From top right: VERDURA platinum...

Bright eyes: six steps for taking good care of those peepers.(BEAUTY & HEALTH)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] STEP 1: Morning Musts A peptide powerhouse, Osmotics Cosmeceuticals Eye Surgery ($65; osmotics. com) tackles crepey lids, bags and dark circles. Layer moisturizing Darphin Stimulskin Plus Creme Contour des Yeux...

A smoother application.(BEAUTY & HEALTH)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] New York-based makeup artist Darac knows from his thirty years of experience that brushes can spread loose powder poorly and leave your complexion looking blotchy. So he's created one, Darac Beauty TourQuam Luxe...

Super serum.(BEAUTY & HEALTH)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Active ingredients accomplish the jobs a cosmetic product claims to do; they're the big shots of skin care--sometimes hard to come by and, unfortunately, often pricey. Serums have high concentrations of these skin savers, but we've never seen...

It's a beautiful day at the Plaza.(EDITOR'S CHOICE)
April 1, 2009... Hair colorist Joel Warren and stylist Edward Tricomi have left behind their East 57th Street salon, with its playful Moroccan decor, and taken over a new, 6,100-square-foot space in the refurbished New York landmark hotel. The inspiration for...

Must-dos for April.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1. PUSH SOME PETALS Forgo longing for May flowers, and jump into a bed of ylang-ylang, wild roses, water lilies and lotus blossoms with Etro's Vicolo Fiori body lotion ($58), a pure floral delight. aedes.com. ...

April must-sees: 17-19 Paul McCartney, Amy Winehouse and others rock the 2009 Coachella Festival, which turns Indio, California, into a music Mecca for three days and nights, from the 17th. coa chella.com.(ARTS & CULTURE)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DANCE At eighty-nine, Merce Cunningham proves that age is but a number when his dance company performs the world premiere of his work Nearly Ninety, set to music by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and Sonic...

Catching the wave.(ARTS & CULTURE)(landscaping )(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Maya Lin is the rare wunderkind who continues to astonish. At forty-nine, she is as groundbreaking as she was when, as a twenty-one-year-old Yale undergraduate, she saw her radically understated design for the future...

Built to last.(ARTS & CULTURE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... "There are no limits to elegance," Ada Louise Huxtable wrote in a 1977 column in the New York Times, where she was chief architecture critic from 1963 to 1982. She was describing a 1936 building by McKim, Mead & White in the South Bronx that...

Sign of the times.(DESIGN TRENDS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I am not a minimalist anymore," explained Christian Liaigre (below) in a recent conversation. "It's okay for the look but not for the life." Those are strong words coming from someone whose name is practically...

Corbu's colors.(DESIGN TRENDS)
April 1, 2009... Le Corbusier's architectural legacy is widely known, but his profound involvement with and appreciation for color has been less noted. Over the course of his career, the Swiss modernist developed sixty-three hues that were used to advantage on...

Busy bee.(DESIGN TRENDS)(housewares, household furniture)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This month the celebrated decorator Bunny Williams introduces Beeline Home, her first-ever furniture and accessories line, playfully named after those hardworking, energetic insects. The launch collection features...

Good manners in bad times: in a down economy, sensitive behavior has high value.(SOCIAL GRACES)
April 1, 2009... IT'S CLEAR EVEN to optimists that a protracted period of comparative poverty and economic decline is facing us. Those of us too young to have experienced financial dislocation, a crash of the market and the abrupt end of easy money and good...

Vintage bordeaux: in southwestern France, Bordeaux is a little bit city, a little bit country and a whole lot of excellent food and wine. Molly Wizenberg raises her glass and drinks it in.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I was eight years old when I had my first sip of Bordeaux, a quick gulp stolen from my father's glass. I had gone with my parents to the opening of an exhibition of Chateau Mouton Rothschild's famous "artist labels"...

Delta dawn: the landlocked country of Botswana has been Africa's tourism success story for decades. Now, with the opening of two camps in the famed Okavango Delta and the makeover of a desert classic, the luxury quotient is about to reach new heights.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Nine thousand feet below me, Botswana invisible. A handful of large bushfires have been burning for days in the sere expanse of the interior, erasing the landscape under layers of thick smoke. From my vantage point...

Lady wanderlust: Padma Lakshmi's tastes in travel are just like her looks: stirring, soulful and seductive.(Cover story)(Biography)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Padma Lakshmi has lived in Los Angeles, Paris, London and Milan. but right now she is perfectly at home in a modest place of her own, high above Manhattan's East Village. "I am a little bit of a gypsy," Lakshmi says,...

Oh, Bahia: in northeastern Brazil, the state of Bahia is a place of colonial architecture, remote beaches and spicy seafood stew. David Hochman brings his appetite for all of the above.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] the statue of Jesus that watches over Salvador, Brazil, isn't quite as impressive as the one overlooking Rio de Janeiro. Compared with the colossus atop Corcovado, this one, on a bald...

Weddings.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mr.and Mrs. Michael August Scalora (Lauren Desmond Frandsen, in Jin Wang) St. Helena, California [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mr. and Mrs. Todd Joseph Gallagher (Anne Elizabeth Keane, in Melissa Sweet) Red Bank,...

Horoscopes.
April 1, 2009... April [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Aries March 21-April 20 April will be the month when all the bits of your professional jigsaw begin to fall into place. With Pluto turning retrograde on the 4th, though, you're simply going to have to...

Sleek ceramics.(WATCHES)
April 1, 2009... It's easy to see why white ceramic watches are the season's most coveted timepieces: they're not only incredibly durable but also elegant enough to be worn as jewelry. Clockwise from top: CHANEL J12 GMT ($5,800), 800-550-0005. TAMARA COMOLLI...