Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2022 i Town & Country

The late Ann Getty held many titles throughout her life: philanthropist, publisher, interior designer, art collector, and, as per T&C in 1983, “one of the world’s greatest opera patrons.” So, in spring of that year, the celebrated photographer Norman Parkinson found it fitting to capture the grande dame in the stunning settings of King Ludwig’s Bavarian castles to honor the centenary of composer Richard Wagner’s death. Here, she is draped in Bulgari jewels and surrounded by swans—Ludwig was known as the “Swan King,” though it may also have been an irreverent reference to Truman Capote’s epithet for certain beauties of high society. Thirty-nine years later, another Getty graces the pages and cover of this magazine: Ann’s granddaughter Ivy Getty, an artist, a model, and one of the most delightfully eccentric…

A Strange Loop is undeniably a success story. When the musical—which follows the interior life of a young, gay, Black theater usher named, what else, Usher—premiered off-Broadway in 2019, it was a hit, winning a trove of awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, for its playwright, composer, and lyricist Michael R. Jackson. After a lauded run at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, in Washington, DC, A Strange Loop has landed at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre. Jackson never imagined things would happen this way. “When I began working on this show, it started off as a monologue I wrote for myself to create a life raft at a very uncertain time, and it grew from there,” Jackson says. “For it to have evolved and become this, what it is now, is…

The Comeback of theYear A sapphire dolphin for Liz Taylor. A Ribbon Rosette necklace set with the Tiffany Yellow Diamond for Audrey Hepburn. Ruby berries for Jackie Kennedy. “I want to capture the irregularity of the universe,” said Jean Schlumberger, the visionary Frenchman who arrived at Tiffany & Co. in 1956, bringing with him an exceptionally daring point of view. When he retired in the late ’70s, his most fantastical designs were archived. And then: the Bird on a Rock perched on Jay-Z! Lady Gaga in the Flowers and Leaves! Treasures rediscovered, a legend reincarnated. The Year’s Jewels of Pop Culture Certain jewels define a character. Think of Carrie Bradshaw’s nameplate necklace, a symbol of individualism on the original Sex and the City and, 17 years later, on its HBO…

In February, when asked to describe how college admissions was going so far this year, one affuent white parent in Los Angeles sent me a text with three emoji faces: one was sad, one was blue-faced and shivering, and one looked ready to barf. Speaking later over the phone, this person chose the word “bleak” to describe how the early action/decision results that were announced in December (regular admission results came out in late March and early April) had gone over atthe exclusive independent school, where their child—a top student and leader with reams of extracurriculars—had been deferred from an Ivy League school despite a legacy connection. Classmates who’d also applied for early decision to the school were flat-out rejected. “A dumpster fire” is what Jen Kaifesh, the founder…

Consider how many times you have uttered “It’s surreal” over the past two years. It’s no coincidence that there have been two big museum shows in the last 12 months dedicated to that post–WWI movement of melting clocks and floating eyes. Now here we are again, reckoning reality with imagination. Like then, the mission of Surrealism still inspires the visions of artists in all realms. (See: Elsa Schiaparelli in the 1930s and Daniel Roseberry’s line for Schiaparelli in 2022.) The work of jewelers, as with all decorative art, reflects the time in which it was created. The Surrealist era inspired Dalí and Man Ray to translate their abstract ideas into ruby and pearl lips and floating glass and diamond eyes, to try to reconcile some of the absurdity of a…

“Do you want to know some tea?” Antwayn Hopper asks. Um, yes. “Michael R. Jackson stopped me as I was coming out of the Ritz bar in NYC one night and said, ‘Hi, I’m Michael Jackson, the living one. You’ll be receiving an email from your agent very soon.’” It was an email that would change Hopper’s life. The Carnegie Mellon grad, who’d previously appeared mostly in ensembles, was being invited to perform in an early reading of A Strange Loop. Now, after years of working on the show, Hopper—whose breakout moment began in March with a thrilling turn as the Times Square pimp Memphis in the Billy Porter–directed revival of The Life—is bringing his mighty bass voice and powerful stage presence to its Broadway production. “I found myself through…

TAURUS APRIL 21–MAY 21 Much that is positive is brewing for you right now, and your attention should be focused on being in the right place at the right time. Don’t hesitate to dare the unknown. Saturn is lurking at the top of your solar chart, so what you feel is lacking at this time pinpoints what you need to develop. Behind-the-scenes events appear to be working in your favor. MUNNU THE GEM PALACE, 212-861-0606 GEMINI MAY 22–JUNE 21 Seize the moment, because fortunate Jupiter is moving swiftly out of range. Mercury is going out of sync on the 10th, so best to sign documents or complete tasks before snags accrue. May will be full of activity, much of it going on in preparation for a brighter future. Friendships and…

After 43 years in exile, it would be easy to withdraw and resign oneself to bitterness. But speaking from her home in Paris, where she has spent part of almost every year since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Her Imperial Majesty Farah Pahlavi fondly—and frankly—looks back at the two decades she served Iran by Mohammad Reza Shah’s side. It has been nearly five decades since her 1975 sitting with Town & Country, and the empress’s relaxed, regal comportment remains remarkably unchanged. “It was a beautiful time,” the empress remembers during our visitation, the type of which she rarely grants anymore. “His Majesty and I were busy—I with my activities in different fields and closeness to the people and those who were working for us, and he with his work for the…

1. HOLISTIC ADMISSIONS PROCESS A. Process that evaluates “whole applicant,” not just scores/schools.B. “Discriminatory and unfair,” say opponents.C. Upcoming Supreme Court nail-biter involving Harvard and the future of affrmative action.  Enroll: “Intro to Constitutional Law” 2. TEST OPTIONAL A. SAT/ACT scores not required with application.B. Good news for students who don’t test well or can’t afford pricey tutors/college advisers.C. “We tell our clients to submit scores anyway,” say pricey tutors/college advisers. Enroll: “Advanced Hedging of Bets” 3. MERIT-BASED A. Student with the highest grades/scores gets the spot/financial aid.B. A persistent fallacy that ignores obvious inequity in our education system.C. Dinner-party fireworks fuse. Enroll: “Advanced Culture Wars” 4. COLLEGE RANKING A. Unbiased, fact-and number-based rating of schools.B. “Highly misleading,” argued a Columbia math professor recently, adding that his school is ranked…

BROOCH, 1935 Platinum, diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds Can one trip change jewelry history? It might have for the Cartier brothers. In 1911 Jacques, the youngest, set off to India to witness the coronation of King George V and was introduced to the subcontinent’s rich culture of stone carving, as well as the vibrant palette of its stones. About a decade later, the firm his family founded opened the eyes of the world to the phenomenon known as Tutti Frutti: pieces marked by a combination of rubies, emeralds, and sapphires and by motifs inspired by leaves, blossoms, and berries. Another trip that might change it all: the one many will likely take to Texas after reading this, to see the exhibition“Cartier and Islamic Art” at the Dallas Museum of Art, up…

The Crawleys won’t go down without a fight. The family at the center of Downton Abbey: A New Era, in theaters May 20, still finds plenty of conflict in cozy troubles, which made the Julian Fellowes–created series about them (and the 2019 movie it spawned) a hit, but the real battle depicted in the new film is the one eternally brewing between tradition and modernity. “It’s a great clashing of two worlds,” says costume designer Anna Robbins. As the film follows the ebbing clout of England’s peers, it also explores the ascent of new kinds of influence, from celebrity culture to the international jetset—a tug-of-war at play in broad strokes as well as carefully placed details. The arrival of the titular new era is apparent in fashion, social mores, and…

WHERE ARE WE GOING? Since it was founded, in 1895, to celebrate the silver anniversary of King Umberto I and Margherita of Savoy, the Venice Biennale has cemented the reputations of global contemporary talent. At this year’s “Olympics of the art world,” Team USA will be represented by the sculptor Simone Leigh, who is dedicating her entire exhibition to the contributions of Black women. APRIL 23–NOVEMBER 27 WHAT ARE WE WEARING? Baldassare Castiglione coined the term sprezzatura in his 1528 guide to life, The Book of the Courtier, defining it as the art of studied nonchalance, a virtue to be applied in all aspects of life. Half a millennium later, Italians still faithfully adhere to the code. How can the rest of us? A Rolex Oyster Perpetual, perennial classic, is a…

We do 9-to-5 adventure,” says “WFrancesco Galli Zugaro, founder and CEO of boutique cruise line Aqua Expeditions. Indeed. On the Aqua Blu in Indonesia, I swam with giant mantas; on the Aqua Nera in the Peruvian Amazon, I ogled pods of pink dolphins and had close (really close) calls with piranhas, and then returned at day’s end to the mother ships’ coolly sophisticated suites, starchef menus, massages, and hot tubs. Here are some of the new boats we love—and the things you’ll see. FROM AQUA EXPEDITIONS The waved albatross lays a single egg yearly and breeds, from April through December, in the Galápagos on Española Island. See the goings-on courtesy of the new Aqua Mare. Will there be a stampede to get ashore? There will not: This superyacht of a…

I have the same dilemma every night. My brain tells me to do my nighttime skin-care routine, but my body tells me to crawl into bed. Once I reach a certain point, the thought of spending 10 minutes in front of the mirror just seems like too much. But then I think about how much better I feel (and look) when I wake up after a night spent slathered in serums and I hightail it to the bathroom. Now there’s an influx of skincare products specifically designed to simplify bedtime skincare and make that dilemma easier to resolve. We’re not talking about run-of-the-mill night creams. These are masks with high-tech timed-delivery technology, rich lotions that fortify your skin barrier, and gentler, more effective retinoids that all aim to take your…

Last fall I went to a splendid exhibition in San Francisco featuring sculpture, collage, and video by the artist Wangechi Mutu. Because we went on a weekday afternoon, it wasn’t crowded, and my friend Anisse and I could linger up close with Mutu’s chimerical, often towering sculptures. Mutu has spoken of inventing her own mythologies with her work; accordingly, the hybrid deities she’d shaped with bronze, clay, soil, and gems were newly strange, and fantastically haunting. It was one of the best afternoons I’ve had all pandemic long, and it was one I’d desperately needed, this brief time with an artist’s made-up world yielding a kind of magic that has helped sustain me through many less charmed days. I have long believed that fantasy, art, and fiction—the lust, that is,…

CHRISTOPHER BRINEY It’s no small thing to work beside a legend, and on his first day filming Dalí Land , director Mary Harron’s biopic of the painter, Briney did just that. “The first scene I shot was with Sir Ben Kingsley,” he says. “You can probably see me shaking in the final cut.” Briney wrapped Dalí Land , which will play summer festivals, and went directly into filming the series The Summer I Turned Pretty . Soon enough, his nerves were history. “By the end of it,” he says, “I didn’t feel like an intruder.” A.R. JAYME LAWSON Is Juilliard known for poli-sci? Maybe not, but for graduate Lawson, two star-making roles have involved portraying politicos. Earlier this year she played Gotham City mayor-elect Bella Reál in The Batman , and she currently appears as a young Michelle Obama…

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