Indholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2022 i Town & Country

As the mercury rises, the call to dust off our T. Anthonys and book a trip becomes irresistible. Sixty-five years ago T&C understood the impulse, and we turned our April issue into a celebration of domestic travel, capturing the spirit with this aerial shot, by Ronny Jaques, of the “Great American Road,” the finest highway system in the world. Back then we journeyed from New England to California, stopping for dinner at Antoine’s in New Orleans and catching the Metropolitan Opera on tour in Cleveland. Now we’re broadening our horizons—because we can—scouring the globe for exceptional pilgrimages and singular treasures. Let’s go, shall we?…

Rob Ashford needed a break. In 2013, as the director was preparing to helm both his first opera, The Barber of Seville at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and a production of Macbeth in Manchester starring Kenneth Branagh, he and his partner Kevin Ryan decided to vacation in Tangier, Morocco. During the visit Ashford, who won a Tony in 2002 for choreographing Thoroughly Modern Millie, first heard about Joe McPhillips, the late headmaster of the American School of Tangier, who each year would stage and direct an unusual play at the high school for international students. “He did some crazy productions,” Ashford says. “For instance, Yves Saint Laurent did costumes and Paul Bowles composed the music for the Euripides play Hippolytus.” When McPhillips died in 2007, the productions stopped. Hearing…

Coco Chanel spread her coromandel screens at 31 Rue Cambon, Yves Saint Laurent marked his territory at 5 Avenue Marceau, and Christian Dior was eternally bound to 30 Avenue Montaigne. Before he even founded his couture house in 1946, the debonair aesthete had chosen his headquarters. Upon discovering the building while on a stroll through the 8th Arrondissement with a friend, Dior declared he would settle there, because “nowhere else” would do. That he did, turning the 19th-century hôtel particulier—built in 1865 for the widow of Count Alexandre Colonna-Walewski, an illegitimate son of Napoleon—into a neoclassical temple of silk faille and tulle. In these salons Dior would debut his legendary New Look in February 1947, and he continued to enthrall editors and A-listers until his death a decade later. Monsieur…

So exquisitely detailed are Hemmerle’s Lavender earrings, one might imagine a floral aroma wafting from them. But what if that were actually the case? What if, behind those violet tanzanites on a bed of sculpted petals, there were a hidden cavity to hold a pinch of the fragrant herb? That is one of the innovations at the heart of Hemmerle’s new Infused Jewels collection. But first, the germination of a concept: It began with a bespoke blend of tea. Christian Hemmerle and his wife Yasmin, the fourth-generation stewards of the Munich-based jeweler, studied books on botany, immersed themselves in the symbolism of herbs, and learned about their hometown’s long history as a center of homeopathy. They used these discoveries to craft an aromatic brew with Kräutergarten München, the 13 ingredients…

While most ships were not sailing during lockdown, the cruise lines’ staffs were busy planning. The new itineraries that follow (our favorites, culled from a big field) are all, in one way or another, voyages of a lifetime. Most departures are in 2023—the time to book for next summer, and for 2024, is now. (See “Cruise Maestros,” page 84, for the specialists who can help you do that.) CHANNEL LAWRENCE OF ARABIA Tourism is in its infancy in Saudi Arabia. While nearly every high-end hotel company has announced plans to build there, accommodations (and service) are still pretty basic, except in the cities. But if you’re curious about this complex country, a cruise that takes in some of its sights (including UNESCO World Heritage sites) is the best way to get…

If you subscribe to Sartre’s view that hell is other people, avoid the Mediterranean in August. And consider these options: CROSS THE ATLANTIC Think big skies, empty horizons, and you ensconced on deck on a chaise longue. The ultimate booking? The Sandringham and Balmoral duplexes on Cunard’s flagship, the Queen Mary 2. Each has a deluxe condo vibe and a private aft-facing balcony. Or book all four interconnecting Royal Suites, named after queens Elizabeth, Mary, Anne, and Victoria, to create one space for up to 16. (This has been done. The crew still talks about a party from the Middle East who barely left their quarters except to shop at the ship’s jeweler.) CHOOSE TO CHARTER AquaExpeditions’ boutiquey Aqua Blu, Aqua Nera, Aqua Mekong, and Aqua Mare are eminently charterable, ranging…

In the early 20th century, the glamorous Golden Age of ocean travel, cruising was a world of white-uniformed officers and black tie dinners. Slipping up on shipspeak could be socially catastrophic. That’s no longer true, but it’s still good to know the ropes. PORT AND STARBOARD Say port for left side of the ship, starboard for the right. DECKS AND GALLEYS Ships have decks, not floors, and galleys, not kitchens. CABINS AND SUITES Either is fine to say. Room is not. Luxury and aspiring-to-luxury lines may call cabins staterooms, but essentially they’re still cabins. SHIP OR BOAT You’re cruising on a ship, not a boat. Some lines with small ships may call their vessels yachts, but essentially they’re still ships. It’s not a liner, either. The only true liner is…

On a snowy April afternoon in the rugged empty beauty of remote western Montana, I go out shooting with two guides at what may be America’s most expensive ranch. They pick me up in an SUV with heated seats, they lend me gloves, and we drive out to the range, past the Ranch at Rock Creek’s 70 or so horses, listening to George Strait and Brooks & Dunn on a Sirius country station. We don’t see any people, only a group of white-tailed deer. I practice shooting clay targets meant to emulate the flight of ducks. I am taken aback at first when the guides have me load my own rounds of ammunition into the gun instead of doing it for me. But by my second day at the ranch…

The Golden Triangle: Pit stops for the modern bohemian adventurer. TO BOOK, CALL 203-987-4280 OR VISIT INVILLAS.COM LI GALLI ISLANDS Rudolf Nureyev’s former stomping grounds are now a seven-star experience of barefoot luxury. $325,000 A WEEK, INCLUDING STAFF, FOOD, AND TRANSPORTATION VILLA ASTOR William Waldorf Astor’s passion project, with roots going back to Emperor Augustus’s grandson in 1 A.D., is newly decorated by Jacques Garcia. $27,000 A NIGHT, $193,000 A WEEK, INCLUDING STAFF VILLA TRE VILLE Four villas (16 suites) once owned by filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli, frequented by Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. SUITES START AT $850 A NIGHT…

I have a ritual when I travel anywhere, for any reason: I get a perfume that I’ve never worn before, spritz it on in the cab to the airport, and then never wear it again unless I want to conjure the trip. Yes, you should crack the window before you do this—the driver doesn’t need to smell whatever hoarded sample Aedes de Venustas slipped into your shopping bag—but somehow it gives form to that moment of total excitement, when all the possibilities of a trip lie before you. I suppose it’s sensible to order a car when you have a flight to catch, but I love the feeling of hailing a cab with my bags at my feet, jauntily shouting the name of an airport, smug in the knowledge that…

When Anouk and Louis Solanet opened the Hôtel Rochechouart at the foot of Montmartre in early 2020, it was just before Paris underwent its first lockdown. Some hoteliers might have been nervous, but for the married couple (whose Orso group now counts seven boutique properties all over Paris) it was a chance to indulge in the unexpected. “We opened the Rochechouart five days before the curfew began,” says Louis, a Paris native whose family has operated hotels for four generations. “But we learned it was possible for the restaurant to stay open after 9 p.m. for guests, so we organized an offer that meant whoever came for dinner could sleep over. It felt like life during Prohibition!” That’s the sort of thinking that’s apparent at all of Orso’s properties. Whether…

There is of course Queen Nazli’s necklace. The 220-carat all-white-diamond bib was commissioned by the queen from Van Cleef & Arpels to celebrate the wedding of her daughter Princess Fawzia of Egypt to the shah of Iran. There is also the Medicis necklace, exhibited in 1937, a ribbon of mystery-set white diamonds overlaying rows of baguette-cut white diamonds dotted with round white diamonds. There are those geometric bandeau white diamond bracelets women loved to wear stacked on their newly bare arms in the 1920s. There is that white diamond piece Eva Perón is wearing in the picture of her with the Argentinean ambassador to France in 1947. There are those white diamond Haricot clips that Jackie Kennedy liked to wear with her pearls. Diamonds and Van Cleef, they go way…

Habitués of Christophe Robin’s Paris salon know that the beloved French hair colorist has a knack for creating welcoming spaces. The jewel-box beauty mecca is resplendent with art books, coolkitsch vintage trinkets, and a giant shellshaped hair washing sink worthy of Aphrodite. His new venture, a wellness-focused luxury guesthouse in French Polynesia, doesn’t share the salon’s OTT maximalism, but its spirit is the same: cross the threshold and forget the world outside. The hospitality business may seem a surprising pivot for a man who made his name tending to the tresses of a galaxy of glamorous women (name any French actress or supermodel—he has touched her head). But during those 30-plus years of rushing from film set to fashion shoot, Robin fantasized about a place he could go where his…

274 The number of nights on the world’s longest sailing, Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise on Serenade of the Seas. Runners-up: Oceania’s 218-day journey, with overnights in places like Kyoto and Buenos Aires (departing in 2023); and Seabourn Sojourn’s 145-day Los Angeles– to–Athens trip (72 ports, 27 countries). “Younger people who can work from anywhere are in the game,” says cruise expert Carolyn Spencer Brown. 4,443 The square footage of the largest luxury line suite, the new Regent Suite on Regent Seven Seas’ ships Splendor and Explorer. It has its own spa and a 1,292-square-foot terrace with hot tub. Notable mentions: the Grand Suites on Silversea’s Silver Muse, which can be configured to almost 2,000 square feet, and the two Owner’s Suites on Scenic Eclipse, which have nearly 650 square…

Those who do not follow France’s restaurant scene will be surprised to learn that Paris was struck by two earthquakes in the summer of 2021. The first was the announcement that Alain Ducasse, the chef who has amassed more Michelin stars than anyone in history, would be stepping away from his two establishments at the iconic Plaza Athénée on Avenue Montaigne. The second seismic event happened shortly thereafter: the revelation that a chef in his thirties, with no stars to his name but nearly half a million Instagram followers, would be taking Ducasse’s place. What in the world was Jean Imbert doing on such hallowed ground? In the majority opinion of the French food world establishment, it sounded as if he had been hired just to troll them. The naysayers…

In Noël Coward’s 1930 play Private Lives, the wayward couple Amanda and Elyot, newly married to new people though still in love with each other, meet by chance on a French hotel balcony. “What have you been doing lately?” she asks him. “Travelling about. I went round the world, you know,” he replies. “How was it?” she demands. “The world? Oh, highly enjoyable.” “How was the Taj Mahal?” she goes on, referring to what must have been the most familiar exotic “icon” of a British education. “It didn’t look like a biscuit box, did it? I’ve always felt it might.” Though the subtext of the lines is about desire, with the patter meant to deflect their quickly awakening old attraction, the question is real. Why do we travel about? The…

Here’s a trip that literally can’t be topped: Wheeler-Windsor Expeditions’ “Himalaya Helicopter Expedition.” For one week, passengers in specialized high-altitude turbocharged helicopters soar over Everest and seven more of the 14 peaks that make up the aptly dubbed Roof of the World. (Offered twice yearly, the trip costs $26,000 per person, excluding airfare.) Socially speaking, the Wheeler-Windsor partnership is lofty, too. The latter half of the name derives from Edward Edmund Maximilian George Windsor, who was styled at birth as Baron Downpatrick. Now an erudite 33-year-old, he’s more often known as Eddy. In the fullness of time, Windsor—whose godmother was Princess Diana—will inherit the title of his grandfather, the Duke of Kent, a first cousin of the queen. Most of Windsor’s childhood was spent in Cambridge, England, where his parents,…

“Sure, I’m fiery,” Maria Callas told T&C back in 1959. “And I’ll stick up every minute of the day and night for art!” The jewels on this page would certainly fall into the category of things worth fighting for. After all, the soprano, who was as legendary for her bel canto as for her temper (Leonard Bernstein called her “pure electricity”), had quite the appetite for magnificent gems. (In 2004 a sale of 11 pieces from her collection netted $1.86 million at Sotheby’s Geneva.) Some were the fruits of her labor, others spoils from her affairs, including a particularly stormy one with Aristotle Onassis. Theirs was a decadelong union of high society glamour and epic discord, which might have had some advantages: Nothing says “Forgive me” quite like the diamonds…

From Odysseus on, there has been no form of travel as steeped in myth as sailing, which is no wonder—us out there, on oceans, seas, and rivers, in big nature and also in close social quarters, encountering both the elements and ourselves. We revel in the glamour of cruising—stardust, perhaps, golden era, like the 1950 Cunard trip when Noël Coward, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Walt Disney, and Rita Hayworth were all onboard, as entertainment. And we complain—some atavistic leftover, surely, from cruising’s roots in trans-Atlantic cargo and mail transport, when there was just a handful of put-upon paying passengers (“My cabin is too small, the food is meh, and I’m forced to sit at dinner with strangers”). For you cruise aficionados, consider these pages an update on all…

Goldilocks had a simple predicament: choosing the right bed and bowl. When booking a cruise you need to consider, in addition to ship size (Small? Medium? Large? And what’s the difference?), a slew of other factors that will affect your experience: the itinerary, the ship’s amenities and culinary cred, the excursions, the cabin types and locations. The advisers below focus on cruising. They know the cruise lines and all their ships. They know deck plans in detail. (Yes, every ship has bad cabins—you do not, for example, want to be over the stern thrusters.) And they know the ships’ vibes. Think of them as matchmakers who will also help with logistics: private drivers and guides in ports of call (who wants to be on a bus?), pre-and post-cruise hotels, and…

PARIS Jean Imbert au Plaza Athénée In one of the city’s most sanctified restaurant spaces, Imbert traffics in splendor and munificence. There’s a $120 veal chop and a doting floor staff led by restaurant director Denis Courtiade. 25 AVENUE MONTAIGNE, DORCHESTERCOLLECTION.COM Le Relais Plaza An Art Deco wonder famous for its Lalique chandelier and Diane Chasseresse frescoes is a showcase for Imbert’s homey French favorites, inspired in large part by his grandmother’s cooking. 21 AVENUE MONTAIGNE, DORCHESTERCOLLECTION.COM Restaurant Monsieur Dior Imbert says he dug deep into Christian Dior’s dining habits to develop the offerings for the new restaurant at the label’s reopened headquarters. On Dior plates and vessels, Imbert serves such dishes as a truffle croque monsieur sliced into dainty triangles. 32 AVENUE MONTAIGNE, DIOR.COM ST. BART’S La Case The…

GEMINI MAY 22–JUNE 21 June should be a favorable time both personally and professionally, but try to resist pressure to act prematurely. In July your heightened charm will disarm all you meet, although it would be wise to be enigmatic and keep your intentions under wraps. August is going to be a suspenseful time that challenges you to make critical decisions and remain confident. SUZANNE KALAN ($9,000), SUZANNEKALAN.COM SAGITTARIUS NOVEMBER 23–DECEMBER 21 Creativity and pleaings of those who count. In July your ability to be inspired has a strong effect on others, but some financial fact-facing is needed for success. Situations at a distance will demand your attention in August. Open your mind to the new. ELIZABETH LOCKE ($4,150), NIEMANMARCUS.COM CANCER JUNE 22–JULY 22 June is going to be an active…