Indholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2023 i Town & Country

Your friends at T&C (and our Holiday 2022 cover star, Charlotte Casiraghi)…

WHERE ARE WE GOING? In early 2023 a ski-in, ski-out Six Senses property debuts in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Surrounded by snow-dusted forests, done up in sleek woods, and reinforced with a high-tech spa, the place feels like a 007 refuge—fitting, since Roger Moore had a home in town. In the mood for a champagne-soaked interlude? Jet over to St. Moritz: Milan’s famed Langosteria will have moved in by January. WHAT ARE WE WEARING? A precision timepiece is de rigueur for managing the alpine itinerary, and a Rolex Day-Date more than fits the bill. As for those diamonds and ice blue dial, just imagine how they’ll glint in the light: With south-facing slopes, Crans-Montana is one of the country’s sunniest ski resorts. Not so vertiginously inclined? It’s also excellent for counting down…

FOR UPDATING JEWELRY The dilemma of refashioning old jewelry comes up often. Our answer: Briony Raymond, who’s a genius at making vintage pieces into something you’ll wear constantly. BRIONYRAYMOND.COM FOR TRIPS TO GREECE Kostas Bastas is our go-to for trip planning—and solving flight problems: KBASTAS@THEOVATION NETWORK.COM. Archaeologist Michael Patmanidis is the Athens tour guide: PATMANIDIS.M@OUTLOOK.COM. FOR NON-DUD AVOCADOS Perfect avocados (offered fully or semi-ripe) and ridiculously good limes are available for home delivery on demand if you’re in NYC or on Long Island. DAVOCADOGUY.NET FOR PASSPORT PROBLEMS Expediting a passport or visa is something worth throwing money at—take it from us. When we’re in a pinch, ItsEasy is always our first call. ITSEASY.COM…

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Her beauty was symmetrical and severe. The camera loved her. But what made Greta Garbo a legend was her elusiveness. She rarely granted interviews, refused to attend her movies’ premieres, and famously declared that she wanted to be alone. Her nickname: the Swedish Sphinx. The Garbo enigma seemed to work as an intoxicant on the public. Since little about human nature ever seems to change, such cultivated mystery likely still has the power to generate desire—yet it’s somehow undervalued today. Ubiquity, not mystique, is the name of the current game. The result is overexposure in the extreme. Perhaps it’s time for mystery to make a comeback. Not persona“curation” or coyness in social media feeds, but the renewed adoption of the idea that one doesn’t owe an audience—real or imagined—access or…

In December 1976 T&C took a peek inside the festively decorated rooms of six properties belonging to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, showing descendants of the prominent American families who had donated their homes to the nonprofit. In this holiday vignette we are inside Cliveden, a Georgian-style estate in Philadelphia that had been the seat of the Chew family (some of whom are pictured here) for more than 200 years. While we’re undoubtedly drawn to the extravagant decorations and those red taffeta caftans, it’s that punch bowl that piques our interest most. Isn’t it time to bring back this classic for the season’s fetes? For the bowl’s T&C-christened comeback, we consulted event planner Bronson van Wyck on what’s indispensable for a fabulous holiday punch: Select a worthy vessel (Puiforcat…

Some people watch sports and wonder if they could play professionally. I eat at great restaurants and wonder whether I could work in the kitchen. I don’t have the knife skills to julienne or chiffonade, so my dream of being a chef is akin to wanting to play for the Yankees but not knowing how to catch. Luckily, Ludo Lefebvre, the handsome, tattooed, Michelin-starred chef who owns the Petit Trois restaurants in Los Angeles, didn’t know that. At noon on a Thursday I walked through the swinging kitchen door of Chez Maggy, Lefebvre’s bistro at the Thompson Hotel in Denver. I was met by chef de cuisine Jeff Schwing, who was much cheerier than I thought chefs were allowed to be. He gave me a black button-down shirt, an apron,…

“It’s a sensory overload.” Welcome to the world of designer entrepreneur Sabyasachi Mukherjee. If you’re a Westerner not well traveled in India, chances are you’ve never experienced anything like it. Until now. The creator of the eponymous Sabyasachi fashion lifestyle brand, revered across India and throughout parts of the Middle East and a favorite of the Bollywood elite, opened his first store in the West this fall, in New York’s West Village. It is, in the true sense of the word, awesome, a mind-blowing experience of audacity and enchantment. Splendid in its ebullience, the boutique offers a wealth of ideas from which those looking to go all in on holiday entertaining can extract pointers. As a host, Sabyasachi is a beacon of calm, attentive yet relaxed, but there’s nothing effortless…

Sonu Shivdasani, the founder of Soneva resorts, was turning his properties into exemplars of environmental sustainability long before it was fashionable to do so. His latest stroke of genius: bringing the Jaipur Literary Festival to the lush, beach-ringed island of Kunfunadhoo, in Baa Atoll in the Maldives—home of Soneva Fushi. The JLF in Jaipur attracts thousands of attendees and is streamed to 10 million viewers worldwide; at Soneva Fushi’s inaugural festival last May, there were 120, spread out over 10 days (minimum stay is four). Which meant attendees had direct access to the 34 renowned writers and artists (including filmmaker Mira Nair, novelist André Aciman, and Oxford historian Peter Frankopan). We all resided in solitary splendor (Soneva Fushi has 64 private, butlered villas), but we had meals and gala dinners…

OL JOGI, KENYA A 58,000-acre onetime cattle ranch on the Laikipia Plateau, it’s now a private conservancy with serious game viewing. Owned by the art-dealing Wildenstein family, it can be booked for up to 22 people. Don’t let the thatched-hut-style exterior fool you: Inside it’s over-the-top French château luxury. Great perk: the underground hide, reached through a tunnel, which overlooks a rhino-luring salt lick. SINGITA’S MALILANGWE HOUSE, ZIMBABWE This 5-bedroom villa in the 130,000-acre Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve is close enough to Singita’s Pamushana Lodge that you can walk to the main camp, but it’s isolated on a hilltop, with gorgeous views of huge boulders, red soil, and golden msasa trees. On offer: classic game drives as well as ancient cave rock art sites and “water safaris” to see fish eagles,…

Was it frivolous to be traveling to Charleston, which some have called America’s Rome for its historic and architectural riches, for, well, sport? To reimagine its streets, barrier islands, beaches, and salt marsh estuaries as a megagym or giant playground? With its more than 1,000 pre-Revolutionary and pre–Civil War buildings, Charleston, perhaps more than any other city, makes you think deeply about the beauties and complexities of America’s past. My plan this time was to spend five days living physically in the present. No galleries, museums, or historic mansions—just biking, golf, kayaking, pickleball, standup paddle-boarding, and even crabbing. The novelty was intriguing, as was one historical tidbit I picked up, which made my enterprise somehow historically juste: King Charles II, for whom the first colonists named their settlement in 1670…

In a sea of basicness, is it possible to be stopped in your tracks anymore? Here, moments of wow for a jaded nation. Haute couture: the highest form of fashion, its wares designed by the industry’s top creative talents and lovingly crafted with skilled passion by the renowned petites mains. Expectations—those of the clients and the creators themselves—are as high as the prices. In an era in which fashion relentlessly waves the banner of inclusivity, some critics consider these glorious garments an elitist relic, and they have a point. Despite well-meaning efforts to broaden its audience, at its most basic level couture remains the epitome of exclusivity, within reach only of those of extraordinary wealth. Skeptics might ask, a six-figure dress—seriously? Seriously indeed. Broadly speaking, couture is fashion’s laboratory, the…

A chef friend recently encountered a New York food critic on the sidewalk outside her restaurant and invited him inside for a drink. “Why haven’t you been in?” she asked. They were old friends, or at least friendly acquaintances, but he hadn’t come once since she had opened, nine months before. “I can’t really support what you’re doing here,” he told her. “It’s too fancy.” The chef in question uses classic French techniques and luxury ingredients to create innovative new dishes; she has white linen on the tables and a crystal chandelier over the bar. Apparently all of this was offensive to the critic’s prole sensibilities, never mind that the chef is a woman of color who employs a grateful team of immigrant laborers in her kitchen and dining room.…

Of all the gifts I received for my bar mitzvah, there’s only one I remember well. Surely there were checks in multiples of $18—a number considered to be good luck—and whatever questionable treasures a 13-year-old might have desired in the mid-1990s, but those all fade into the background of the gift. My godmother, a larger-than-life character who insisted on being called “Mamie,” in a nod to her cinematic model, took me to Greece. Today I might question the wisdom of choosing to trek internationally with a teenager, but more than that, I’ve been left with a lasting lesson: Nothing makes a better gift than travel. Nearly three decades after Mamie and I tromped across Athens, wandered through the churches of Tinos, and got into a minor fender bender on Mykonos…

The bodies begin dropping in the summer of 2015. Stephen Smith, 19, found dead in the middle of a road in Hampton County, South Carolina, on July 8. Smith is gay, and his mother believes her son was killed in a hate crime, a newspaper will report, “by several local Hampton County youths from prestigious families.” In 2018 Gloria Satterfield, a long-serving housekeeper for a prominent local family, is found dead while at work from “a trip-and-fall accident.” Nothing suspicious, it is called, until the proceeds from her insurance policy go not to her two surviving sons but allegedly to her lawyer. A year later, in February 2019, a 19-year-old rich kid, drunk at the wheel of his family’s boat, plows into a bridge at 2 a.m. At his side…

A Cartier High Jewelry ring made of carved coral bars and an emerald center stone with a small diamond drilled into it is what finally got me to say it out loud. But the thought had been rumbling inside my head for a whole week while I looked at 2022 high jewelry collections in Paris. A white marble pebble and diamond bib at Boucheron. Those enormous Mystery Set ruby bows and the triangular emeralds at Van Cleef & Arpels. All the rock crystal at De Beers. The Messika pieces directly inspired by Howard Carter’s 1922 King Tut discovery. “Are we in some kind of new Art Deco?” I asked. Loudly. The timing would be right. Art Deco, Charlotte and Tim Benton write in the introduction to the excellent Art Deco…

A THRILLA IN MANILA (1975) The live event that put the startup on the map. 500K watched. TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1989) It walked so Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story could run. DREAM ON (1990) Marta Kauffman and David Crane’s first hit. The next one? Friends. THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW (1992) In comedy, there’s before Gary Shandling and after. OZ (1997) A prison big enough for J.K. Simmons, Edie Falco, and Daddy Christopher Meloni. SEX AND THE CITY (1998) Carrie Bradshaw gave us cosmos, Manolos, and Lexi Featherston. But not Che Diaz. THE SOPRANOS (1999) The one that started it all, from Breaking Bad to Mad Men to Succession. THE WIRE (2002) Barack Obama’s favorite series. Favorite character? Omar. GAME OF THRONES (2011) Now this is peak TV. Its finale…

T&C has a lot of traditions: Souvlaki GR team lunches, Myzel’s licorice runs, Central Park picnics, Sant Ambroeus’s princess cake. We are, as I write, anticipating the return of one of my favorites, our holiday dinner at Shun Lee Café, complete with T&C family and friends, Grand Marnier prawns, and paper crowns. This is a year when I hope we can, for the first time in a long while, honor our traditions and respect and celebrate those of everyone around us. For me that means Christmas Eve at my brother’s with multitudes of relatives and mountains of lalagithes (a kind of fried breadstick typical of the part of Greece my father is from). And under the tree will be some of my favorite gifts, to give and receive: Mr. Pete’s…

Like many modern jewelry classics, the eternity band has its roots in ancient Egypt. Then, as now, the circle symbolized the unbreakable bond between two individuals. Four thousand years later, contemporary custom dictates that bands be studded all around with diamonds or other gems, and given in celebration of a milestone, be it an anniversary or the birth of a child. But shouldn’t promises of eternal love be grand, sparkling statements for all to see? For that we turn to TACORI. Each of its RoyalT Eternity Bands is surrounded by brilliant diamonds that rest on a crescent-shaped bed of even more diamonds, a brand signature. A triple decker of an infinity loop, if you will. Now that’s amore.…

Spend enough time walking around the periphery of Central Park and you’ll begin to notice certain styles seemingly native to the area. There’s the woman in a full runway look popping into a deli to grab a carton of oat milk, the young professional who has forgone a briefcase for an overstuffed Zabar’s bag. Turn your eye to the younger crowd, however, and you’ll spot a style that’s currently ubiquitous uptown but has its origins in more far-flung corners of the city. Ladies and gentlemen, Blair Waldorf and Holden Caulfield have gone cugine. In Italian-American enclaves, the word cugine (which actually means cousin) has come to describe the kind of guy who’s got a guy. If the image of Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, or James Gandolfini comes to mind,…

Even the most jaded New Yorker can’t help falling under the twinkling spell of Fifth Avenue decked out for the holidays. What of the traffic and tourists, you say? Infinitely more tolerable with retail therapy so close at hand. This season the coterie of treasure chests along Fifth welcomes a new deb: Chopard. After 15 years on Madison Avenue, the Swiss jeweler has moved into an Art Deco–inspired space in the historic Crown Building. If the best gifts are ones that spark joy, add this to the list: Diamonds freely dancing against mother-of-pearl, a signature of Chopard’s Happy Sport watches, are the sort of thing to elicit a smile—even from sangfroid Gothamites, for whom this limited edition has been made (note the NYC design on the face, with the hands…

Last summer Italy was, let’s be frank, almost loved to death, with congested roads, swamped sights, and sluggish service from overworked staff. Our suggestion? A do-over, but not in summer. “We are huge believers in low-season travel here,” says Andrea Grisdale, the Como-based founder of IC Bellagio. “It’s a totally different experience, and we are actively encouraging it.” No, you will not be forced to pitch a tent. For the first time, a number of hotels that used to shutter as soon as summer ended are pushing back closures. In Lake Como, the classic Villa d’Este is staying open until early January and reopening in March, as is the new Passalacqua. Following suit in Puglia is the wildly pretty Borgo Egnazia. On the Amalfi Coast, Monastero Santa Rosa stayed open…

1 THE OLD TOWN One of the best-restored and most delightful historic districts in the region, dating back to 1673, with a sophisticated new hotel, La Compañia (a hot spot for locals and international travelers), and a real foodie scene: Peruvian-Panamanian, French-Panamanian, patisseries, coffee and cigar bars. 2 THE CANAL Human ingenuity is on full display along this 40-mile engineering marvel, which connects the Atlantic with the Pacific and divides North and South America. A must daytrip from the Old Town, it’s also a good jumping-off point for hikes in the Anton Valley and visits to the Emberá indigenous community. 3 NATURE Nayara’s Bocas Bali, in the Bocas del Toro archipelago, is a luxe perch from which to explore Panama’s astonishing biodiversity. Prep at the Frank Gehry–designed biodiversity museum in…

Mention Vienna and what comes to mind are pastries and paintings, sacher-torte and Schiele—a place worth a pit stop between Prague and Budapest. But the grand onetime imperial capital is starting to shed its gilded cobwebbiness. A permanent home has just opened for the Austrian billionaire Heidi Goëss-Horten’s 700-strong collection—of Picassos, Chagalls, Basquiats, Warhols, Richters, and Baselitzes. The two-year-old Albertina Modern, Austria’s answer to the Tate, will showcase in spring 2023 American artist Alex Katz in a major retrospective. On the hotel front, the 150-year-old Sacher has some competition. Rosewood Vienna opened last summer in a former bank in the heart of the city’s pedestrian district. The onetime Ring Hotel, on the Ring-strasse, will reopen in early 2023 as the Amauris Vienna. The locally owned and operated Leo Grand is…

SAGITTARIUS NOVEMBER 23–DECEMBER 21 In December it’s crucial to do some reality testing before you rush into new endeavors. Partners and close associates may be in a bit of a spin, so be patient—new plans are about to take off. January promises to be a time when you can finally get a grip on uncertain situations. Be ready to reach out and make adjustments. Your optimism will be contagious. VHERNIER ($40,550), VHERNIER.COM CAPRICORN DECEMBER 22–JANUARY 20 You’re going to be in a good position to make some positive moves in December, so don’t obsesses about negative input. Lifestyle issues can finally be dealt with thoughtfully, and you’re on the cusp of a new personal cycle. Events in January put an emphasis on close relationships and financial choices. Health and/or work-related…

KISS AND TELL A lipstick is destined for one mouth only, so why not make it official? Online personalization services from Guerlain, YSL, and Lancôme will engrave bullets with your—or a loved one’s—name, and cool-French-girl brand La Bouche Rouge offers a monogrammed leather lipstick case certain to spark joy every time it’s whipped out for a touchup. LABOUCHEROUGEPARIS.COM DOGGY BAG 2.0 Regular food is fine for regular dogs, but for the truly pampered pup there’s the Farmer’s Dog experience. It begins with a questionnaire about Fido’s health and preferences and ends with a supply of personalized, human-grade meals shipped directly to you. Now you might want to upgrade that water bowl. THEFARMERSDOG.COM ROSES ARE RED It sounds nice, doesn’t it, to be the type who writes poetry for your beloved?…

Cognoscenti of the New York theater have been complaining about the overabundance of standing ovations for years. “We really have reached the point at which a standing ovation doesn’t mean a thing,” former New York Times critic Ben Brantley wrote in 2012, in an article that described the practice as “an epidemic.” Theories abound about how the standing ovation became so prevalent. It’s just crowd behavior. Audiences are eager to stretch their legs. Standing gets you on your way to Joe Allen before the rest of the crowd. No doubt Oedipus Rex received its fair share of standing ovations back in 429 BC, and Mozart’s The Magic Flute likely had people screaming in the aisles in 1791 Vienna. But theater historians believe that standing ovations as we know them today…

1 YOU “Instead of looking out, look in for inspiration,” says Darcy Miller, who has fashioned her party planning expertise and artistic talent (see above) into Celebration Expert, a new bespoke consulting service in which she shares ideas, referrals, and top secret sources. “Parties shouldn’t be all about you, but they should reflect you.” 2 PICK A PALETTE “Color is always a good thing to grab on to,” Miller says, from the icing on the cake to the dress code. “Even if you just tell everyone to come in gold, that alone makes it festive,” she says. “Your friends might kill you, but at least it sets the mood.” 3 MIND THE LITTLE THINGS “A memorable celebration isn’t about how much money you spend,” Miller says. “It’s about being thoughtful.” Add layers…

MURDER AND JUSTICE: THE CASE OF MARTHA MOXLEY The 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley in Greenwich, CT, inspired much TV, including this 2019 series. Michael Skakel, a neighbor of Moxley and nephew of Ethel Kennedy, spent a decade in prison for the crime before his conviction was overturned, in 2018. FOXCATCHER This Oscar-nominated 2014 film, starring Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo, was loosely based on the story of chemical-maker heir John E. du Pont’s 1996 murder of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz, who was living and working at du Pont’s estate. THE JINX A six-part documentary in 2015 helped lead to the conviction of New York real estate heir Robert Durst (who was a suspect in three murder cases) for the killing of Susan Berman in 2000. LOW COUNTRY: THE…

On Sunday nights in June 2018, HBO began airing Succession—a show about an aging billionaire and his retinue of suck-ups, yes-men, and bumbling courtiers that seemed perfectly tailored to the preoccupations of liberal viewers spellbound by the daily indignities and nepotistic excesses of the Trump presidency. At the outset Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the founder and chief executive officer of Waystar Royco—a global entertainment conglomerate with cruise ships, a movie studio, and a right-leaning cable TV news network, reminiscent of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire—is turning 80 and seemingly on the brink of retirement. His pending abdication has set up a dynastic power struggle among his jaded, emotionally stunted adult children. There is Kendall (Jeremy Strong), a spineless, coke-snorting, jargon-spewing wannabe business titan; Roman (Kieran Culkin), a foul-mouthed smart aleck; Connor…

On a recent bright morning, a select few convened at a former bank on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for the first look at one of those enviable renovations where no expense was spared. Scarves floated overhead, suspended between tall open frames, and along the walls like resplendent, illuminated scrolls. One of the hosts gestured to the “obsessive collections of art” started by his great-great-great-grandfather, 150 of the works now hanging on the walls, and then mentioned that there was a champagne bar on the third floor. A perfectly timed collective titter erupted that made me certain I had suddenly become an extra in a crowd scene on season two of And Just Like That… “New York City is a dream. We still believe in the American Dream,” said Pierre-Alexis Dumas,…