Innehållsförteckning för December/January 2024 från Town & Country

1985 THE TOWN & COUNTRY COOKBOOK “If I’ve learned nothing else during my years at Town & Country,” James Villas wrote in his introduction to The Town & Country Cookbook (sadly out of print, but check eBay), “I’ve learned that the rich and successful love and respect a great hamburger as much as an elaborate fish baked in puff pastry.” In 1972 Villas began his tenure as our first food and wine editor, a post he would hold until 1999. He presided over T&C’s epicurean coverage with an open mind (except when it came to nouvelle cuisine, for which he had a passionate contempt), dedicating as many words to luxuries like crème brûlée and rare Burgundies as to the virtues of, say, the onion (“E Pluribus Onion” was the title…

HUGH JACKMAN Wolverine is reportedly at work on a tell-all memoir following his divorce from Deborra-Lee Furness after 27 years. A new start calls for a new wardrobe, made-to-measure if you can have it. Me by Canali is the ne plus ultra of customization, be-spoke sprezzatura fit to put in Gio Ponti’s hanging armoire, the Italian OG of closets, available again via Milan’s Nilufar Gallery. SOPHIE TURNER After splitting from Joe Jonas, the Game of Thrones actress was photographed looking defiant leaving the St. Regis. Was she posing for the hotel’s holiday oil portrait series by Paul Ferney (commissions, available to all guests, price upon request) or setting the stage for a sympathetic PR campaign executed with the precision of Sansa Stark? Perhaps both. KEVIN COSTNER Hasn’t the Yellowstone actor spent enough time on…

Full Stop Contrary to popular belief, a life of sybaritic leisure takes work. And the right tools.…

Certain pieces of jewelry—namely, the trifecta pictured here—are as essential to a collection as the perfect white shirt is to a wardrobe. They’re the tried-and-true gems that last a lifetime, the jewels we need. What makes them so? Longevity, for one thing. Hoop earrings have their origins in Nubia, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, and were popular in ancient Egypt among queens and pharaohs alike. Eternity bands too have served as symbols of love for centuries. Even the tennis bracelet, though a much younger invention, has no less legendary a backstory: The style was born at the 1978 U.S. Open, when Chris Evert referred to her string of diamonds, which fell off during play, as her “tennis bracelet.” A new holy grail was born. Sublime design is…

Let’s face it: Sometimes all you want in life (we’re not judging) is uniformed butlers, celebrity chefs, state-of-the-art spas, formal dress dinners, and caviar by the pool—destination be damned. The vessels that follow—among the newest and most fabulous of the ultraluxe set—should do the trick. One has 4,000 recipes to choose from across eight restaurants; another, a specially commissioned Fabergé egg to sashay past on your way to dinner. Another has a rich menu of mind-expanding lectures and, in its spa, of meditative treatments. (Tried a Tibetan sound bath lately?) And, yes, we’ve included a sampler of their upcoming itineraries—just to bring you back to earth. Because (sorry, T.S. Eliot) the destination is as important as the journey. REGENT SEVEN SEAS GRANDEUR True to its name, this ship’s vibe is…

Charleston abounds in museums, for specifically Charlestonian reasons. For its first 200 years, it grew incomparably rich, the richest city in the richest colony in British North America. As its upper class reaped enormous profits from the exploitation of slave labor on rice and indigo plantations, it spent this fortune on the very best of everything: houses, paintings, furniture, Grand Tours, decorative arts. It is for this reason that nowadays many traditional museums in Charleston are informed both by the revelatory acquisitiveness of the planter class and, increasingly, by the less profuse but compelling details of the lives of the enslaved. The post–Civil War economic collapse plunged the city into decades of stagnation, with a silver lining: decrepit buildings were patched up rather than renovated or torn down, and white…

It was 2016, and Sarah Jessica Parker—alongside her husband, the Tony-winning actor Matthew Broderick—had been scouring the real estate market for years without any luck. But then one day Broderick spotted something promising: side-by-side brick townhouses offering a total of 14,000 square feet on West 11th Street in Manhattan. There was only one problem: The Sex and the City actress was out of town, and they had to move quickly if they wanted a shot at buying the property. Parker’s first instinct was to call Frank Selvaggi, her longtime accountant and business manager and co-founder of Altman, Greenfield & Selvaggi. Selvaggi knew her taste—and her finances—like the back of his hand. If anyone within her inner circle could help, it was he. Selvaggi was with Broderick when he first toured…

I was sitting in a wine bar at LAX when I first noticed the rift. The bartender—perfectly nice, blandly handsome—was trying to sell a passenger on a California red. This was not the Centurion Lounge. It wasn’t even the Delta Lounge. Yet above the din of gate change announcements, he was prattling on about the “notes of peppercorn in a high-altitude northern California red.” I wanted to scream. Or at least quote Into the Woods: “If life were only moments, then you’d never know you had one.” Maybe you’ve felt it too. The 10-course tasting menu, the helicopter ride to the tarmac, Burning Man—it’s just not hitting the same way. If you want to raise someone’s pulse, the invitation better be further afield, more involved, so absurd that the only…

Gstaad, Vail, Cortina… Windham? One of these things is not like the others—yet. As many of Slim Aaron’s most famous photos attest, the ski glitterati from around the globe can be found scattered among a handful of resorts in the Rockies and the Alps. The Catskills? Not so much. And while “Aspen East” is a bit of an inside joke for devotees of Windham—a 3,100-foot, 54-trail mountain above an eponymous rural town featuring a pizzeria, a BBQ joint, and several dive bars—change is indeed afoot. Locals and East Coasters with second homes in Windham are abuzz with the news that the mountain has a new group of majority investors led in part by hospitality magnate Sandy Beall, who is best known as the chairman and co-founder of Blackberry Farm and…

Sometimes it’s harder to find than others, I know. But let’s not stop looking. I often grab some early in the morning around the reservoir, and other days on the Lincoln Center website at 3 p.m. in a buy-tickets-now link for a performance that night. And on most days—often!—there is joy on the 19th floor of the Hearst Tower, where we create T&C for you. So I could not think of a better group of people to answer the question in the headline. We wish you all a peaceful and happy and healthy holiday season, and the same as we enter 2024. We look forward to taking you all along with us on this one-of-a-kind T&C ride. There is joy in it for us—and we hope for all of you,…

And on a small ship. The ones below can anchor at places like St.-Tropez, Hvar, and Bonifacio, where larger ships cannot, and are so sleek the locals won’t hate you for spoiling their view. SCENIC ECLIPSE It’s really a swish yacht with toys (two helicopters, a sub, a water sports marina) and airy suites tended by butlers. The itineraries go to some of the region’s most gorgeous hot spots. The Italian Treasures voyage, for one, takes you to Taormina, Lipari, Amalfi, and Capri. EMERALD AZZURRA & SAKARA These 100-passenger superyachts (ever so slightly less luxe sisters of Scenic) have glossy curves, a top-deck infinity pool, and cool stops. Along a Venice-to-Dubrovnik sailing, it’s Hvar, Rovinj, Split, and Korcula. (They drew so much attention I quite enjoyed swanning up and down…

WHERE ARE WE GOING? Every year a quintet of creative icons are recognized for their achievements with the Kennedy Center Honors. Consider it America’s OBE, except here we throw a great party, too, attended by POTUS and broadcast on TV. Balanchine and Astaire were among the first recipients, in 1978; this month Queen Latifah, Billy Crystal, Dionne Warwick, Barry Gibb, and Renée Fleming join the crew. WHAT ARE WE WEARING? Extraordinary flair earned Harry Winston the moniker “King of Diamonds.” Today that title remains unchallenged. Just look up: More than 200 diamonds and sapphires are hand-set on the watch (which doubles as a pendant or brooch) to evoke the founder’s beloved emerald cut. Speaking of legacy, while you’re in DC, do drop by the Smithsonian to see the Hope Diamond.…

FOR HER How to keep the romance alive? Proven methods below. FOR HIM Get him to remember you fondly, no matter what (see page 64).…

What would Parisians say if they were told that their city and Palm Beach—a town of Lilly Pulitzer pastels and Addison Mizner houses—were one and the same? Most would retort with a disgruntled “Quoi?” Soon, though, skepticism might morph into desire, and there’s one woman to thank for that. For Goop’s 15th anniversary, Gwyneth Paltrow has applied the brand’s Parisian sensibility, along with some California laissez-faire, to redesigning one of the Colony Hotel’s seven villas. The result is a plush, understated oasis nestled in a pink palace. Stocked with Goop goodies, natch. “I always think of that Angela Carter quote,” says Noora Raj Brown, executive vice president of brand at Goop. “‘Cities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman…’ In my opinion, Palm Beach is definitely a woman,…

There are few travel sensations quite as stirring and elemental as approaching an unknown island by sea—and knowing you’ll get to do it again tomorrow. Here’s how to channel your inner mariner. INDONESIA Few island groups are as in vogue as Indonesia, which is now home to a small flotilla of expedition ships. Explore the underwater wonderland of Raja Ampat and its karst islets from the barefoot-luxury megayacht Aqua Blu, which has 15 cabins and menus by Australian chef Ben Cross. Search for dragons on Komodo Island and snorkel off the Komodo archipelago’s coral-pink beaches from the beautiful 12-passenger phinisi Tiger Blue, also ideal for private charter—as is the exquisite 164-foot expedition yacht Kudanil Explorer, on which 16 guests are attended by 21 crew members (in Komodo, the Spice Islands,…

When Emma Brownrigg was applying to college in the fall of 2022, she got used to an avalanche of thick envelopes arriving in the mail. “I would get letters that were like, ‘Come to duh-duh-duh school.’ It was like that throughout my senior year.” But one school’s communication was a little different. Marketing brochures from Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee, had a distinctly warm-and-fuzzy vibe. “They were really well-put-together packages. They’d send letters, stickers. It was just very seemingly thoughtful stuff,” says Brownrigg, who was a top student at her public high school in Santa Monica. “I can’t say that a lot of other schools I applied to did that.” Indeed, mailings from institutions like Princeton and Duke had more of a “‘You need to pursue us’ kind of feel,”…

SAGITTARIUS NOVEMBER 23–DECEMBER 21 With mighty Mars in your sign, you’ll have energy to burn in December, and with Neptune changing direction in an important part of your chart, lifestyle issues will begin to clear up. You won’t get the financial boost you’re looking for, though, until January gets underway and Mercury turns direct. Focused efforts will begin to pay off. Your star is on the rise. CAPRICORN DECEMBER 22–JANUARY 20 You have much to consider as December begins, so it’s important for you to give yourself all the time you need and to kick back and enjoy life’s pleasures more fully. Your courage and conviction will be on the rise as January unfolds. The new Moon of the 11th is all about taking action and asserting your right to…