EDITOR’S LETTER
Clockwise from bottom: Chris Leidy, known for his subaquatic photography, sits as a subject himself for our feature shoot of Palm Beach people; Slim Aarons captured Mr. and Mrs. iconic Flager Museum; at home in Sally and Bob Gilbane’s Palm Beach residence; shopping along renowned Worth Avenue, as it looked in the 1920s.
TO THE OUTSIDE EYE, it’s a fairytale setting of impossibly perfect proportions—the temperate climate, the uncannily clean streets, the calibrated measure of its Mediterranean Revival–style buildings. And that’s before catching a glimpse of the residents: sun-kissed, well-heeled, brightly clad. We’re talking, of course, about Palm Beach—the subject of this issue and a town of seemingly unending intrigue. Is it any wonder that artists with an eye for the extraordinary—like Slim Aarons, one of its most famous documentarians—should be drawn to this place and its people? My first impression of the town, made when I was an impressionable young kid, was that it was chiseled from marble. The smooth and gleaming whiteness of its façades was beautiful, if somewhat guarded. As a warm-weather haven for some of the country’s highest-ranking elite, it makes sense that there should be an almost marble-like, keep-your-distance feel to it. It’s a similar feeling that’s evoked when visiting a grand European castle or palace: you can admire from afar, but you can’t ever quite touch. 16 QUEST
But spend some time in Palm Beach, and you quickly realize this is a vibrant community looking to preserve a storied past and yet somehow move it into the future. And that’s what Quest has always had access to in this fair town—the people and the progress that are the heartbeat of Palm Beach. From the families and the personalities who are moving it forward to the preservationists who are keeping an eye on its past, our Palm Beach Issue is a fresh and candid look at a town defined not by the wealth of its residents, but by the wealth of its character. u
Daniel Cappello ON THE COVER: Interior designer Celerie Kemble and her three children: William “Wick” Tyson Kemble Curry, Ravenel “Rascal” Boykin Curry, and Zinnia Lacoste Kemble Curry. From “Palm Beach People at Play,” produced by Elizabeth Meigher and photographed by Capehart Photography.
C A P E H A RT P H OTO G R A P H Y; S L I M A A RO N S ; CO U RT E S Y O F S A R A G I LB A N E
Donald Leas in front of the