BY ELIZABETH MEIGHER NO ONE KNOWS GSTAAD better than Taki Theodoracopulos,
who has spent every winter in Gstaad from the age of eight years old to nearly eighty! Many consider Taki to be one of the last great playboys, from a Camelot era of chivalry and manners. Taki’s background brims with such intrigue and glamour that one might think it was written about a fictionalized James Bond character rather than a real person. The grandson of a former prime minister of Greece and the heir to a shipping fortune, Taki boasts a host of achievements: he’s been a member of the Greek Davis Cup team, a former captain of the Greek karate team, an Olympic tennis player, and the oldest life member of Gstaad’s exclusive Eagle Ski Club (which he joined in 1958). Taki is also an accomplished journalist, having written for National Review, London Spectator, the London Sunday Times, Esquire Magazine, 100 QUEST
Vanity Fair, the New York Press, and Quest, among other publications. In 2002, he founded The American Conservative with Pat Buchanan and Scott McConnell. Taki is currently the publisher of British magazine Right Now! and writes for Taki’s Magazine, described as a libertarian webzine of “politics and culture.” It’s little wonder, then, that Taki’s daughter, Mandolyna, is also intimately familiar with Gstaad. She started her career as a writer for Hamptons magazine, has written for Gstaad Life, and is the Editor of Taki’s Magazine. She is also a full-time interior designer, decorating private homes for young executives in the film and music industries. Mandolyna recently wrote a stunning book, In the Spirit of Gstaad (Assouline), the photos of which accompany this article. She dedicated the book appropriately to her dear and daring father. u
T H I S PA G E : CO U RTE S Y 1 6 B A R R E S TAU R A N T. O P P O S I TE PA G E : CO U RT E S Y O F G S TA A D PA L AC E .
IN THE SPIRIT OF GSTAAD