This spring, stoke your inner f re with artistic inspiration.
95 YEARS OF GLAMOUR, GOSSIP, AND GLITZ
The Carlyle Hotel: A glittering legacy on Manhattan’s Upper East Side
CANDY CRUSH
Metallic makeup is the season’s sweetest beauty trend.
THE GREATS
Spring makeup is all about mood-altering hues and whisper-weight textures.
CULTIVATING SCENTS OF STYLE
Genius creators share the stories behind spring’s chicest new fragrances.
NEVER LET YOU GO
Get your hands on the season’s newest crop of statement accessories.
HOT LIST
This season’s top 10 most wanted.
POWER PAIR
Sisters Carolina and Camilla Cucinelli Launch the BC Duo bag.
WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS
A revealing documentary, a no-holds-barred memoir, the joys of motherhood, and a personal tragedy have only strengthened the staying power of the one-time reality TV star turned global phenomenon.
THE METAMORPHOSIS
In the Year of Snake, Bvlagri celebrates its iconic Serpenti motif, a source of timeless fascination and endless transformation.
THE REAL BABES OF POLITICS
Seasonal musings from the mind of Joan Juliet Buck.
STREET CHIC
Bold colors, texture clash, and a de f ant dose of attitude — individuality trumps uniform dressing.
UPPING THE GAME
a full-blown love a fair between fashion and sport.
MEDIUM RARE
While more women embrace weight loss drugs, the women shopping for larger sizes are noticing a sudden and surprising bene f t: More available clothes in their size.
INTO THE WILD
The great outdoors is calling... embrace the return to utilitarianism where practicality is chicand e fortless - again.
SIREN’S SONG
Flowing dresses and sheer fabrics with pops of bright accents recall the atmosphere of a fairy tale.
I CAN BUY MYSELF FLOWERS
This spring take your style cues from the beauty blooming all around.
LET OUR BAIN ROT IN PEACE
Is our in f nite scrolling really going to our heads?
LONG LIVE THE KING
The future looks bright for actress and producer Joey King.
SUIT YOURSELF
Sharp tailoring has never looked so sensual.
ANNA IN WONDERLAND
The World of Anna Sui celebrates the maximalist style of a true New York original.
A WORK OF ART
Sculptural silhouettes make for a strong statement this spring.
A BIGGER SPLAH
In April, David Hockney will become the f rst artist to take over Fondation Louis Vuitton.
HOW THE OURA RING ACCIDENTALLY TURNED ME
SOBER
Chasing the perfect sleep score turned my love for martinis into a love for mint tea.
THERE’S A PLACE IF ...
The most entertaining tableside experiences in dining.
GAME CHANGERS
Meet the change agents who are blazing a new path and inspiring a better future by rede f ning what it means to be successful.
“I had been misunderstood and underestimated for so long.”
— Paris Hilton
Lapointe dress, shoplapointe.com; Paumé Los Angeles necklace, paumelosangeles.com; Hilton’s own ring.
Contributors
FIORELLA VALDESOLO is an editor, creative consultant, and writer covering beauty, style, culture, and lifestyle topics for publications like Vogue , Allure , and the Wall Street Journal , where she’s also a contributing editor. She is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the James Beard-winning food magazine Gather Journal (print editions now dormant but social media still going!) She believes in the power of a great lipstick and that there is little a good meal can’t cure. Fiorella lives in Brooklyn with her partner, Nate; daughter Aluna; dog Rosie; and many mountains of books.
JAMIE MAGNIFICO is a fashion and celebrity photographer based in NYC, capturing everyone from Hollywood icons to the coolest downtown kids. When he’s not behind the camera crafting the perfect shot, you might f nd him hunting for the best espresso in the city, meticulously organizing his camera gear, or debating whether studio lighting setups count as a form of modern sculpture. He’s been known to wrangle models, stylists, and rogue garment steamers with equal f nesse—all in the name of getting the shot.
TASHA REIKO BROWN is a Los Angeles-based makeup artist and groomer, joining CHANEL in 2021. As the f rst-ever CHANEL male groomer in the U.S., Tasha brings an added layer of storytelling to the brand’s makeup, skincare and other grooming products. Brown’s talent and fresh approach to beauty and skincare has made her a favorite with clients such as Alicia Keys, Micheal B Jordan, Denzel Washington, Gabrielle Union, Jamie Foxx, Joaquin Phoenix, Dev Patel, Nara Smith, Naomi Ackie, and many others.
FEDERICA VOLPE is a renowned Italian journalist, born and raised in the south of Italy. Based in Los Angeles, Volpe’s passion for cinema, TV, music, and fashion fuels her storytelling. She’s interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry and serves as a voter for the Critics Choice Awards. When she’s not writing, you’ll likely f nd her enjoying a long, lively Italian dinner with friends—or acting as a selfproclaimed pizza sommelier.
You’ve got to look at life the way it oughta be
Looking at the stars from underneath the tree
There’s a world inside and a world out there
With that on TV you just don’t care...
But out there the world is a beautiful place
With mountains, lakes and the human race
And this is where I wanna be And this is what I wanna do
NEW ORDER ALWAYS GETS IT RIGHT. Since frst hearing this song 20 years ago, I’ve tried to subscribe to this ethos. I aim to see the best in every possible situation and try to not get too stuck behind my various screens while life passes me by. There is too much out there in the world to be a passive viewer and not an active participant. Certainly, in 2005, there was no way to know just how prescient this idea would become. This was the age of MySpace, Thefacebook and YouTube had just been invented; iPhones had not—let alone all the other social media apps and algorithms. We didn’t know it then, but the turn of the century was a much simpler time.
Screen addiction has changed our world drastically over the past two decades. So much so that in this issue, writer Fiorella Valdesolo takes us on a deep dive into ‘brain rot’ the 2024 Oxford English Dictionary Word of the Year (p. 150). It’s the perfect term to coin for our “deteriorating mental and intellectual state as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging”. So while watching TikTok on the treadmill might help you pass the time and burn those calories, just know the tradeof is you could become dumber by the mile.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Brain-rotting entertainment can also move our culture, for better or worse. In “WTF with Joan Juliet Buck,” our resident cultural critic examines the far-reaching efects of social media, and in particular the impact of the Real Housewives on beauty and politics (p. 90). Buck muses about how the omnipresent Real Housewife franchise has given way to a very diferent looking politician than we’ve been accustomed to since the inception of our republic.
Speaking of beauty and wellness, Faran Krentcil is fnally able to live her most fashionable life in as many size mediums she can get her hands on! The rise of GLP-1s as a weight-management tool has fooded the designer resale market with previously hard-to-fnd size mediums (p. 120). Now is your moment to let your fngers do the shopping on your favorite screen. Whatever it is you’ve been lusting after might fnally be available—if Faran doesn’t get there frst.
I would be remiss if I discussed reality television and culture shifting without paying homage to our Grazia global cover star, the iconic Paris Hilton (p. 68). Since exploding into the zeitgeist 25 years ago, she has changed the game and become The Blueprint for 21st-century fame. For this issue, Marshall Heyman caught up with Paris in Los Angeles, mere weeks after the fres, where her Malibu house was destroyed. Hilton immediately put her busy life on hold to spread awareness via her massive social media channels, raising nearly a million dollars for L.A.’s displaced families and pets. All this happened just weeks after the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act was signed into law—a bill that Paris had been tirelessly championing for years. Paris’ chat with Marshall reveals an insightful, compassionate woman who, after decades of hiding behind her fame, is ready to show the world her true nature: an heiress with a heart of gold. Loves it!!
Perhaps we should all take a cue from the OG infuencer and use our screens for good? If we can fnd time to break the addictive cycle of doom scrolling, maybe we can use our platforms to help make the world a better place. Cat memes will always be there.
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This spring, stoke your inner fire with artistic inspiration.
WORDS CYNTHIA MARTENS
For some in Naples, out with the old means tossing pots and pans, and even furniture and appliances, from the balcony on New Year’s Eve. In the 18th century, the Italian Ruggieri family, inspired by the Chinese mastery of freworks, became famous for their pyrotechnic performances before European royalty, including for the marriage of the future Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in France. Unfortunately, the spectacular boom-and-crackle caused the crowd to panic, and over a hundred people reportedly died in the ensuing stampede—yet freworks remain a popular expression of celebration and renewal.
One of the four classical elements, fre fascinates as a symbol of life and destruction. Flames provide light, heat and comfort, but they also consume and destroy. Tere are countless fre-related idioms. To play with fre is to firt with danger; to set the world on fre is to achieve dramatic success; to burn out is to exhaust oneself. In French, être tout feu tout fame—to be all fre and fame— is to be passionately enthusiastic. Recent news headlines have been ablaze: On January 7, just days after Californians raised their glasses to the new year, sparks set of wildfres that tore through the Los Angeles metropolitan area, killing and injuring dozens and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate. And with Donald Trump newly sworn in as 47th president of the United States, various media outlets have described his rhetoric as “incendiary” and his agenda as “scorched earth.”
To say the least, the world is a powder keg. As smartphones ping incessantly, alerting us to global suf-
REBEL: THE ART AND ACTIVISM OF AI WEIWEI
March 12 – September 15, 2025
COVERING THE NEW YORKER
Through March 30, 2025
L’Alliance New York
22 East 60th St., 1st Floor, New York, New York 10022
For more information, visit lallianceny.org
One of the four classical elements, fire fascinates as a symbol of life and destruction.
fering and to disasters both natural and political, it’s hard not to feel powerless. It can be tempting to retreat or just turn everything of.
But the best way to spread light is to share it. Italian poet Dante Alighieri, upon entering a dark and foreboding wood, was undaunted by the sight of a speckled leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. In fact, he wrote Te Divine Comedy after being condemned to perpetual exile from his native Florence. Shouldn’t the rest of
us be able to summon our courage and face the Inferno? We may not produce a Western literary cannon, but we can still embrace human creativity and engage in constructive dialogue.
Ashes to ashes and funk to funky We know Major Tom’s a junkie Strung out in heaven’s high Hitting an all-time low…
David Bowie used his songs “Space Oddity” and “Ashes to
Ashes” to express human vulnerability and the longing for comfort. “Here we had the great blast of American technological know-how shoving this guy up into space, but once he gets there, he’s not quite sure why he’s there,” Bowie remarked in a 1980 interview with New Musical Express magazine.
Ground control to Major Tom: Tis spring, the Bowie musical Lazarus is coming back to Italy, kicking of in Cesena on April 5 and
PHOTOS:
Flames provide light, heat and comfort, but they also consume and destroy
reaching Florence, Genoa, Bologna, and Modena before raising the curtain in Rome on June 5 at the gorgeous Teatro Argentina, a red-cushioned 18th-century venue with an ornate cupola of foral wreaths, gold and goddesses. (Lovers of obscure trivia, take note: the theater was built on the site of the Teater of Pompey, where Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC.) Created by Bowie and the Irish playwright Enda Walsh, Lazarus debuted Of-Broadway in 2015 and frst reached Italy in 2023 in Turin. Directed by Valter Malosti, the Italian show stars a local cast including Manuel Agnelli, Casadilego, and Michela Lucenti, who bring to life the musings, dreams, and delusions of Tomas Newton, a morose humanoid alien stuck on planet Earth. He doesn’t get out much and wallows in gin, to the tune of various Bowie compositions—not that we’re suggesting you do the same.
Teater posters are an often-underrated art form. In Washington, D.C., the Phillips Collection is showcasing the works of Czech artist Alfons (or Alphonse) Mucha, celebrated for his stylized theatrical posters and decorative panels, as well as illustrations for books and magazines, and advertisements for biscuits, champagne and bicycles. Now, Timeless Mucha: Te Magic of Line invites viewers to explore the impact of Mucha’s elaborate, fowery style on more modern art and graphic design. Te artist is quasi-synonymous with Art Nouveau; Mucha’s works are likely familiar even to those who do not know him by name. A scan of Etsy reveals their steady popularity on tea boxes, posters, and canvas prints, which likely would have pleased him.
“I was happy to be involved in an art for the people and not for pri-
vate drawing rooms,” he once wrote. “It was inexpensive, accessible to the general public, and it found a home in poor families as well as in more affuent circles.”
Author Stephen King has said he likes to explore how the extraordinary intrudes into ordinary life. On May 27, King’s latest work, Never Flinch, starring recurring character Holly Gibney, hits shelves, presenting a dual narrative touching on vigilantism: Readers both follow the investigation of a local police department into an anonymous threat of violence and track a prominent women’s rights activist who becomes the target of an aggressive stalker. Te choice of subject matter feels prescient, as the U.S. prepares to put Luigi Mangione on trial in connection with the murder of health care executive Brian Tompson, and the United Nations reports a global increase in attacks against women activists. Te title, too, alludes to withdrawal and nervousness, a natural response to the underswell of violence in current discourse.
TIMELESS MUCHA: THE MAGIC OF LINE
A new exhibition in D.C. explores the infuence of Alfons Mucha’s work on later graphic design, including concert posters such as this one by Alton Kelley, 1971. Through May 18, 2025
Recently, when the online art magazine Hyperallergic prompted DeepSeek, the Chinese artifcial intelligence (AI) platform, with the question “Who is Ai Weiwei?” the bot was coy, saying: “I am sorry, I cannot answer that question. I am an AI assistant designed to provide helpful and harmless responses.” Asked again, DeepSeek tried to change the subject.
Te bot’s evasiveness is not surprising. AI algorithms only “know” the information they have been fed,
The Phillips Collection 1600 21st St. NW, Washington, D.C., 20009 Goh Annex and Sant Building, Floor 3 For more information, visit phillipscollection.org
and DeepSeek is subject to censorship by the Chinese Communist Party. Te artist, activist, and documentarian Weiwei, for his part, is persona non grata in his homeland, having repeatedly criticized the government for corruption and human rights violations.
LOUVRE COUTURE –ART AND FASHION: STATEMENT PIECES
Through July 21, 2025
99, rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France
For more information, visit louvre.fr
Musée du Louvre
In a wry statement to the magazine, Weiwei noted that “the values [China] upholds will continue to sufer from a profound and inescapable faw in its ideological immune system: an inability to tolerate dissent, debate, or the emergence of new value systems.”
Nothing like dissent and debate to set your brain on fre. From March 12 through September 15, the Seattle Art Museum is hosting Ai, Rebel: Te Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei, an exhibition that promises to examine “freedom, censorship, and human rights” through over 130 of Weiwei’s installations, sculptures and flms, created from the 1980s onward. Some of Weiwei’s most famous works will be on display, including the photographic Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995) and Sunfower Seeds (2010), which features an unfathomable number of hand-crafted porcelain sunfower seeds.
Additionally, for the frst time in its nine-decade history, the Seattle Art Museum is simultaneously showing the works of a single artist at all three of its locations. Starting March 19, visitors can see Ai Weiwei: Water Lilies, a work in which Weiwei used Legos to create a new, mosaic-like rendition of impressionist Claude Monet’s painting of the same name, at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Separately, Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (Bronze) will be displayed at the Olympic Sculpture Park starting May 17.
Te New Yorker magazine turns 100 this year—insert witty aside!
To mark the anniversary, L’Alliance New York, the French educational, cultural, and arts institution of Park Avenue, is presenting Covering Te New Yorker, an exhibition dedicated to the magazine’s instantly recognizable covers and the artists who created them. Curators Rodolphe Lachat and Françoise Mouly, the latter of
whom has served as art editor for Te New Yorker since 1993, handpicked a selection of original works by dozens of talents, including David Hockney and Kara Walker, for inclusion in the show. Te exhibit wraps up on March 30, when Mouly—who is also editorial director of TOON Books, the publisher of kids’ comics and graphic novels—will give a masterclass during L’Alliance New York’s Comic Arts Fest.
In Paris, meanwhile, the Louvre is exploring the many common threads between fashion and the visual arts, in an exhibition curated by Olivier Gabet and titled Louvre Couture–Art and Fashion: Statement Pieces, which runs through July 21.
“Museums are great mood boards,” observed Gabet, the director of the Louvre’s decorative arts department, in an interview with WWD. Looking for inspiration? Wander through and take in the textiles: Spread across 9,000 square meters, Louvre Couture profers 65 designs on loan from dozens of major fashion houses, as well as various accessories, “newly illuminating the close historical dialogue that continues to take place between the world of fashion and the department’s greatest masterpieces, from Byzantium to the Second Empire,” per the show notes, which also emphasizes the artisan techniques used in decorative arts and fashion.
LAZARUS
June 5 – June 15, 2025
Teatro Argentina
Largo di Torre Argentina 52, 00186 Rome, Italy
For more information, visit teatrodiroma.net
NEVER FLINCH BY STEPHEN KING
Published by Scribner
Scheduled for release May 27, 2025
As Te Carlyle Hotel blows out 95 candles in 2025, this iconic Upper East Side jewel is as much a star as the A-listers, royals, and presidents who’ve graced its halls. Since its grand opening in 1930, the Carlyle has sparkled as the ultimate mix of oldschool luxury, cultural magnetism, and big city swagger. Tis storied hotel knows how to keetp its legacy alive—and keep everyone talking with jaw-dropping anecdotes and a guestbook that reads like Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
Real estate mastermind Moses Ginsberg dreamed big when he envisioned creating a residential hotel where European sophistication would meet New York fair, and boy, did he deliver. Designed by Sylvan Bien and Harry M. Prince, the 35-story Art Deco beauty opened its doors toward the start of the Great Depression. But no economic downturn could dim Te Carlyle’s glow. Word spread, and soon the elite—those who valued discretion wrapped in world-class service—focked to this new oasis of refnement.
95 YEARS OF Glamour,
The Carlyle Hotel: A Glittering Legacy on Manhattan’s Upper East Side
Gossip, and Glitz
NYC’s Carlyle Hotel, an iconic Art Deco masterpiece built in 1930, boasts a limestone façade, gilded accents, and sophisticated interiors that refect the era’s glamour, while ofering sweeping Central Park views from its
luxurious rooms.
“Te Carlyle is an extraordinary Upper East Side destination that has been a defning part of New York’s cultural and social fabric for almost a century,” refects Marlene Poynder, managing director of Te Carlyle. “Since we opened our doors in 1930, we’ve hosted every American president since Harry Truman, and royals from Prince Charles and Princess Diana to the kings and queens of Denmark, Greece, Spain, and Sweden. While we’re celebrated for our discretion, some stories have become part of our legend— like the elevator ride with Princess Diana, Michael Jackson, and Steve Jobs, where Princess Diana broke the silence by singing Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It.’ Magical moments like that, and Bill Murray’s impromptu serenade at Bemelmans Bar, live on in our walls.”
Oh, the stories those walls could tell! Over the decades, Te Carlyle has played host to the who’s who of politics, royalty, and Hollywood. President John F. Kennedy? Yep, he had an apartment here and held private meetings away from prying eyes. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis even called Te Carlyle home for 10 months after JFK’s assassination. Iconic meeting alert: Audrey Hepburn and Jackie O. reportedly frst crossed paths right here.
Te Carlyle’s 192 rooms aren’t just places to rest—they’re all a piece of New York history. Every suite is tastefully designed, blending classic elegance with modern luxury. Guests are treated to custom fabrics, rich wood paneling, and Art Deco fourishes that pay homage to the hotel’s early days. For the ultimate indulgence, the lavish Central Park view suites ofer sweeping vistas of Manhattan’s skyline, while the Royal Suite is ft for, well, royalty. It’s no wonder the hotel has become a home away from home for so many luminaries.
Princess Diana was a regular, so naturally, Prince William and Kate Middleton followed in her footsteps during their 2014 visit. “To actually see the duke and the duchess was like goosebumps to me,” Carlyle concierge Waldo Hernandez revealed in Matthew Miele’s 2018 documentary Always at Te Carlyle. “Kate even said hi to me, which was kind of cool.”
Hollywood royalty is just as smitten with the Carlyle as political and British royalty. Tis is where legends come to live—and love. Rumor has it that Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy shared some secret moments here, adding a dash of intrigue to the hotel’s storied history. Elizabeth Taylor and Greta Garbo? Practically regulars. Ingrid Bergman even called it home for a while. And the nights were anything but quiet, with Frank Sinatra, Truman Capote, and the Beatles’ guitarist George Harrison all once caught up in the hotel’s glittering whirl.
Over the years, some celebrities have taken up full-time residence, transforming their suites into private sanctuaries. Fashion icon Vera Wang, for instance, called the Carlyle home for a decade—at least, her brand did, as it was the frst location of her bridal salon, which debuted in 1990. Designer Diane von Fürstenberg also made the Carlyle her residence, blending timeless luxury with her signature style, while Mick Jagger, who maintained a pied-à-terre at the Carlyle, added a touch of rock ’n’ roll to the hotel’s storied history.
Te Carlyle Hotel has cemented its status as the ultimate destination for fashion’s elite, particularly during New York Fashion Week. Te iconic Upper East Side landmark serves as both a discreet hideaway and glamorous hub for designers, models, and celebrities. With its luxurious suites and leg-
Elegance at the keys: Bobby Short captivated the room at Café Carlyle, where he performed for 36 years, his smooth vocals and timeless charm defning New York nightlife.
endary Bemelmans Bar, Te Carlyle ofers a chic haven where fashionistas prep for the runway or relax after a whirlwind of events.
Te Carlyle Hotel has also become a de facto clubhouse and preshow for many celebrities and fashion icons on the iconic frst Monday in May: the Met Gala. Regulars include Rihanna, who’s known to leave from Te Carlyle in jaw-dropping couture moments, and Kim Kardashian, often photographed exiting in her latest Met Gala look. Naomi Campbell, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Zendaya, and Harry Styles have also been spotted there, using the hotel as their glam headquarters, and each exit has become a de facto pre-carpet show of its own. Designers like Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs are frequently seen arriving to assist their muses with fnal touches. With its private, glamorous ambiance, Te Carlyle has become synonymous with pre-Gala prep
As for Hollywood? Forget “stufy Upper East Side” stereotypes. Modern stars like Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga have all made appearances, while icons like David Bowie, Andy Warhol, and Hunter S. Tompson proved the hotel’s cool factor years ago.
When it comes to food and drink, Te Carlyle serves more than just meals—it dishes out experiences. Bemelmans Bar is pure New York glamour, named after Madeline creator Ludwig Bemelmans. His whimsical murals pair perfectly with expertly crafted cocktails and live jazz. Don’t be surprised if a celebrity suddenly takes the stage. “Mariah Carey’s even sung here af-
ter the Rockefeller Christmas lighting. Bono’s done it too,” Hernandez shared. Te vibe? A little bit classic, a little bit “New York after dark.”
And speaking of New York magic, Te Carlyle and Bemelmans Bar star alongside Bill Murray in Sofa Coppola’s holiday favorite A Very Murray Christmas. Like Nowhere did for the Chateau Marmont, Coppo-
idency wrapped in 2020, following the passing of bandleader Eddy Davis, but Woody’s clarinet solos are forever part of the Carlyle’s charmflled legacy. Café Carlyle manager Allal Gogo—better known as Gogo to regulars—is the heart and soul of the venue, and it’s thanks to his warm hospitality and exceptional service that guests, and performers, keep coming back.
Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy’s rumored rendezvous? Here . Elizabeth Taylor and Greta Garbo? Practically regulars. Ingrid Bergman? Once called it home.
la’s flm turns Te Carlyle into more than just a backdrop—it’s practically a lead character. Between the cozy holiday vibe, Murray’s laid-back charm, and the hotel’s old-school sophistication, it’s the perfect way to toast a New York Christmas.
Ten there’s Café Carlyle, the city’s cabaret crown jewel since 1955. Legendary performers like Bobby Short, Eartha Kitt, and Elaine Stritch put it on the map, and today’s stars—think Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Rita Wilson, Katharine McPhee, and an annual residency with Isaac Mizrahi—keep its intimate stage alive with music. Woody Allen and his clarinet were practically part of the furniture after he played with the Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band for over 35 years. Monday nights became a scene, with devoted fans and curious onlookers packing into the legendary Upper East Side spot for a little live jazz and a lot of nostalgia. Te res-
“We know more than half of our guests really, really well,” Hernandez revealed. “A lot of our guests are like family to us. We know their likes, their dislikes. If there’s a new restaurant or show in town, we’re the frst to send them.”
After nearly a century, the Carlyle isn’t just a hotel—it’s a mood. It’s sipping martinis at Bemelmans, soaking in the romance of a cabaret show, and walking the same halls as legends. Whether you’re a history buf, a luxury lover, or just someone who wants to feel like a star for a night, the Carlyle is your New York moment waiting to happen. Here’s to the next 95 years of magic, memories, and a little bit of mystery.
Icons through the decades: The Carlyle Hotel has welcomed legends from politics, fashion, music, and royalty. From JFK and Jackie O to Truman Capote, Rod Stewart, Gigi Hadid, Princess Diana, and David Bowie, its halls whisper stories of timeless glamour
PHOTO:
PHOTOGRAPHY
JASON HETHERINGTON
BEAUTY DIRECTION
JOELY WALKER
MAKE-UP GINA KANE
USING DIOR BEAUTY
SPRING GLOWMANIA
MAKE-UP COLLECTION
CANDY CRUSH
Gwen Flamberg takes a shine to metallic makeup, the season’s sweetest beauty trend
POWER UP THE PLAYFUL. When it comes to makeup, the longer, warmer days of spring usher in a desire to drop the drab and try a bold new look. Sugar-spun shades like robin’s-egg blue and baby pink feel fresh and joyous. But formulas laced with high shimmer go a step further to make a major statement—with benefts! More than just a pretty palette, metallic makeup refects light, brightening the entire face.
It’s no wonder why metallics were some of the frst makeup worn. In ancient Egypt, crushed malachite was used for eyeshadow, and Renaissance noblewomen adorned lips and cheeks with substances created from crushed beetle wings and fsh scales. The 20th century saw its fair share of shimmer, too. But unlike the opaque bases of the ‘60s and glitter-heavy fnishes of the disco era, today’s vibe is softer, imparting a rare radiance.
The frosts of the moment “add a glistening dimension in contrast to the texture of skin,” says makeup artist Gina Kane. The glow is real! A few sweeps of shadow, highlighter, or blush and you’re in business.
Since silvery particles can be difcult to blend evenly, the makeup pro recommends a prep step. “Start with a dusting of powder to create a smooth, dry base” as a canvas for color. Then just go for it. Unlike matte makeup, which requires precision, there’s no need to defne lines to stay within with metallic hues. Just have fun! Says Kane: “It can be the most fattering and enjoyable trend to wear.”
THE GREATS
Spring makeup is all about mood-altering hues and whisper-weight textures. Gwen Flamberg sees the light
DIAPHANOUS
JELLY BOMB
Hyper-shiny but not at all sticky, Sulwhasoo Perfecting Lip Color (here in Peony) infuses lips with nourishing ingredients that keep lips fake-free. ($38, us.sulwhasoo. com)
BRIGHT IDEA
Inspired by the material used in the house’s legendary scarves as well as diaphanous silk chifon, Hermès Rouge Brilliant Silky lipstick in the limited-edition shade Orange Flash adorns lips with a shock of bold tangerine infused with an almost imperceptible metallic shimmer. ($81, hermes.com)
DREAM COAT
Slip on a layer or two of rose-scented Burberry Brit Shine Lipstick—it contains collagen-promoting lactic acid to literally plump lips over time. The irresistiblynamed Punk Pink hue is surprisingly fattering. ($45, nordstrom.com)
TOTALLY TUBULAR
Sure, the whisperlight formula and soft shine of Dries Van Noten Sheer Lipstick in Stanley Orange play up lips perfectly, but it’s the objet d’art-level cases (choose from four designs) that will reel you in. ($40 for a lipstick refll, $38 per case, saks.com)
FLOWER POWER
Lush with black rose and peony oils plus a heavy dose of hyaluronic acid, Gucci Rouge De Beauté Brillant lip color (here in Goldie Red) keeps lips smooth and hydrated for 24 hours. And the vintage boudoir packaging is to die for. ($47, sephora.com)
THE POLAR OPPOSITE OF OVERLY PRECIOUS, BLUSH VEILS LEAVE A
STRAIGHT FLUSH
Swipe the delightfulto-the-eyes bullet of Merit Flush Balm
Cheek Color high across cheeks and the bridge of your nose to look fresh of the slopes or seaside. Don’t let the fuchsia hue of Le Bonbon scare you; it imparts a universally fattering pop of posey. ($30, meritbeauty.com)
SEE THE LIGHT
The subtlest illuminating pigments in the Chanel Joues Contraste Intense velvety cream-topowder compact (here in Rouge Franc) impart a glowing-from-within vibe. ($55, chanel .com)
COMPLEXION PERFECTION
A dab of Anastasia
Beverly Hills
Blurring Serum
Blush (here in Peach) leaves a soft matte, radiant wash of color that smooths uneven texture and glosses over pores. ($25, anastasiabeverlyhills .com)
COMING UP ROSY
Avocado oil in Lys Beauty Higher Standard Satin
Matte Cream
Blush’s clean formula infuses a dose of moisture. But that’s not all: Power-packed pigments in Humble ensure a bold, true fnish on every skin tone. ($18, sephora .com)
PHOTOS:
HEAVY LIFT
Counteract the blue or brown tones under eyes that lead to the look of dark circles by layering a pink or peach color-corrector under concealer. Kosas Revealer Extra Bright (here in Magic) is specifcally formulated to blend seamlessly on thinner, dryer skin. ($32, kosas.com)
SHEEN QUEEN
Touches of cooltoned pastel shadows placed along the lashlines or inner corners creates the illusion of whiter eyes. The icy shades in Diorshow 5 CouleursGlowmania Limited Edition Eyeshadow Palette in Pinkmania do the trick. ($71, dior.com)
SEEING RED
A bold pop of unexpected color on lashes frames the entire face— and burgundy like Victoria Beckham Future Lash in Bordeaux—instantly brightens green, blue, and brown eyes with a simple swipe. ($34, victoriabeckham beauty.com)
ON THE LINES
Tapping in to longevity science, Estēe Lauder ReNutriv Ultimate Diamond Age Reversal Eye Creme contains black diamond trufe extract to energize delicate skin cells, spurring circulation for a frmer, more luminous look. ($210, esteelauder .com)
Naeem
CULTIVATING SCENTS OF STYLE
Genius creators share the stories behind spring’s chicest new fragrances
THE LUCKY ONE
Francis Kurkdjian appreciates a good luck charm. For 30 years, the inimitable nose (and current perfume creation director for Dior) has carried a little piece of white sugar cube in his pocket when he has very important VIP meetings. It’s a trait he shares with the legend Christian Dior himself, who famously sewed petals of lily of the valley into the hem of his couture creations and was known to carry a ring of amulets everywhere he went. His most revered? A tiny stick of wood. This common superstition inspired Kurkdjian’s latest in Dior’s La Collection Privée, Bois Talisman. But like all good tales, the story goes deeper.
Kurkdjian believes this new invisible lucky charm should become “a part of one’s skin, something you can’t go out without or you will get lost.” To create it, the perfumer imagined meeting Christian Dior on the street, and like a se-
THE SECRET WEAPON
cret handshake through time, melding their tokens, and the idea for a highly elevated concoction of wood and sugary notes was born. Notes of cedarwood and vanilla mingle for a genderless scent that’s warm and enveloping, a cocoon of comfort. Why cedarwood, specifcally? “Pencils are made out of cedarwood, and this is what Christian Dior used to draw designs,” the guru explains.
Unlike most fragrance creations, which take multiple iterations to land on the perfect formula, Bois Talisman came together quickly because “the story was crystal clear,” he says. And the name was a no-brainer, bien sur. “Talisman is very French,” Kurkdjian assures. Just like the heady sweet and earthy notes of the gorgeous pink-amber juice, “it’s voluptuous.”
Dior Bois Talisman, $330 for 3.4 oz, dior.com
What better fower to symbolize the courage, strength and beauty of women in all their dimensions than the mighty rose? But just as the notion of femininity today is not cliché, sometimes a rose is a rose—and then some. For Louis Vuitton’s latest fragrance, eLVes (pronounced “elles”) in-house Master Perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud gave the classically romantic bloom a decidedly subversive twist, at once familiar but with a silent message not to be underestimated. “When you love someone, you ofer roses, and roses have this eternal aspect of a perfume everyone knows from childhood,” he explains, “but if you take [a rose] the wrong way, it can hurt you.”
To tap in to the eternal beauty of the fower—with a subtle reminder of thorns—he blended deep, velvety Bulgarian rose absolute with airy CO2-extracted Centifolia rose then laced in delicate, dewy lily of the valley, for the frst time “giving a voice” to this note through a never-before-used extraction process developed in his native Grasse. A cornucopia of juicy fruits and spices further infuse a pulse of energy. Think blackcurrant, peach, and a hint of creamy coconut milk plus exotic spices including cinnamon and ginger. Finally, the scent unfolds in amber, which the perfumer believes represents “the epitome of 21st-century sensuality,” and a hit of patchouli, always reminiscent of unbridled freedom.
The complex scent took Cavallier-Belletrud fve years to develop and, in the end, more than 100 takes. But he looked to a familiar muse for the fnal stamp of approval. “When my wife is coming back to me saying, ‘You’re destroying the beautiful perfume you gave me before,’ I know I have to come back to what makes the perfume beautiful.”
eLVes Louis Vuitton, $330 for $3.4 oz., louisvuitton.com
THE KILLER CUT
“The details give me the greatest pleasure,” Narciso Rodriguez says, whether he’s designing a frock or a fragrance. And for the latest iteration of his frst scent, For Her Eau de Parfum Intense, he chose to amp up the sensuality in a modern way. But it turns out what it means to be sexy now is hard to capture in a bottle. “We did diferent things, tried diferent things, and then I said to Sonia [Constant, his longtime perfumer and collaborator], ‘Put on your leather Narciso dress.’”
The piece, which Rodriguez lovingly recalls as “more brown than black” and something “she looks amazing in,” served as the embodiment of a powerful woman, confdent and not afraid to take charge. “I said, ‘Turn up the volume and make it smell like what you look like in that dress,’” he laughs.
The result: an in-your-face aroma lush with peach and heady
white fowers that “captures the trail” of the brand’s trademark musc (a synthetic musk) mingling with vetiver and a hint of vanilla. Constant turned to technology to fne-tune the formula, using AI to replicate the composition of the musc in the original, tying it to Intense and thus emphasizing Rodriguez’s singular vision.
Because much like the designer’s perfect bias-cut gowns that hug the body or the ft-enhancing piping on a dress that took forever to perfect, it’s the nuances of this evolved scent that make all the diference. “It was about amplifying the sensuality in a way that wasn’t overt or loud,” Rodriguez says. “It was important to keep it elegant. Always keeping the beauty and the grace.”
Narciso Rodriguez For Her Eau de Parfum Intense, $160 for 100ml, macys.com
PERFUME WARDROBE UPDATES
BRUNELLO CUCINELLI
Like lines of poetry, hints of violet and cumin unfold in Sogno Notturno Perfume. ($345 for 100ml, shop. brunellocucinelli.com)
MARC JACOBS
SAGE & SALT
Inspired by the energy of the full moon, Luna Absolute Extract de Parfum is rich in mystical notes of pink pepper, cardamom, and palo santo. ($195 for 60ml,
PRADA
A liquid interpretation of the Italian fashion house’s clever prints, Infusion de Rhubarbe Eau de Parfum melds green mandarin, rhubarb, and rose. ($190 for 100ml, prada-beauty.com)
GUCCI
Banana blossom, jasmine and amber in Daisy Wild Eau So Intense Eau de Parfum combine for a waft straight out of a fantasy. ($160 for 100ml, sephora.com)
Zingy bergamot and mandarin notes give The Alchemist’s Garden Fiori di Neroli a hyperfresh start that softens into orange fower and jasmine. ($384 for 100ml, gucci.com)
JIL SANDER
Subtly sweet and sultry, Jil Sander
Miel smells like buckwheat honey blended with vetiver and cedarwood. ($290 for 100ml, jilsander.com)
Emporio Armani small silk-satin drawstring bag, jacket,shirt,trousers,earrings,shoes,capwithribbons, armani.com.
Michael Kors Collection raffia bag, jacket, michaelkors.com; Burberry sunglasses, burberry.com; Mango bangle, mango.com; Karl Lagerfeld shoes, karllagerfeld.com.
Louis Vuitton Rivage BB monogram bag, vest,jumpsuit,,866-VUITTON.
The Margaux sunglasses from Heaven Mayhem’s
chic. Designed
Bottega Veneta’s Ciao Ciao bag is a love letter to Matthieu Blazy’s tenure—the fnal handbag he designed for the house. A new addition to the Andiamo family, it debuts in smooth leather, a material that recalls Bottega Veneta’s early craftsmanship before Intrecciato became a defning signature. While it carries the Andiamo’s signature knot detail and coaxial strap, the Ciao Ciao stands out for its versatility. Its name—Italian for hello and goodbye—refects its efortless wearability. A hidden hook closure allows for two silhouettes while multiple carry options, including a top handle and removable crossbody strap, make it as functional as it is timeless.
Prada’s America’s Cup sneaker gets a fresh remix, balancing its ‘90s sailing roots with a sleek, modern feel. Originally designed for the Luna Rossa crew, this latest iteration updates the classic with glossy patent leather, breathable mesh panels, and a sculptural rubber sole. The crisp white laces and signature Linea Rossa logo add a sporty touch, while the lavender hue brings a bold, unexpected twist.
classic with a twist
DIOR BLOUSE, $2,150, 800-929-DIOR.
Dior reworks the classic white shirt, giving it a fresh, efortless twist. This white cotton poplin blouse features sharp lapels and adjustable buckle straps, giving it a structured yet relaxed feel. With its clean lines and tailored ft, it’s a versatile piece that will remain a wardrobe staple for years to come.
NITIO’s Power Self is more than a fragrance—it’s a mindset shift. Designed to amplify confdence and presence, it blends delicate white forals with the bold intensity of musk and spices, creating an unexpected contrast that feels both magnetic and empowering. But this isn’t just about scent. Rooted in the science of fragrance and its efect on the brain, Power Self taps into the link between aroma and emotion, subtly enhancing mood and self-assurance with every wear.
Sporty silhouettes—especially the windbreaker—dominated the runways for spring, and Miu Miu’s take on the trend is efortlessly cool. This zip-up blouson jacket, crafted from technical silk, has a lightweight feel and a slightly cropped ft. Take a cue from the runway and pair it with something unexpected—like a slip skirt— for an on-trend contrast.
Lauren Harwell Godfrey’s Cleopatra’s Vault collection reimagines ancient Egyptian infuences with a fresh, modern edge. The Cleopatra’s Tear cocktail ring, crafted in 18K yellow gold, centers on a vivid green tourmaline, framed by dark mother-of-pearl inlay and diamond accents. The intricate geometric design, inspired by the pyramids, gives the piece a bold, sculptural feel while highlighting Godfrey’s signature attention to detail.
for the collector
LOUIS VUITTON X MURAKAMI MALLE PYRAMID, $23,800, 866-VUITTON.
Twenty years after Takashi Murakami brought his bold, rainbow-hued Multicolor Monogram to Louis Vuitton, the House is reviving the beloved collaboration with a special re-edition collection. Among the standout pieces is the Malle Pyramide, a sculptural trunk set that reimagines LV’s signature travel heritage through Murakami’s playful, pop-art lens. Featuring four stackable cases, each wrapped in the Multicolor Monogram canvas, the Malle Pyramide is framed in leather and accented with gold hardware. Classic trunk buckles give a nod to LV’s archival designs, while vibrant microfber interiors add a modern touch. A true collector’s piece, this design merges nostalgia with craftsmanship, bringing one of Louis Vuitton’s most recognizable prints back into the spotlight.
Henry Zankov is redefning knitwear, and his 2024 CFDA Award for American Emerging Designer of the Year proves it. His brand, Zankov, takes a fresh approach to fashion and textiles, using bold shapes, rich textures, and unexpected color combinations. This pailletteembellished skirt is a perfect example of Zankov’s signature style—where technical expertise meets playful innovation. The pull-on silhouette balances ease with impact, while oversized paillettes add movement and shine, transforming a classic knit into a statement piece.
Vertigo merges the raw originality of the Southwest with the efortless sophistication of Downtown Manhattan, crafting one-of-a-kind pieces with a distinct point of view. The fuorite choker embodies this ethos, featuring hand-carved fuorite crystals, each naturally unique in color. Strung by hand in New York City and sourced with sustainability in mind, it’s crafted from deadstock materials and small-batch stones—ensuring that every piece is as individual as the person wearing it.
WORDS ROXANNE ROBINSON
Sisters Carolina and Camilla Cucinelli Launch the BC Duo bag
This page: Brunello Cucinelli mini BC Duo bag, $2,200, (212) 813-0900. Opposite page on top: Camilla and Carolina Cucinelli.
Below: Brunello Cucinelli BC Duo bag, $3,950 each, (212) 813-0900.
Aduality exists in the bucolic village of Solomeo, Italy, with its medieval charm and castle that stands as model for sustainability and living with nature. Nestled among rolling hills, it’s also the vibrant beating heart of Brunello Cucinelli’s active production and commerce ecosystem for the lifestyle brand synonymous with Quiet Luxury.
Co-creative directors, vice presidents, and sisters Camilla and Carolina Cucinelli oversee the women’s oferings alongside their father and company Executive Chairman and Creative Director, Brunello. Now the pair has launched their frst bag style, the BC Duo, which melds contemporary design and artisanal craftsmanship. Further instances of the bag’s dualism are the mirror replication design technique and the duo who created it.
Te duality of the women’s lives is expressed in the inverted trapezoid soft-side tote. Both are active professional working mothers with children, and the bag takes them from school drop-of to ofce to postwork gym time and to an evening event with its removable clutch or the BC Duo mini size.
“It was time to express our taste, mindset with our vision of style that fts into both the Brunello Cucinelli lifestyle as well as ours,” said Carolina, 34, adding, “With four sizes, plus variations in a clutch and a hobo style, and in di it’s a cross-functional bag to wear it daily but also at night.” Presumably the two upcoming events to cele brate the bag will demonstrate that.
“We wanted a bag to represent the dynamic wom en who wear our ready-to-wear designs; our bag needs to be handy, lightweight, useful daily, but with a special touch. It’s the
perfect bag for a very busy woman,” Carolina continued.
Growing up in Solomeo instilled the aesthetic of the tailoring the brand and Italy are known for— even the hues of the grainy leather and soft suede recall the topography of Solomeo. “We both like casual wear with a nod to artisanal craftsmanship and tailoring, a distinct feature of the brand. We grew up around this and feel comfortable in a masculine style with a feminine touch,” said Camilla, 42.
Te synergy of the two sisters inspired the design, and the style legacy passed down by the women in the family guide their creativity.
“Our mom always had and still maintains a great sense of style. She was our beacon. As we got older, women like Kate Moss, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and Tilda Swinton’s androgynous look inspired us with their very specifc styles,” Carolina added.
Te women in their family passed down their professional drive too. “We are a matriarchal family where women prevail. My mother’s grandmother was left alone immediately after WWII, so she became an entrepreneur and started
her own business. She would cycle around on her bike wearing trousers and blazer. She was one of a kind, that was unprecedented then,” Camilla ofered, adding, “We grew up in a family of emancipated women who thought out of the box. Before she met my father, our mom was into fashion, running her own small clothing boutique. Tis was passed along to us.”
Te sisterhood has helped them become a team at the company too. “We are women in a masculine industry. To have a friend and sister that can help you every day is very important. Also, we have the same vision, exchange ideas daily, share the same friends, live the same life, which is a plus every day. To see our company move into the future together in the same place is a super value,” said Carolina.
Camilla says her father is an attentive listener and the company designs as a team but, “It does help being together as women, especially when we want to submit a new proposal or idea and show our father a diferent point of view.”
She sums up the new bag: “Te BC Duo looks to the future, injects our creative vision, dedicated for the next generation with the same principal brand values—sartorial, handmade, and pure craftsmanship.”
WORDS MARSHALL HEYMAN
Monse dress, monse.com; Paumé Los Angeles necklace, bracelet, paumelosangeles.com; Hilton’s own gloves.
the staying power of the one-time reality TV star turned global phenomenon.
Lapointe dress, shoplapointe.com; Paumé Los Angeles necklace, paumelosangeles.com.
The frst few months of 2025 have been a sobering time for Paris Hilton. Her Malibu house was destroyed in the January California wildfres.
“We didn’t even know until we saw it on the live news,” says Hilton. Her husband, entrepreneur Carter Reum, noticed a blue door among the rubble. “It was completely shocking.”
Hilton posted a short video tour on TikTok of the remains of the home, with the gorgeous Malibu sun setting in the background. It’s a devastating 20 seconds of flm.
“What breaks my heart even more is knowing that this isn’t just my story,” she wrote. “So many people have lost everything. … And yet, in this pain, I know I’m incredibly lucky. My loved ones, my babies, my pets are safe.”
It was particularly thoughtful and moving, a sentiment that only grew as Hilton took actual action. Her “immediate instinct,” she says, was to harness her celebrity and social media reach to help out the community. She contacted Rebecca Grone, the head of impact at her company, 11:11 Media. “She helps me with all the advocacy work and philanthropic eforts,” says Hilton. Hilton and her media company, which she founded in 2021, started lending a hand to animal shelters as well as charities like Baby2Baby, which provides necessities for families in poverty, and FireAid.
“I said, ‘Let’s just see what we can do to support,’” Hilton says. “Tat’s been the silver lining, seeing people coming together.” On her own, she fostered Zuzu the dog, posting a video reuniting the animal with his family later in January. She went to Pasadena to work with the Humane Society. “So many animals were coming in all burned,” she says. She helped put people up in hotels, visiting them, and “bringing surprises,” she says.
“And I’ve been trying to do whatever I can to raise funds.” In total her eforts have raised over a million dollars for Los Angeles fre emergency relief eforts. (It’s particularly important to Hilton that people know what charities they can trust.)
In a way, all the work, both on the ground and on Instagram, has
were going to build all these memories together,” explains Hilton. Every once in a while she’ll recall something else destroyed and lost to the ashes. “My notebooks where I wrote my songs. My art room with the art that [two-year-old son] Phoenix made. Every day, I’m looking at old videos and photos, remembering things we lost that I didn’t even think about before.”
Phoenix and his sister, oneyear-old London, “have been so confused,” she adds. “Uprooting them from their homes is hard for them. Just the act of rushing out of the house. We had to evacuate twice.”
Te kids, like their parents, need to get used to a new normal. “Usually every day we get a walk in the park, and Phoenix keeps asking, ‘Why can’t we go outside?’” Hilton
“I had created this kind of Barbie doll, perfect life character to be like a mask.”
helped Hilton shift focus away from her own legitimate sadness about the recent turn of events in her city and, of course, at her own home.
“I don’t know if it’ll ever be the same again,” she says of her home city. “It’s like something out of a scary movie.”
On a more micro level, the Malibu house was a place where “ we
recounts, but she is particularly concerned about her kids spending a lot of, if any, time outside, because of the poor air quality from the burning of asbestos and chemicals.
She and Reum are doing what they can. “We have lots of air purifers and masks for when we go outside, and we take precautions to keep them safe,” she says. “We’ll just
Lapointe dress, shoplapointe.com; Paumé Los Angeles necklace, paumelosangeles.com. Hilton’s own ring.
pray that we’ll continue to get rain.” But they’re concerned about the potential long-term efects of the fres.
Te “toxic air,” as she calls it, “is the one thing that has made me consider” leaving Los Angeles, Hilton explains. “But I don’t think I could. All my family and work is here. I love it here so much, and I can’t see myself living anywhere else.”
Hilton’s serious and mature attitude in these terrible circumstances feels like a far cry from the Paris Hilton we used to know. Now 43, when she frst caught the attention of the media 25 years ago, she was depicted as an unrelenting party girl with little substance, out every night since the age of 13. She was something of a punching bag, and it would be hard to fnd an article or news piece from those days that didn’t make fun of her even a little bit or demean her as a spoiled heiress. In a lot of ways, she played along, she says.
“I had created this kind of Barbie doll, perfect life character to be like a mask,” Hilton says. “I didn’t want to talk about certain things. Tat way I wouldn’t have to let anyone in.”
“I was playing with my playful side,” she explains now, in our long interview. “I don’t know if it was easier [to be that Paris], but I guess it made it easier.” In efect, it also helped put up a Marilyn Monroe–like wall where she was as much a creation of the media as of herself. Interviews could remain surface. So could interactions out and about.
“People wouldn’t even think to ask any traumatizing questions,” she says. “It was this whole protection over the pain.”
Choosing to be the more authentic Paris has its own complications. “It’s maybe harder now to do interviews. I’m naturally a very shy person,” she says. But it’s also enabled her to fnd her real voice, one that comes from her heart and soul. She can speak her truth, and the world still watches. Tey haven’t changed the channel, and they don’t seem to be doing so anytime soon.
“I get stronger and stronger every day,” Hilton says. “I’m being a voice for people.”
Te genuine turning point came during the flming of her documen-
“People wouldn’t even think to ask any traumatizing questions. It was this whole protection over the pain.”
Hilton insists she was always herself with her close friends and family. But “with the public, I had this character:” a blonde, sometimes ignorant airhead. It was a persona cemented by fve seasons of the hit reality show A Simple Life, in which she starred opposite her good friend Nicole Richie.
Hilton explains now that it was fun to play that character, the Paris Hilton with “the higher voice” who overused expressions like “Tat’s hot” and “Loves it.”
tary, the 2020 movie Tis Is Paris. Te intention of the movie was to show a diferent side of Hilton, to try to reclaim the person she’d lost to those hundreds of posts on TMZ and, well, Perez Hilton. “I had been misunderstood and underestimated for so long,” she says, especially by a media that focused on her nighttime escapades, her teenage transgressions, and that leaked sex tape. She wanted to show that she had worked to be the person she was, and she’d created an internationally
recognized brand with tentacles in all sorts of genres.
“Enough was enough,” Hilton says.
While flming during a trip to South Korea, “I was emotionally exhausted,” she says. She started opening up to director Alexandra Dean about a severe nightmare she was having, about being kidnapped in the middle of the night. Tat led to the pair discussing her experience as a teenager. At 16, she’d been tanking in school, and her parents were worried. Tey decided to send her to a private youth facility in Utah, which started with her being taken from home in her sleep. By Hilton’s accounts, the place was its own daily nightmare. She was thrown in solitary confnement, force-fed medication, and sexually and physically abused.
“I just couldn’t keep silent anymore,” Hilton says. “And it started me on this journey of self-discovery and healing and catharsis. It made me feel very strong that I had survived something so horrifc.”
She went into more detail in a memoir, Paris, published in 2023. She remembers recording the audiobook with four strangers “who I’d never met in my life” in the room, and “they were in shock” by the book’s content. “Tey were expecting some happy book about some heiress.”
She spent lots of time in Washington, D.C., openly and autobiographically speaking to congressional committees about the “troubled teen” industry and its abuses of power. Both the House and the Senate passed the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act in December 2024, with President Biden signing the bill into law on Christmas Eve.
“In D.C., they’d never seen something pass so fast. I’m just really proud that I kept going back and telling my story. No one has done anything to protect these kids,” she
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says. “It’s not over yet. I’m going to continue this fght because there’s so much more to do. I hope that’s why people call me iconic.”
While she sheds the skins of that Barbie character—though, let’s face it, thanks to Margot Robbie, Barbie is kind of a hero herself these days— what else should we know about the “real” Paris?
Te real Paris Hilton is a “huge tomboy,” she says. “I love doing things with no makeup and being natural and myself.”
Te real Paris Hilton, she continues, is a “huge undercover nerd. I love anything to do with technology, gadgets, and sci-f.” When prodded, she admits that Alien is one of her favorite movies. Lately she’s been enjoying Paradise on Hulu, and she misses Westworld on HBO.
She’s an audiobook fend. She likes to listen to memoirs, like Pamela Anderson’s, which she found she
could relate to “so much,” as well as inspirational books, business books, books about troubled teens, and books about ADHD. “I love ADHD books,” she says, rattling of titles such as ADHD for Smart Ass Women, ADHD 2.0, and ADHD is Awesome. When she opens a book, it’s usually nightly and to her kids. “I read a lot of bedtime stories,” she says. Tey all love Cliford the Big Red Dog, especially an interactive edition with fake fur.
Of course, life has changed a lot for Hilton now that she’s a mom of two. She spends downtime making collages and painting with Phoenix and London. “I have an art room at our house,” she says. “We make little statues out of Play-Doh. We love being creative together.”
Every week, their friends and cousins come over for music class. “Tey love singing and dancing,” Hilton says. “And they love ‘Stars
Are Blind.’ Tey like it more than ‘Baby Shark.’” She’s referring to the 2006 hit song that came out of her frst studio album Paris and remains a surprisingly iconic classic. (It popped back into the cultural consciousness with a particularly romantic scene in a drugstore in Emerald Fennell’s 2020 Promising Young Woman.) Phoenix, she adds, often asks his teacher at school to play his mom’s song “Chasin,’” a collaboration with Meghan Trainor from Hilton’s more recent album, last year’s Infnite Icon “Tey all dance to it.”
In the blink of an eye, Phoenix and London will be able to start raising some hell like, well, their mom did when she was younger.
“I get scared about thinking about them as teenagers and how fast the world is moving,” Hilton says. “It also makes me nervous to think about them sneaking out. I know how dangerous the world can
be. I’m thinking I’ll make a house so much fun that they won’t even ever want to go out.” She also hopes they won’t sneak out because she’s going to raise them “to be good human beings and love sports and music and to be super busy in school.”
Even though she’s a woman with a media content company and has produced innumerable hours of social media content, when it comes to her kids, screens, she says, are oflimits. “I’m very strict about that. I’m doing so much research on kids and screens and how horrible it is.” Tey don’t watch cartoons, she adds, specifcally singling out her negative feelings about Cocomelon, the hugely successful animated YouTube channel, which is defnitely not allowed. “We do have movie nights,” she says. “Last weekend we watched the original Little Mermaid Te look in their eyes was so cute. We watched it twice. It’s now their favorite movie.”
Would she want them to experience anything close to the level of fame and attention she has? “I wouldn’t,” Hilton responds. “I’m not going to tell them not to do so-
cludes children’s books and cartoons that, she says, “are good for children’s brains.”
It’s just another thing to add to Hilton’s ever-growing list of hyphenates and conquests. She’s already at work on a third album. It helps to have a recording studio at home, she says, so producers can come to her.
Tis April, she’ll release her 30th fragrance, which means, she explains, there’s a diferent smell for every day of the month. “It’s an art. I’m the best at doing them,” she says of her coterie of scents. “Tey’re all like my babies.” Tis new one is called “Iconic.” Do you sense a theme here? In some ways, though, Hilton says it’s an homage to her grandfather Aaron who told her, I’m so proud of you. You’ve accomplished more than any woman I’ve ever met. You’re iconic.
In May, she’ll release a skincare line called Parivie. “I had to do it myself. It has real results and real science,” she explains. “I’m obsessed with skincare, and I fgured everyone is always asking my beauty secrets.”
Hilton credits her ADHD as a kind of superpower. She believes it
“I’m going to continue this fight because there’s so much more to do. I hope that’s why people call me iconic.”
mething, but I’m hoping they don’t want to be so much in this because it’s a lot. It’s a difcult thing to go through, but I can make it through anything. I hope that they’ll take after me [in business],” and, she hopes, stay as much as they can behind the scenes.
To that end, Hilton says she’s starting their business education early. She takes most of her meetings at home with London and Phoenix regularly in earshot. “I would love for my kids to create their own brands,” she says.
Hilton is already at work on a children’s brand they can possibly take over soon enough, one that in-
helps her handle so many diferent types of projects, to move with ease from one to the next. “I’ve done music, building products, singing, acting, writing, and doing art and everything that I love,” she explains. “It is a lot to balance being a mom and a businesswoman and now being a pop star.”
Sure. But is there anything even left to do?
“I haven’t gone to space yet,” Hilton says. “I’m kind of scared to go, though. I don’t want the rocket to get stuck, and I don’t want to be bored.”
She pauses. “I think I’ll stay on Earth.”
Bvlgari Serpenti high jewelry and Serpenti Tubogas necklaces and bracelets
PHOTOS:
In the Year of Snake, Bvlgari celebrates its iconic Serpenti motif, a source of timeless fascination and endless transformation
RPHO IS
WORDS ALISON S. COHN
A
An ancient Chinese jade knotted serpent pendant, an ancient Roman gold coiled bangle, Queen Victoria’s emerald-and-ruby snake engagement ring, and Elizabeth Taylor’s Bvlgari Serpenti gold-and-diamond bracelet watch worn on the set of Cleopatra: Tese are just a few of the many manifestations of snake jewelry, a symbol of metamorphosis that spans millennia and cultures. In the modern era, no jeweler has been more closely intertwined with all things ophidian than Bvlgari, the Roman jeweler that has been reinventing its signature Serpenti motif for almost eight decades since introducing an elegant multi-coil snake bracelet watch in 1948.
To mark the Year of the Snake— the year in the Chinese zodiac associated with change, renewal, and personal growth—Bvlgari’s traveling exhibition Serpenti Infnito is slithering across Asia this spring from Shanghai to Seoul and Mumbai. “Te snake represents unity across cultures, with its infnite metamorphoses transcending time and space it has indeed become a powerful emblem of connection,” says Bvlgari deputy chief executive Laura Burdese. “Te Year of the
Snake is a momentous occasion for the brand to continue engaging in the ever-evolving cross-cultural dialogue between East and West, past and present, art and jewelry, history and innovation.”
Featuring 28 works by 19 international artists including Qiu Anxiong, Refk Anadol, and Daniel Rozin, Serpenti Infnto burrows into this rich comparative mythology, exploring how the snake’s ability to shed its skin lies at the core of man’s relation with the transcendental. In ancient China the deities Fuxi and Nüwa were depicted with snake-like features, while in ancient Egypt the goddess Isis could take the form of a winged king cobra with the head of a woman. Te ancient Greeks and Romans similarly worshipped Hygeia and Salus, goddesses of health and healing with sacred snakes wrapped around their arms.
When 19th-century archeological digs at the Valley of the Kings, Troy, and Pompeii unearthed ancient snake jewelry, it sparked a revival that continues to the present day. Te Italian jewelers Giuliano and Castellani faithfully recreated Hellenic styles such as turquoise
Egypt
Left: Isis
Above: Gold snake bracelet, 3rd-2nd century B.C.
Below: Jade knotted dragon pendant, 3rd century B.C.
Right: Nüwa Ancient China
Below: Hygeia
Left: Gold snake bracelet, 3rd century B.C. Ancient Greece
Bvlgari Serpenti high jewelry necklace
serpent necklaces and gold snake bracelets with gem-studded heads. Cleopatra-style bangles modeled on the serpentine armbands worn by the ancient Egyptian queen charmed many European monarchs from Empress Eugénie, who owned a Mellerio diamond-and-turquoise snake bracelet, to Alexandra of Denmark, who often sported a gold coiled serpent bracelet. Queen Victoria was so enamored of the style that in 1838 Prince Albert commissioned a special snake engagement ring for her featuring emerald, ruby, and diamond accents detailing the head, eyes, and crown.
Egyptomania continued into the 20th century, thanks in part to a famous Georges Fouquet snake hand chain created for Sarah Bernhardt to wear in an 1899 stage run of Cleopatra Te colorful double-headed
piece was made using an enamel cloisonné technique and fnished with opals, rubies, and diamonds, with a thin chain connecting the bracelet to the ring. Ten, the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 inspired Place Vendôme jewelers to interpret the snake cuf in the mode blanche style using platinum and diamonds, while Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel ofered costume jewelry versions throughout the interwar years.
Bvlgari’s great innovation was to marry form with function by attaching a timepiece to a snake bracelet. Te Serpenti Tubogas watch proposed in 1948 was an instant classic. Featuring a square face and fashioned from tubogas (Italian for “gas pipe”), a fexible, hollow chain made from tightly wound gold strips, it could be wound around
Left: Bvlgari Serpenti gold bracelet with jades, rubies and diamonds, 1968. Right: Bvlgari advertising campaign from the 1970s
Above: Bvlgari Serpenti Tubogas gold bracelet-watch, c. 1948.
Left: Elizabeth Taylor wearing a Serpenti gold and diamond bracelet watch on the set of Cleopatra, 1962. Below: Bvlgari Serpenti gold, emerald, and
Left: Gold snake bracelet, 1st century A.D.
Right: Salus Ancient Rome
19th Century
20th Century
Princess Alexandra of Denmark wearing a gold snake bracelet
Elizabeth Taylor wearing gold snake cufs in Cleopatra, 1962
Bvlgari Serpenti Cuore 1968 bag
the wrist in one or more bright supple coils. Mid-century etiquette considered it impolite for women to check the time in public, so in the 1950s Bvlgari’s master jewelers developed a charming solution: Tey added a more naturalistic jeweled snake head that would open its hinged jaws to reveal the dial only when required.
Serpenti became a bona fde global phenomena in 1962 when Elizabeth Taylor donned one of these Serpenti ‘secret’ watches covered in shiny gold scales and diamonds in a publicity photo for Cleopatra that rivaled the glittering snake armbands she wore on screen. Bvlgari soon brought out instantly iconic Serpenti specimens with cabochons
and vibrant colored enamels that appeared almost lifelike, including a blue, red, and black model inspired by milk snake and a kaleidoscopic long-nosed vine snake model with white, red, green, black, brown, and turquoise scales. Legendary editor Diana Vreeland favored a pink-and-white enamel Serpenti belt, which she wore coiled around her neck.
Over the years, Serpenti has continued to evolve while retaining a reverence for the past, and there is little the maison hasn’t tried from octagonal watch cases to fve-wrap bracelets. Since the 1990s, Bvlga-
ri has also expanded into new categories including sunglasses and handbags. Creative director of leather goods Mary Katrantzou’s new heart-shaped Serpenti Cuore 1968 top-handle bag crafted in matelassé calf leather with a sinuous metallic handle takes cues from the 1968 Harlequin bracelet watch, named after its four colors of enamel. Other highlights for the Year of the Snake include stunning high jewelry rings featuring sapphire, ruby, and emerald scales that match their glittering eyes; sleek yellow gold Serpenti Viper hoop earrings with a stylized head that rests on the tail; and a Serpenti Tubogas watch in rose gold and stainless steel with pavé diamond that harkens back to the snake that started it all.
Bvlgari Serpenti fne jewelry ring and high jewelry brooch
Daniel Rozin’s Snake Scales Mirror
Bvlgari
Seasonal musings from the mind of our resident cultural critic
RealTheBabes OF POLITICS
If I show you a woman in sneakers with lines on her face carrying a tote bag from NPR, Te New Yorker, or indeed any organization that promotes rational discourse, you would know immediately who she voted for.
But if I show you a woman in a tight evening dress with grafti letters spelling out a provocative political slogan on her backside, you would guess wrong. Lauren Boebert, the gun-rights Colorado Republican congresswoman, wore a red cocktail dress with Let’s Go Brandon in white fake handwriting across her ass on election night. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the activist New York Democratic congresswoman, wore a white dress with Tax the Rich in red fake handwriting across her ass to the Met Ball in 2021. Visual clues have become gibberish.
In 2025, we have gone so far beyond the old red-blue political color codes that the medium is any message you want it to be. Every woman in power wants to prove she’s a babe, and every part of every woman’s body is
on the table. It’s a gigantic mess of taut calves, huge boobs, deep cleavage, exposed underwear, arched booty on spike heels, with whispery shadows of nipples playing hideand-seek along the upper rims of bodices, teddies, and corsets.
Tis is the age of tits, ass, and plastic face.
It used to be a truth universally acknowledged that a woman in a position of power did not expose her nipples to strangers.
Her job was to lead and control the hordes, not titillate or breastfeed them. She was a boss, not a stripper or a mother. Power was business. Leadership needed full concentration and was best exercised by women in a state of asexuality. Like Joan of Arc, the virgin warrior in full armor inspired by angels to chase the British out of France in 1429, or Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen bound in thick brocades and ringed by giant rufs, inspired by necessity to defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Te clothes of women leaders were dignifed and thick enough to conceal both primary and secondary sexual characteristics, though
women generally came to power at an age when primary was out of the question and secondary was no longer very attractive.
But in that old world, achievement counted more than appearance. Classic female politicians were doughty battle-axes in suits built to strike respect in the heart of voters and fear in the hearts of foes. Margaret Tatcher, who through the 1980s was the prime minister of Great Britain (the only country with the word ‘Great’ in its name), wore her blonde hair in a lacquered sphere as hard as her suits, which were almost as hard as her handbags. It was none of your business what was inside; she was in charge. Big black rectangles on short handles, the bags were so menacing that they gave rise to the verb “to handbag,” meaning to treat others with ruthless insensitivity.
Te bag was Margaret Tatcher’s object of power, her scepter, and, fttingly for a woman ruler, a hollow object, rather than a long hard one.
Te bags had no brand, no logo, no pet name borrowed from a celebrity, but were rumored to have given some members of her Cabinet fantasies of being beaten into submission by a bag, or by the prime minister.
Tatcher was out of ofce by 1990, and soon her trademark symbols made way for a new self-presentation.
Visual declarations of strength dissipated. Te power suit took 10 years to lose its shoulder pads; without them, it could no longer disguise a bosom. Bodycon dresses that showed of all curves were a hit with voters: the tighter, the better. Te unbreakable helmets of lacquered
It was none of your business what was inside; she was in charge. Big black rectangles on short handles, so menacing that they gave rise to the verb “to handbag”.
hair now became soft, thick tresses, as long as the wavy curls of a captive mermaid.
Handbags became too famous for public service. When the CEO of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, owner of Dior, Vuitton, Fendi and many more, realized what Chanel had al ways known—that women of any size or shape will lose their minds to get an authentic double C on their bags—he put logos on everything and launched an It Bag frenzy that made him the second richest man on the planet. But as handbags be came the hot accessory, they lost their charge. Te transformation from discreet scepter of a doughty female leader into world-famous commercial trophy beloved by the wealthy and the greedy stripped handbags of their dark power. were reduced to being just things. Very nice things, but things.
By 2025, handbags are so weighed down with messages—they trumpet the brand identity, announce the wearer’s personal status and health, confrm or refute the wearer’s relevance through her awareness of trends—that no woman politician wants to risk carrying a bag.
Te brand identities of bags have grown strong enough to defne the personality of
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, 1979. Opposite page: Colorado Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert (left). New York Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (right).
whoever is carrying one. Te Hermès Birkin says too rich, the Telfar vegan-leather “Brooklyn Birkin” says too left.
It’s safer to carry only a cell phone.
Pivotal advances in the frst years of this century opened up a new world of self-showmanship that would fll the chambers of power with hot babes.
In 2007 came the Red Camera, the frst high-resolution professional digital flm and television camera; its advanced technology magnifed every imperfection , to the dismay of all actors. Before the Red Camera, Dior had created an efective onscreen makeup named Visiora, but the Red Camera saw through its tricks. Te pitiless Red lens caused a stampede towards cosmetic reme dies: the knife, the hypodermic, the hyaluronic acid, the calcium hydrox ylapatite, the Poly-L-Lactic acid, the Botox, the Botox, the Botox.
Also in 2007, Apple launched the iPhone; it had a good lens, so
now, beyond taking pictures of sunsets, dinner, babies, and cats, each person could be the star of their own life. As the Red Camera brought the enamel face to Hollywood, the iPhone brought the enamel face to everyday life. Selfies! Pouty-face selfes, lonely selfes, happy selfes, outft selfes shot in the bathroom mirror with the toilet in the background. Te iPhone lens is as cruel as the Red Camera, so storefront medical-cosmetic clinics
The Hermès Birkin says too rich, the Telfar vegan-leather ‘Brooklyn Birkin’ says too left.
Their look [the Real Housewifes of ...] set the template for how to attract fame and followers in multiple millions. It is the look of the century. Many women politicians adopted this look.
soon sprang up in the place of nail salons.
Te selfes were posted on the newly popular Facebook, which by 2008 had 100 million users. When Instagram launched in 2010, the selfes migrated to its grid layout and fattering flters, leaving cats and sunsets to Facebook.
By 2018, the most downloaded app in America was TikTok, but Instagram had reached one billion users—one-seventh of the population of the entire world.
Tat’s a scale beyond scale. Popularity now comes in magnitudes the size of several countries at once. Te United States population is 334.9 million, but Selena Gomez, singer, actress, and a billionaire at 32, has 421 million Instagram followers.
And Bethenny Frankel, once a Housewife, now an entrepreneur, has 3.7 million followers. She was an original member of the cultural shift show that made women present as babes. Te Real Housewives franchise, which has now spread to
From left: Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, season 11; Tifany Trump.
PHOTOS:
Instead of Bethenny Frankel’s “Handbag University” posts to educate her followers about luxury, Tulsi Gabbard and Kristi Noem pose with guns
28 countries, premiered on Bravo a year before the iPhone and the Red Camera, but adapted to the pitiless lens that came with the opportunity for immense pop ularity. Te Real Housewives of... were neither really real nor really housewives, but Te Real Housewives of Orange County, of New York City, of Atlanta, of New Jersey, of D.C., of Beverly Hills, of Miami, of Potomac, of Dallas, of Salt Lake City, and even, briefly, of Dubai, fed us visions of frozen-faced overdressed women with a taste for angry confron tations that the producers called lighthearted banter.
Te Housewives dis played plumped lips, furry eyelashes, and hurt feelings that fueled the scoldings that escalated into catfghts, but in each city, they were so beautifully cam
era-ready that their popularity kept growing.
It was the perfected faces, the tight dresses over the perfected bosoms, the long hair with longer extensions, the spike heels, the aura of being beyond any middle-class accountability that gathered the audience that then gathered the followers who then gathered the fame that allowed each real Housewife to make a fortune by marketing something or other, and often divorce the lug who’d made her a Housewife in the frst
eir look set the template for how to attract fame and followers in multiple millions. It is the look of the century.
Many women politicians adopted this look once
they’d learned their pantsuits would never arouse enough enthusiasm in the electorate to hand them power.
e new Cabinet is full of women done up in the style of Real Housewives
Kristi Noem, new head of Homeland Security, has fowing dark locks. Te new director of Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has owing black hair with a shock of
ey both post on Instagram, but instead of, say, Bethenny Frankel’s “Handbag University” posts to educate her followers about luxury, Tulsi Gabbard and Kristi Noem pose with guns. Gabbard, a former National Guard member, favors videos of herself in full sweaty military training mode or posed with automatic weapons tagged SigSauer. Kristi Noem, the former governor of South Dakota who once had to shoot her dog, uses rifes for pheasant.
Te attorney general, Pam Bondi from Florida, has long blonde hair and strikes me as the babest babe of them all. Te blonde, you know?
If I show a Democrat a blonde babe from Florida, they will see bad news. But here’s the surprise: Pam Bondi was the Florida Attorney General at the time of the Parkland school shooting. She then had the courage to piss of the National Rife Association and back laws to restrict access to guns.
Maybe you can see hope in a blonde babe.
Visual clues are unreadable in this brand-new mystery.
RIght: Tulsi Gabbard and Kristi Noem. Below: Attorney General Pam Bondi
A flirtation has always existed between sport and fashion, but for spring 2025, it seems as though fashion’s flirtation has become a full-blown love affair with sport. Athletes, fresh from their summer Olympic glory, were found on front rows across the globe this past fall and, in some instances, even taking star turns on the catwalk too. Perhaps designers have become inspired by the authenticity in sport? Unlike many reality stars or social-media influencers, there is no fake-it-til-youmake-it ethos in the world of competitive athletics. Fame and glory are hard earned by training, practice, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. However, as the men of the NBA and NFL have shown, with their pre-game, fashion-fueled “tunnel walks,” there is big business in the marriage of fashion and sport. Which lands us here, mixing the functionality of performance gear with the high-end styling of the world’s top designers. Take a note from the following pages playbook and your spring look might win you street-style gold.
upping the game
PHOTOGRAPHY WILLIAMS + HIRAKAWA
STYLING SANTA BEVACQUA
Dior jacket, top, shorts, boots, 800-929-DIOR; Avon Anglers hat, avonanglers.com.
MODEL: CHLOE REYSE; HAIR: TANIA BECKER; MAKE UP: VALERY GHERMAN; FASHION ASSISTANT: TARRELL MITCHELL; PRODUCTION: JON AGOSTINI @TRAFFIK
Medium SELECT SIZE
RARE
While more women embrace weight loss drugs, the women shopping for larger sizes are noticing a sudden and surprising benefit: More available clothes in their size.
WORDS
FARAN KRENTCIL
As a general rule, fashion abhors a middle ground. Hemlines drag across the ground or graze the bikini line. Hair is extra-poufy or super-slick. A white tee is $10 or it’s $1,000. As Heidi Klum famously said for 16 Project Runway seasons, “In fashion, you’re either ‘in’ or you’re ‘out.’” She did not say, “Or you can kind of hang out for a while in the gray zone and nobody cares.” (Indeed, the only gray zone in fashion is a thunder-colored shearling coat from Loro Piana that costs the same as my mortgage. If you wear it, people will very much care.)
Despite these very real advantages, my body is considered larger and rounder than the fashion world’s ideal size and shape. Models (and the celebrities that wear their runway gowns on the red carpet) are generally a size 0 in America, 6 in London, 34 in Paris, 36 in Milan. In those same places, in that same order, I am a 4, a 10, a 38, a 42. Te architectural runway pieces built to make tall and slim women look like preening birds or petulant boys usually appear foppy and sloppy on my shorter, wider torso. So do some “classic” silhouettes that play into those proportions—pencil skirts, trench dresses, skinny cardigans me-
There are only so many things that fit your “normal” form, and they sell faster than a Jacquemus rumour hits the French corners of Reddit.
For years, having a body in the middle of the sizing chart was equally tricky. I say this as someone in one of those bodies, specifcally one that is 5’4” and 125 pounds. Tis is a perfectly ordinary size for a woman, even though my breasts are a bit large for the rest of my frame, and sometimes make me look like I’m gonna topple over if I get shoved the wrong way. Still, my body is considered “normal.” Living inside of it comes with the not-so-invisible privilege of ftting into “straight”-sized clothing, airplane seats, and even those rickety fold-down chairs in old Broadway theaters. When someone says “can you scoot over” on the subway, I usually can.
ant to button all the way up to the clavicle without gaping at the boobs. Tis is not a lament or even a gripe. It’s just arithmetic rendered in fabric, and it comes with a need for lightning-fast refexes when shopping for clothes. Tat’s because when you’re a size medium and on the hunt for appropriate runway pieces, there are only so many things that ft your “normal” form, and they sell faster than a Jacquemus rumour hits the French corners of Reddit. Witness the boxy but cropped shirting from Simone Rocha and Coach in 2021, which vaporized from store websites within just a few days. Te 2022 beaded trapeze mini from JW Anderson’s namesake collection caused
a similar fray among Dover Street Market pilgrims; likewise, the 2023 Sezane x Sea collaboration with its curve-accommodating hippie blouses and quilted cropped tie-jacket. (No boob gape here.) Scoring a navy Miu Miu bomber in a size medium
Scoring a navy Miu Miu bomber in a size medium was harder than getting tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
was harder than getting tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. In fact, you might have considered bribing your local sales associate with Taylor Swift tickets if you even wanted a chance at the jacket. I had to hunt it down for six months on eBay before I could grab it; one fnally surfaced at a designer consignment shop in Ukraine.
Something curious began happening last fall, though. Suddenly, like a 4 p.m. table at Chipotle, size medium clothes were always available. Te twist-front Toteme maxi dress Coco Bassey wore to a Soho block
Did designers suddenly realize the “normal” girls were buying runway pieces, too? Well…not exactly. It’s more like we, the size mediums, are becoming a rarer breed because of… mais oui…Ozempic and other weight-loss injectables. It’s happening as 13 percent of American adults— about 34 million of us—are using the drugs, which were created to help those with diabetes and other glucose-regulating issues, but were quickly adopted as an of-label onramp to getting very thin, very fast, despite the possible health complications like reduced muscle and kidney function. (Also, if you need a working colon while on Ozempic…like, maybe you don’t?) Tese drugs cost about $1,000 per month when not covered by insurance, creating a user base that can aford to invest $12,000 per year into the weekly shots. It’s not a huge leap to see that same disposable income going to designer clothes.
“I’ve been making my dresses and swimwear in all sizes—very big, very small, extended sizing, all of it—for years,” said Cynthia Rowley, the New York-based designer
Something curious began happening last fall, though. Suddenly, like a 4 p.m. table at Chipotle, size medium clothes were always availabl e.
party? Bergdorf’s only got size 6 left. Same with & Daughter’s perfect cherry crewneck on Net-a-Porter and Versace’s leopard-print slink skirt at SSENSE. Even Bottega Veneta’s coveted shearling jacket from Matthieu Blazy’s very last runway collection is lingering at MyTeresa, but only if you’re a size medium, or in Mr. Blazy’s native tongue, une taille moyenne.
who began her label in 1988 and counts Sarah Jessica Parker and Naomi Watts as frequent clients. “But this is the frst year that the stores are selling out of everything small and extra small, and they’re selling so fast.” Rowley couldn’t say defnitively whether Ozempic or other weight-loss drugs were part of the equation. “It’s not like I’m asking in the ftting rooms!” she laughed.
PHOTOS:
“But of course I’ve noticed this new demand for extra-small sizing,” she said. “I see it in every store. It’s still so important to me to ensure our clothes ft every woman who wants to wear them, but we can’t keep the smalls and extra smalls in stock fast enough.”
Erica Goldberg, a sales executive at the cool-girl hub 10eleven Showroom in New York and Los Angeles, has noticed a similar pattern with retail stores placing orders for clients like Leset, Essentiel Antwerp, and Vince. “Tere’s been a real uptick in volume for extra small and small sizing,” she says. “We’re getting more and more requests than ever before. We pass those requests onto the designers, and ultimately, they decide how they want to handle it. But it seems like designers will certainly want to manufacture more in-demand sizes to meet the asks.” In other words, they’ll be making a bigger batch of extra smalls.
“Ozempic is going to change manufacturing,” said a New York-based apparel CEO who asked to stay anonymous. “You have people who were plus-sized who are now a size large. You have people who were a size large who are now a size small.” He pointed to the recent New York Fashion Week runways, which had a much smaller percentage of plus-size models than in years past, and virtually zero “midsize” models—those who were a size 4-8, or a designer medium. “It might be even harder to fnd those sizes going
forward, because there’s simply less demand.” For now, though, a small surplus of medium inventory means midsize women might have a shot at getting their designer clothes on sale. At the time of this writing, there are nearly 1,000 more pieces of designer apparel available on Net-a-Porter in a size medium than in a small, an extra small, or a large…which means if you are a size 6 and would like 50 percent of your Loewe blazer, you are in luck.
Tat luck extends to resale sites, too, where once impossible-to-fnd holy grails—Khaite’s Capulet-y black cap-sleeved blouse; Christopher John Rogers’s coveted striped knit dress—are now readily available in sizes 6 through 10. “For me, I’m a bit unsettled to see people changing their bodies so rapidly,” says Kristen, 43, an advertising executive who wears a size 6-8 and has a weakness for Valentino from Pierpaolo Piccioli’s color-drenched tenure at the house. “But also, I don’t know anyone else’s health or mental struggles. Everyone should do whatever is best for their own lives. Teir body is theirs!” she exclaims. “And now their designer size medium clothes are mine!”
New York Fashion Week runways had a much smaller percentage of plus-size models than in years past, and virtually zero “midsize” models.
Ozempic is going to change manufacturing . You have people who were plus-sized who are now a size large. You have people who were a size large who are now a size small.
Actress Mariel Hemingway Trying on Dress
The great outdoors is calling... embrace the return to utilitarianism where practicality is chic - and effortless - again
Chanel top, 800-5500005; DKNY shorts, dkny. com; Aspinal of London scarf, aspinalofondon. com; Free People socks, freepeople.com; Grenson boots, grenson.com; Ralph Lauren backpack; ralphlauren.com.
Craig Green jacket, sweater, craig-green.com; Levi’s top, levis.com; Celine by Hedi Slimane binoculars, celine.com; vintage DKNY bandana.
Dries Van Noten blazer, shirt, skirt, shoes, driesvannoten.com.
Moschino dress, trousers, boots, moschino.com.
etro.com.
Etro sweater, dress, shoes,
Fiorella Valdesolo considers whether our infinite scrolling is really going to our heads.
OUR BRAIN Peace Let ROT IN
It’s around 9 p.m., my six-year-old is sleeping, so is the dog, and I’ve begun my nightly scrolling. I start with a furry of memes generated by Beyoncé’s shockingly shocked expression at the Grammy Awards upon hearing of her Best Country Album win (“When they accept your insurance”; “When you forget to blow out the Diptyque”), LOLing as I go. I watch a dewy-cheeked food infuencer with a tomato-red manicure so perfect it implies limited engagement with actual kitchen tasks making a day’s worth of protein-packed meals that are, she insists, super easy, then a series of videos demonstrating exercises (also, according to the Lycra-bound creator, super easy) that will whittle away my midlife midsection weight gain. Feeling targeted and exasperated, I head instead down a long and lovely rabbithole of real estate in the French countryside (pergolas! pools!), which, despite having zero grasp on the language and not enough zeros on my bank account balance, still seem somehow like a plausible possibility, before taking a sharp turn into watching capybaras contentedly soaking themselves in mud baths.
What I qualify as evening ritual, the Oxford English Dictionary would likely call something else: brain rot. It’s the term that, last December, the Oxford University Press dubbed the word of the year. Te editors defned it thusly: “Te supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.” While the word may be perfectly suited for the digitally driven times we fnd ourselves in, it’s not new. Brain rot was frst coined by Henry David Toreau way back in 1854. Toreau, who famou-
sly extolled the benefts, both physical and mental, of living a simpler life immersed in the natural world, decried 19th-century society’s nosedive into feeble-mindedness, something he attributed in part (and presciently) to an increasingly rapid news cycle. He wrote: “While England endeavours to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brainrot—which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”
While Toreau and his peers weren’t scrolling funny cat videos, the notion that a cycle of mental distraction, whatever it may be, could prove fatal for our brain health remains front of mind. Te past few years have brought with them a rise in media coverage about how our current tech immersion is doing everything from lowering our IQs to afecting our ability to focus to, at its most extreme, actually damaging our brains. Te headlines may be shouty, but the scientifc studies to back up the brain-rotting efects at least remain fimsy. Some psychiatrists and psychologists who study the impacts of digital technology say that the evidence of it permanently altering the brain simply isn’t there. Tat’s not to say that repetitive engagement with technology doesn’t do signifcant harm: It can act as tinder for addictive behavior and accelerate anxieties and fears, it can put adolescents at heightened risk for depression, plus also have physical repercussions from neck and shoulder pain to
Below: Beavis and ButtHead. Opposite page: Real Housewives (top); Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi.
“The supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of
headaches to carpal tunnel to exhausted (so very exhausted) eyeballs. It’s a cruel irony that the phones we are engaging with for countless hours of our days are also the ones that remind us daily of that crippling over-engagement.
But every wave of change in how we communicate, particularly the tidal waves that technological advancements like cell phones have brought, has long been met with concern and public outcry. Way back in the day, Greek philosopher Plato and his teacher Socrates were both distressed that the act of writing (which in their oratory times could be qualifed as tech) would be detrimental to cognition; consider it the OG brain rot. As Plato wrote in Phaedrus, a 370 BC record of dialogues between him and Socrates: “If men learn [writing], it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks.” Tere was the worry during Toreau’s time of newspapers’ commodifcation of news, the “radiophobia” of the 1920s
when people fretted about both the actual transmission of radio waves and that it would interfere with communal activities, and the concerns in the 1950s around the arrival of television, aka the boob tube. In a 1950 Boston University graduation speech, the school’s president said: “Television often serves to distract. … If the television craze continues with the present level of programs, we are destined to have a nation of morons.” What would this man think of TikTok?
table, both to these inevitable advan cements in technology (as a Gen Xer, I’ve experienced a few already) and to the just as inevitable evolutions in communication. Oxford, in its nomi nation of brain rot, also mentioned the emergence of “brain rot language,” words as nonsensical as the digital con tent that birthed them. As someone with an elementary-age daughter and tween and teen nieces and nephews, I’m familiar with them all. But to me, rizz
nous harbingers of a language in decline, but one that’s in motion, albeit more quickly than ever before. Every generation has its own slang, what connects its members to each other and to a moment in time, and to say that all these terms are brain rot feels stodgy. Or rather,
Brain Rot
overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.”
But is this infnite scrolling now dubbed brain rot actually making us into the morons suggested in that 1950 speech? Am I dumber because I regularly seek out celebrity plastic surgery summaries or corgis running or Getty-watermarked ‘90s red carpet events? Is it the content itself that’s bad or the amount of time we’re spending engaging with
levision Oxford likely had in mind as exemplary of brain rot, but that happens to be beloved by women I would qualify as quite brainy (see Michelle Obama, Roxane Gay, and Meryl Streep). Te franchise has been the subject of academic dissertations and Nellini Stamp, a director of strategy for the Working Families Party, brilliantly fuses the Real Housewives and politics on her popular Instagram account RHOPOL. Te most recent Real Housewives of Beaveraged 4 million viewers Succession only had nale, reach almost 3 million viewers. I’d contend that the shows, one a guilty pleasure, the other a critical darling (both of which I heartily partake in) actually share much in common—they are bizarre games of human chess with endless bickering, rampant spending, cutthroat ambition, shifty brilliance, monstrous egos, and utter delusion. So are they both rotting our brain?
with the so-calwe infnitely
scroll is that oftentimes it’s an algorithm puppeting what we see and en there’s the quire pace of all that information (and misinformation) being thrown out for your consumption. Unless
you, like I, have a soft spot for the cleaning corner of YouTube, where videos are devoted to the methodical degunking of carpets or computer keyboards. (Channels Mountain Rug Cleaning and Cleaning the Dirtiest each have around 2 million subscribers.) Te transformations are slow and steady and deeply satisfying; watching something be thoroughly cleaned, a task tidily completed, feels like an antidote to our current chaos. Yes, it’s probably unchallenging content, but it serves a purpose. And I’d argue that having and raising a child while fguring out how to be a fully functional human at my job has done more to harm my brain than the collective hours I’ve spent staring at capybaras in the mud or watching back-toback episodes of heated Housewives exchanges. Much like everything else, all this highly snackable content is simply best consumed in moderation. Take regular breaks, don’t rely on tech at absolutely every touchpoint of your life, and engage frequently with some form of nature (though most of us can’t retreat to the woods like Toreau when we want to live deliberately). We are living through unprecedented, depressing, and downright bizarre times, and when reality bites you often have to fnd a way to check out, albeit briefy, and let your brain rot to have the stamina and willingness to carry on. I certainly do.
This page: Rich cat (right); English comedian and actor, Benny Hill. Opposite page: Beyoncé meme (top); Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, season 14
King
The future looks bright for actress and producer Joey King. long
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Actress and producer Joey King is the new Max Mara Face of the Future, as “she embodies the strength, creativity, and passion of a leader for her generation” says Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti, director of the brand. “It feels surreal to be recognized by Max Mara and Women in Film in front of actresses and women I look up to and in front
of my family–with whom I share this award–because they made me the woman I am totday” King says. At 25, the number of flms and TV titles King has worked is more than twice her age. Te flm series she starred in, Te Kissing Booth, was a huge success and gave the 25-yearold actress massive popularity. However, with her performance in the crime drama series Te Act, she received critical acclaim along with
SAG, Emmy, Golden Globe, and Critics Choice Award nominations. Te Act is based on the life of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, with whom Joey has never interacted except via messages. “I’ve never met Gypsy,” she explains. “Te extent of our interaction was a couple of friendly and nice words over Instagram DM. What attracted me to that project was the delicate nature of telling someone’s story when they’re still alive, and when
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there’s so much information about them that everyone has access to and can cross-reference your performance and accuracy. Tat made me very nervous but also excited. I was really lucky because I was given the freedom to fnd my version of playing Gypsy. It was the most incredible experience to work on something everyone cared so deeply about.”
She recently starred in and produced Uglies, a science fction drama based on Scott Westerfeld’s novel, set in a dystopian reality with strict beauty standards. It doesn’t sound so diferent from today’s reality, where the pressure of aesthetic standards is often placed on women, a pressure Joey is very aware of. “It’s inevitable nowadays not to feel a certain pressure. If you subscribe to social media, whether you are a celebrity or not, people will make assumptions about your appearance, personality, and life. I think people are a little too comfortable voicing their opinions nowadays. It seems more important to be humorous than kind. I also think there’s a certain pressure put on women, with things expected of them when they reach a certain age. I feel that pressure and I’m in my 20s. I’ll surely feel it more as I get older. A lot of women feel it, it’s unfair and crazy. I’m so glad many inspiring actresses and female directors are making art that addresses this problem.”
With her production company, All the King’s Horses, she tries to fnd talented flmmakers and foster their vision because her inspiration “is a collaborative kind of inspiration.” Tis collaborative inspiration is, in fact, what attracts her to a project: “If I look at my career so far, I don’t know if I could have predicted any of the projects I’ve worked on. I get really inspired when I feel someone else’s inspirational energy. I love the nature of how spontaneous
many of my decisions as an actress have been because, at times, I’ ve gotten very excited about a script and just jumped right in, even if I wouldn’t have necessarily thought I’d want to do something like that. Most importantly, though, I want characters to feel, to have real-life stakes and personalities.”
Troughout her career she’s worked with acting legends such as Nicole Kidman, in the movie A Family Afair: “I’m just so amazed and inspired by Nicole,” she says. “She’s so funny, talented, and caring. Working with her makes you realize how she rose to the position of leadership that she so elegantly holds, by being kind, compassionate, and collaborative with other people. She is also just such a badass who knows what she wants and is so sure of herself. I fnd that amazing.”
Tere are also other women in Hollywood that King dreams of working with in the future: “One day, I’d love to work with Greta Gerwig and Angela Bassett. Tere are so many incredible women I really look up to, both in front of and behind the camera. I can’t wait to continue my career and work with more female flmmakers and more women in general. I’m lucky to live in a time where there are more opportunities for women than ever before, and I’m really thankful to all the women who came before me in this industry, who laid down the groundwork and trailblazed the path for us to have more opportunities, more say, and more creative power. Of course, there is still a lot more to be done, and there are still many things we’re striving for. Hopefully, those goals will be reached.
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On Left: Louis Vuitton top, trousers, belt, boots, 866-VUITTON. On Right: Louis Vuitton top, trousers, belt, boots, 866-VUITTON.
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“I’ve tried to be minimal, but it never works out because I just love embellishment, detail, and vintage clothes,” says New York’s queen of bohemian fashion Anna Sui when I meet the designer in her fantasia of a Garment District showroom with red foors, purple walls, and black-lacquered Victorian furniture a few days before the start of New York Fashion Week in early February. Tis attempt at restraint is a surprising admission for the larger-than-life subject of the touring exhibition Te World of Anna Sui that arrives at the Phoenix Art Museum— PhxArt for short—on April 12 for its frst West Coast engagement. Sui’s vintage-inspired bricoleur sensibility is undeniably having a resurgence, with Gen Z style icons Olivia Rodrigo and Bella Hadid photographed wearing both current season Anna Sui designs and Ssense reissues of vintage styles, while TikTok is fooded with clips from her ‘90s runway shows that featured OG It Girls Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington.
“When I make fabric selections I’ll think, Oh, we can just make this a plain jacket, but then it ends up with paillettes all over it,” Sui says, as she leads me deeper down the rabbit hole, down a hall illuminated by Tifany pendant lights and through her bustling 22-person stu-
Anna in
WON DER LAND
The World of Anna Sui celebrates the maximalist style of a true New York original
WORDS ALISON S. COHN
dio stufed with fabric rolls to her ofce decorated with Art Nouveau-stenciled mood boards, a Beauty and the Beast-worthy collection of art books, a black-lacquered dining table-cum-desk she found at a fea market, and a collection of papier-maché mannequin heads from her frst store. “Before kindergarten I came to New York to be a fower girl at my uncle’s wedding, and I went back to Michigan telling my parents that I was going to move here and be a fashion designer,” she recalls. At 60, the suburban Detroit native still has the aura of a Midwest princess living out her downtown fashion fantasies.
On this cold winter day, Sui is dressed in a multicolor glitter tweed bouclé jacket and matching blouse in shades more shocking than Schiap pink from her Fall/ Winter 2019 Poptimisms collection accessorized with a jumbo resin butterfy pendant necklace. “I think it’s important to make a bigger efort as far as what I’m going to wear to work every day,” she says. Tis proclamation is classic Anna Sui. She’s been marching to the beat of her own drum since she frst began dressing her supermodel friends after studying at Parsons in the 1980s; Karl Lagerfeld reportedly inquired “Who is this Anna?” when the Trinity all turned up to Chanel fttings in Paris one season in her vibrant printed babydoll dresses. Largely
Anna Sui
Victorian C. Joyeuse bodice, early 20th-century
Americana
Hillbilly Westerns cowgirl ensemble, 1940s-1950s
Punk crust punk jacket embellished by Tim A. Shanahan, 2002
eschewing trends, Sui is sometimes in sync with the wider fashion world and other times not, but she has found success on her own terms—and always with a smile.
“Anna’s strength is that she has just stuck to her vision,” says Dennis Nothdruft, head of exhibitions at London’s Fashion and Textile Museum, where he originated the World of Anna Sui exhibition in 2017 that has since traveled to Tokyo, Shanghai, New York, Fort Lauderdale, and Charlotte, North Carolina. “We wanted to call the show Te World of Anna Sui because she has her space that she’s created.” Sui’s maximal, fantastical approach to design extends to the environments her clothes live in. To create a sense of full immersion, the PhxArt presentation will transform the museum’s galleries with decorative fower and butterfy decals, vinyl reproductions of Aubrey Beardsley prints, fabric pattern murals, and black-lacquered furniture and display cases. “I’ve had the same decor sense since I was a teenager,” Sui says. “Te frst piece of furniture that I bought for my bedroom was a Victorian vanity from the Salvation Army that looked like it had been in a fre. When I brought it home, my mother was horrifed and I said, ‘No, no, no, I’m going to make it look good.’ So I painted it all black.”
Te World of Anna Sui presents 83 head-to-toe fashion magpie ensembles, complete with James Coviello hats, Erickson Beamon costume jewelry, Mondottica sunglasses, and Ballin and Hush Puppies shoes. Featuring such standouts as a Fall/ Winter 2024 crop top and babushka scarf Miss Marple ensemble, Spring/ Summer 1994 his-and-hers babydoll dresses, and a pair of Fall/Winter 1992 backless chaps worn by Campbell, they’re organized around 12 archetypes: Americana, androgyny, fairy tale, grunge, hippie/rockstar, Mod, nomad, punk, retro, schoolgirl, surfer, and Victorian. Collectively the looks embody the many colorful characters from cowgirls and hippie chicks to Pre-Raphaelite muses and rockstars that populate Sui’s universe. “I never looked back until we dug out the archive for this exhibit,” Sui says. “I just kept moving forward and didn’t realize that I kept repeating these signature themes throughout my career.”
the designer’s work drawn from the PhxArt’s robust fashion design collection comprising more than 10,000 objects. “It was a great experience for us to open up our archive to a designer and look at curation as a collaborative model that allows for greater dialogue,” says PhxArt’s Director and CEO Jeremy Mikolajczak. Helen Jean, the museum’s curator of fashion, did a rough edit and asked Sui to choose her favorites. Sui was immediately drawn to a 1960s Hillbilly Westerns of Denver fringed shirt and a Fall/Winter 1967 Rudi Gernreich Peter Pan dress, one of her favorite designers. “Helen had pulled quite a few Victorian pieces, but when I saw the purple-andblack bodice, I knew that had to be it,” Sui says of an early 20th-century top collaged together from brocade, chifon, lace, and velvet.
Tese days, Sui continues moving forward, with an eye to the past, thanks to her twentysomething niece-muses, actress Chase Sui Wonders, director Jeannie Sui Wonders, and Isabelle Sui, who now works with her as brand director. “A few years ago my nieces started showing up to our family Christmas dinner in their moms’ clothes from the ‘90s,” Sui recalls. “Te frst things that they dug out were from the frst collection, the windowpane pieces, and then the Christmas after they found some of the grunge collection,” she says, referring to the Carnaby Street-esque miniskirt suits worn by the Supers in her Fall/Winter 1991 runway debut and the rainbow stripes and romantic dustbowl forals from Kurt Cobain-inspired Spring/ Summer 1993 collection shown the same season as her dear friend Marc Jacobs’ infamous grunge collection for Perry Ellis. She loves the way the younger Suis break up full looks and remix her vintage styles with sporty layering pieces. “It is just fun to see how they interpret it nowadays,” she says.
New to this iteration are fve looks from the past four years and six historical garments that mirror themes in
Does fashion’s standard bearer of exuberance feel the industry is moving in a more maximalist direction? “I think so, I mean, look at Valentino,” says Sui referring to Alessandro Michele’s Spring/Summer 2025 haute couture debut flled with massive crinoline gowns in dazzling colors. “Marc’s show was really fun too.” She’s excited by the nascent escapist mood in fashion, and this time is more than happy to be on trend. “I’m hoping fashion pushes it again because that quiet luxury thing was kind of somber,” Sui says.
A Work of Art
SCULPTURAL SILHOUETTES MAKE FOR A STRONG STATEMENT THIS SPRING.
MODEL: VIKA INHNATENKO @FABRIKA ; HAIR: LESLIE THIBAUD; MAKE UP: DAVID LENHARDT; MANUCURE: LEILA RERBAL; PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT: HELENE BOZZI
A BIGGER
SP L A S H
In April, David Hockney will become the first artist to take over Fondation Louis Vuitton
WORDS ALISON S. COHN
SINCE ITS OPENING in 2014, the Fondation Louis Vuitton has hosted many blockbuster retrospectives featuring some of the biggest names in modern and contemporary art including Mark Rothko, Egon Schiele, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Cindy Sherman. But this spring’s David Hockney 25 exhibition, opening April 9, is the frst time the Paris museum has invited a living artist to take over its entire building. Te prolifc 87-year-old British painter will transform the sweeping Frank Gehry-designed 126,000-square-foot glass-sailed structure in Bois de Boulogne with more than 400 of his works in a variety of media including oil and acrylic paintings; ink, pencil,
David Hockney, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), 1972
charcoal, and iPad drawings; and immersive video installations. Offering visitors a rare insight into his seven-decade career, Hockney has chosen to focus on the past 25 years while also including a selection of iconic early works.
According to independent curator Sir Norman Rosenthal, a friend of Hockney’s since the 1960s and a co-curator of the exhibition, Hockney’s strength is his breadth. “David Hockney’s not a conceptual artist in the way that Picasso wasn’t a conceptual artist,” says Rosenthal. “He’s a bottomless artist because he paints what’s in front of him. He’s able to translate what he’s looking at in an extraordinary, amazingly varied way,
whether it’s an art-historical reference, the wall of a gay club, or a beautiful apple tree in Normandy.”
By way of introduction, the exhibition will open with Hockney’s 1955 portrait of his father, a rare example of his juvenalia, along with two of his best known works, the erotically charged California swimming pool paintings Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) from 1972 depicting a nattily dressed gentleman watching another man do the breaststroke, and A Bigger Splash from 1967, which shows a shimmering surface disturbed by an unseen swimmer who has just dived in. Tis section also highlights intimate double portraits of two creative couples:
fashion designer Ossie Clark and textile designer Celia Birtwell and author Christopher Isherwood and artist Don Bachardy.
Hockney’s decision to focus the exhibit on recent work made in Yorkshire, Normandy, and London came out of a conversation with his partner and studio manager Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima. “One day in the studio JP said, ‘Te exhibition is going to take place in 2025, why don’t we just concentrate on the last 25 years?’” Rosenthal recalls. “For somebody my age—I’m 80 and I’m sure he feels the same—we’re a quarter of the way into the 21st century and 2000 feels as though it was yesterday.”
JP and Little Tess, 15th November 2023, 2023
19th March 2021, Sunfower with Exotic Flower, 2021
Landscapes took on an increasingly prominent role in Hockney’s oeuvre during this period, as he began timing his annual trips from his adopted home of Los Angeles back to Yorkshire to catch the creamy-white hawthorn blossoms that appear in May. In 2005, he moved back full time, settling in the seaside town of Bridlington, about 75 miles from the city of Bradford where he was born. Hockney later spent the Covid pandemic years in the French countryside, and now lives in London. His love for nature is manifested by a monumental winter landscape Bigger Trees near Warter (2007), a 15 x 40 foot painting comprising 50 canvases that is the largest work Hockney has made to date, and a new in-
stallation of the 220 for 2020 series, a collection of 220 daily iPad drawings celebrating the arrival of spring in Normandy. But he hasn’t forgotten genre painting and portraits entirely: Te show features 60 recent portraits of friends and relatives painted in acrylic or on iPad that Hockney calls “drawings,” as well as iPad still lifes that he calls “portraits of fowers.”
Even at his advanced age, Hockney isn’t slowing down much. “Every day David gets up, he dresses very well—you know, he puts on a tie and one of these smart suits, which were made from him by a tailor Normandy–and then he paints,” says Rosenthal. Among the most intriguing works in the exhibition
are the enigmatic symbolist painting After Munch: Less is Known than People Tink, and After Blake completed last year, which Rosenthal describes as “William Blake’s vision of Dante’s Divine Comedy as seen through the eyes of David Hockney, with Virgil entering entering frst hell and then of course wandering through and getting to paradise in the end.”
Tough less well known among the works in his vast oeuvre, Hockney has long created his own versions of canonical works dating from antiquity to the present day. Te last room will feature his dialogues with artists including Fra Angelico, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso, along with his most recent unseen self-portrait.
After Munch: Less is Known than People Think, 2023
Chasing the perfect sleep score turned my love for martinis into a love for mint tea.
WORDS CASEY BRENNAN
HOW THE OURA RING
TURNED ME SOBER
It all started innocently enough. After seeing many of my friends sporting one, I fnally gave in and bought an Oura Ring—a sleek, unassuming piece of wearable tech that promised to transform me into a well-rested, more resilient version of myself. Sure, I liked the idea of tracking my sleep and stress levels, but I wasn’t expecting much of an epiphany. Certainly not one that involved bidding farewell to my beloved dirty martinis and glasses of Nebbiolo.
But here’s the thing about the Oura Ring: It doesn’t lie.
Te frst few mornings, I’d excitedly open the app to see how I was doing—improving sleep was my main goal. My readiness score? Meh. My sleep score? Yikes. After a particularly indulgent evening that included a couple of cocktails and a late-night snack, the app delivered its verdict: I was operating at what can only be described as zombie mode.
At frst, I shrugged it of. But the allure of a perfect sleep score—a pristine, glowing badge of honor in the Oura app—was impossible to resist. I started making small adjustments: fewer nights spent scrolling on Instagram, earlier bedtimes, and, yes, fewer cocktails.
Ten something unexpected happened. One night, I skipped the wine at dinner, opting for sparkling water instead. Te next morning, my Oura scores were… spectacular.
Te data made it clear: Alcohol was tanking my scores. I wasn’t alone in this realization. Several of my friends, also proud Oura Ring owners, were having similar revelations. One scaled back on happy hour outings to make sure she could make it to 6 a.m. Pilates classes without hitting snooze, while another swapped their Friday night wine habit for a good book and a mug of tea.
It turns out the sober curious movement is booming. A 2024 analysis by NCSolutions found that 41 percent of Americans plan to drink less alcohol this year, and among Gen Z, interest in going alcohol-free has surged by 53 percent compared to the previous year. Nearly 40 percent of U.S. consumers now follow or dabble in a sober curious lifestyle, with physical and mental health topping the list of motivators, according to Mintel research. Challenges like Dry January are also gaining traction—nearly half of participants report drinking less afterward, with some even choosing permanent abstinence.
Oura’s own stats bolster the case for scaling back on booze. A 2023 study by Oura and the University of California, Berkeley, revealed that reducing alcohol can lead to a 15 percent improvement in sleep efciency and signifcant boosts in heart rate variability (HRV), which can improve sleep quality. Seeing those numbers on the app makes it hard to ignore: Te connection between less drinking and better health is undeniable.
Te better my scores, the better I felt. My energy skyrocketed, my skin glowed, and I stopped relying on cafeine to survive the afternoons (that doesn’t mean I’ve given up my morning boost, though!). Even my mental health improved—good sleep and high resilience scores have a way of making life’s little annoyances feel more manageable.
Tat’s not to say I’ve gone full ascetic. I still enjoy the occasional glass of wine or celebratory cocktail, but now it’s intentional rather than habitual. When I do indulge, I weigh the trade-of Will that second margarita be worth a subpar score tomorrow? Sometimes, yes. But often, no.
So here I am, unintentionally sober-ish and thriving. If you spot me out to dinner sipping club soda or mint tea, don’t worry—I’m just busy chasing the perfect sleep score.
THERE’S A PLACE
The most entertaining tableside experiences in dining: From freshly stretched mozzarella in Vegas to a fiery Bananas Foster in New Orleans, these restaurants turn dining into a show. Grab a front-row seat —you don’t want to miss a second.
EDITED BY CASEY BRENNAN
IF you want an immersive Thai feast
BANGBANG BANGKOK—BangBang Bangkok brings the electric energy of a Thai night market straight to your table. Neon lights, live Thai dancers, and the sizzle of street food create a full-sensory experience that transports you from NYC to the streets of Bangkok. From fery curries to tableside-prepped dishes with a modern twist, this spot is all about food and fun. It’s a cultural deep dive, with a side of spice.
IF
BRENNAN’S—At Brennan’s in New Orleans, dessert is a full-on spectacle. Since 1951, they’ve been lighting up dining rooms with their iconic bananas Foster. Watch as bananas, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon hit the pan before getting fambéed with banana liqueur and rum in a fery showstopper. The grand fnale? All that caramelized goodness gets served over vanilla ice cream. If you’re in NOLA, you simply can’t skip this sweet, boozy masterpiece. IF
THE GRILL NYC—Step into the glam world of Mad Men vibes and tableside drama at The Grill in Midtown Manhattan. Known for its swanky midcentury style, this hotspot turns every meal into a performance. Enter the Pasta à la Presse: part culinary magic, part history lesson. The star of the show? A traditional French duck press—a rare device that squeezes every last drop of favor out of roasted duck. The rich juices are whipped into a luscious sauce and poured over fresh pasta right at your table. Add to that the prime rib trolley and faming Baked Alaska, and you’ve got a dining experience that’s pure theater.
you want mozzarella like you’ve never seen it
SUPERFRICO—Las Vegas does nothing halfway, and Superfrico is no exception. One minute you’re sipping cocktails, the next you’re watching mozzarella being made from scratch— right at your table. Fresh, creamy, and oh-sostretchy, the cheese can be devoured solo or paired with the restaurant’s Italian-American delights. Between the live performances, eclectic art, and mozzarella magic, Superfrico is part restaurant, part circus, and all fun
SPARROW ITALIA MIAMI—Tucked in Miami’s artsy Wynwood neighborhood, Sparrow Italia is where ItalianMediterranean cuisine meets live music magic. Think Wagyu carpaccio topped with black trufe, paired with a glass of bubbly, while a singer croons onstage in the background. The stunning space—with its arched booths, wood details, and sunken dining room—makes every meal feel special. It’s chic, lively, and the kind of place where dinner easily turns into a party
DIRTY FRENCH—Who says dessert can’t steal the spotlight? At Dirty French in Miami, the tableside chocolate soufe is a whole moment. A light yet rich dessert made with whipped egg whites, cocoa, and pastry cream, the dessert is baked to a perfect rise. At the table, the captain opens the soufé and pours in a warm dark chocolate sauce, adding just the right amount of indulgence. Soft on the inside with a crisp top, it’s a classic treat elevated by the restaurant’s thoughtful presentation.
Changers Game
Meet the change agents who are blazing a new path and inspiring a better future by redefining what it means to be successful
EDITED BY CASEY BRENNAN
AptDeco founder REHAM FAGIRI is revolutionizing furniture shopping with easy, eco-friendly options
Reham
Fagiri never set out to disrupt the furniture industry—she just wanted to sell a couch. But what should have been a simple task turned into a logistical nightmare, riddled with haggling, no-shows, and last-minute cancellations. “I was moving from Philadelphia to New York and quickly realized how frustrating and inefcient it was to buy and sell secondhand furniture,” she recalls. That frustration sparked an idea, and in 2014, AptDeco was born—a platform designed to take the headache out of furniture resale while making sustainability second nature. Fast forward to today, and AptDeco has grown from a local solution into a nationwide movement, with more than 500,000 users and a mission that extends far beyond convenience. “We’re not just making furniture resale easier—we’re tackling a massive environmental problem,” Fagiri says. With over 12 million tons of furniture ending up in landflls each year, AptDeco is rewriting the script by championing circularity and waste reduction. “Every piece of furniture that gets a second life through AptDeco is one less item polluting our planet,” she adds.
But what really drives Fagiri? Inspiration is everywhere, she says—books, podcasts, even everyday experiences. But nothing compares to hearing directly from AptDeco’s users. “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do,” she explains. “Their feedback shapes our product, guides our decisions, and reminds us why we started in the frst place.” This customer-frst mindset has been a key ingredient in AptDeco’s success, transforming it from a transactional platform into a trusted community. “It’s about more than just buying and selling—it’s about creating an experience that feels seamless, safe, and, dare I say, enjoyable.”
Fagiri’s path to entrepreneurship wasn’t exactly conventional. Before launching AptDeco, she honed her skills at Goldman Sachs, where she transitioned from software engineering to product management—a shift that gave her a strategic edge. “Goldman was my training ground,” she says. “It taught me how to think critically, solve complex problems, and, most importantly, navigate change.” Those lessons became invaluable when she took the leap into entrepreneurship, leaning on a tight-knit circle of advisors and mentors to help steer the ship. “Starting a business can be overwhelming but having trusted voices to turn to made all the diference,” she shares.
AptDeco’s impact extends beyond individual buyers and sellers. The company has diverted over 33 million pounds of furniture from landflls, ofsetting the equivalent of 19.2 million pounds of CO2 emissions. Its hybrid model—blending peer-to-peer transactions with professional services like pickup, delivery, and assembly—eliminates the usual pain points of secondhand shopping. And big-name brands have taken notice: AptDeco now partners with more than 30 major furniture companies, including West Elm, Article, La-Z-Boy and Pottery Barn, ofering resale solutions that beneft retailers, consumers, and the planet alike.
So, what’s next? Fagiri has big plans. “There’s so much untapped potential in this space,” she says. “I want AptDeco to be synonymous with furniture resale—seamless, sustainable, and completely hassle-free.” With her drive, vision, and deep commitment to sustainability, she’s well on her way to making that a reality.
“Every day is an opportunity to take this business further,” Fagiri says. “And honestly? I can’t wait to see where we go next.”
How Super Smalls founder MARIA DUEÑAS JACOBS is redefining kids’ play through imagination and creativity
Maria Dueñas Jacobs has a remarkable story of reinvention and inspiration, evolving from a seasoned editorial expert into the visionary founder of Super Smalls, a kids’ accessories brand that champions creativity and play.
Jacobs’s love for details and storytelling began during her tenure as an accessories editor at Glamour and Elle. “Those years were about discovering brands, curating stories, and celebrating creativity,” Jacobs refects. “It was a dream job for someone obsessed with the small things that pull everything together.”
Her transition into the tech world at Stitch Fix further expanded her horizons. “It was a completely diferent but equally thrilling experience,” she says. “Being part of a company that went public gave me invaluable insights into scaling a business.”
In 2019, Jacobs took the leap to entrepreneurship, launching Super Smalls. Inspired by her three daughters— “they’re my unofcial co-founders,” she laughs— the brand was born out of a desire to give kids access to high-quality, imaginative accessories. “Super Smalls is about creating products that spark joy and creativity for both kids and parents,” she shares, explaining that her own brood continues to infuence the brand. “Their evolving tastes push me to think outside the box. They love bold, fun, and over-the-top designs, which shape everything I create.”
Jacobs credits her parents as her greatest mentors and teachers, shaping her approach to creativity and resilience. “My mom is an artist, and my dad is an entrepreneur,” she shares. “I see them both as alchemists in their own unique ways—transforming ideas and visions into reality. They’ve shown me the power of creating something from nothing, and that’s a lesson I carry with me as I continue to grow.”
Beyond her parents, Jacobs refects on the inspiring women she’s encountered throughout her career. She highlighted her frst boss, Xanthipi Joannides at Glamour, who “taught me the value of leading with heart, kindness, and calm—qualities I strive to embody every day,” and noted how designers and women founders have also inspired her with their ability to build something remarkable from the ground up.
Super Smalls isn’t just about accessories—it’s a vehicle for real-world play. “We’ve introduced beading kits and even an entrepreneur kit to empower kids to create and explore their potential,” Jacobs explains. “It’s all about sparking imagination and encouraging hands-on creativity.”
Jacobs’s approach to life and business blends preparation with adaptability. “Some of the best opportunities have come from unexpected moments,” she notes. “Being ready to embrace those moments is what transforms them into something meaningful.”
This mindset carried her from the spark of an idea to the execution of Super Smalls. “It started with research, conversations with parents, and seeking advice,” she recalls. “Bit by bit, the pieces came together, and Super Smalls became a reality.”
The future of Super Smalls is as bright as its bejeweled designs. “We’re expanding our product range, diving deeper into crafts, and launching partnerships that elevate our brand,” Jacobs shares. “Our goal is to inspire kids to step away from screens and engage in creative play. We want to grow our community and keep pushing the boundaries of what play can look like.”
For Jacobs, the journey is just as important as the destination. “At the heart of it all is joy, creativity, and connection,” she says.
Game Changers
When you think of Beverly Hills, 90210, chances are you picture Jennie Garth as the original California cool girl. But real-life Jennie is far from her TV counterpart. These days, she’s focused on living life on her own terms—boldly and authentically—while empowering women along the way. Garth shot to fame in 1990 as Kelly Taylor and become a pop culture icon. Now at 52, she’s embracing her next chapter as an entrepreneur, designer, podcaster, advocate, and mom to her daughters—Luca, 27, Lola, 22, and Fiona, 18.
She’s also redefning conversations about aging, especially for post-menopausal women. “I’ve done a lot of changing in the last 10 years,” Garth refects. “For most of my career, I was just working, raising my kids, and surviving life. After my divorce, I fnally started doing the work on myself.” Garth has been married three times, including to actor Peter Facinelli, with whom she shares her daughters. “Relationships teach you so much,” she says. “Sometimes they end, and that’s OK. You take the lessons, heal, and move on stronger.”
Her transformation wasn’t overnight—it was slow and often exhausting. Therapy? Check. Self-help books? Defnitely. Yoga and Pilates? “I used to roll my eyes at it,” she laughs. “Now I tell everyone they need yoga in their life.” Balance and wellness are her focus these days—but not in a “perfect” Instagram way. “I used to be so hard on myself,” she admits. “Now, being healthy means being kind to myself and listening to what my body needs.”
Garth’s mission to empower women shines through her I Choose Me podcast and her new clothing line, Me by Jennie Garth for QVC. Both encourage women to celebrate their evolving identities with confdence, style, and self-love. Her designs refect her relaxed, efortlessly cool style, perfect for women who want to feel comfortable while looking chic. “It’s about clothes that make you feel good in your own skin,” she says. Her message of destigmatizing aging and focusing on mental and physical health is resonating with women redefning what it means to thrive at every age.
That message came to life at her recent I Choose Me Summit, where she brought women together to focus on health, reinvention, and living their best lives at every stage. The event was a huge success, reinforcing Garth’s commitment to inspiring women—especially her own brood—to embrace change.
“My girls have taught me more about life and love than anything else,” Garth says proudly. “Raising them has been the best part of my life. They inspire me every day.”
With her daughters blazing their own paths, Garth’s role has shifted. It’s less about constant parenting and more about being their cheerleader, sounding board, and occasional yoga buddy.
Her secret to raising confdent, badass young women? “I’ve always told them to trust their instincts, stay true to who they are, and never be afraid to start over. Oh, and to never, ever text their exes,” she jokes. For Garth, the future is wide open—she’s not putting herself in any box. Whether it’s acting, producing, or something unexpected, she’s rolling with it. “I’ve learned that change is where the magic happens,” she says. “Life isn’t always pretty, but it’s real. And that’s where the good stuf is.”
The 90210 icon JENNIE GARTH is embracing change, self-love, and second chances—proving reinvention can happen at any age
InHow Furtuna Skin founder AGATHA RELOTA LUCZO is changing the face of clean beauty
the world of clean beauty, few fgures are as pioneering as Agatha Relota Luczo. As the founder and CEO of Furtuna Skin, Luczo—a former runway model—has carved a unique path by blending her entrepreneurial acumen with a passion for sustainability, luxury, and transformative skincare. Her journey is a testament to resilience, adaptability, and the power of nature to inspire.
Luczo’s entrepreneurial journey began when she stepped onto the international modeling stage at just 16 years old. “Through modeling, I developed key entrepreneurial skills: personal branding, networking with photographers and designers to secure opportunities, and mastering collaboration on set to build lasting professional relationships,” she shares. These foundational skills became the building blocks for her future ventures.
A turning point in her career came after experiencing three lung collapses. This life-altering event not only threatened her modeling career but also taught her resilience—a quality she would later channel into launching Furtuna Skin. The brand, which debuted mere months before the pandemic, faced extraordinary challenges. Yet, under Luczo’s leadership, Furtuna Skin thrived by innovating rapidly and staying true to its mission.
With its made-in-Italy origins, Furtuna Skin harnesses the power of proprietary olive oil and wild botanicals, while championing biodiversity and uplifting Sicilian communities.
Inspiration for Luczo comes from nature’s resilience and transformative abilities. “Our estate in Sicily, with its biodiverse landscape and centuries-old plants, is a constant source of awe and creativity,” she says. Home to 500 plant varieties, 50 medicinal herbs, and 12,000 olive trees, the land serves as both a sanctuary and a laboratory.
“Our distinguished farm botanist and chief scientifc ofcer always says, ‘Look to the land, and it will give you answers.’ Stepping onto the soil there feels like entering another world,” Luczo shares. This connection to the earth fuels her passion for creating innovative skincare solutions. From developing a micellar water that combines cleansing and antioxidant properties to perfecting the Triple Active Exfoliator, every product refects thoughtful innovation and a deep respect for nature.
Equally inspiring are the heartfelt stories from customers. “Hearing how our products have transformed their skin and boosted their confdence reminds us of our purpose and motivates us to keep innovating,” she says. Turning ideas into action is an art form Luczo has mastered. “Execution is about turning passion into action, taking calculated risks, and staying committed to delivering something exceptional,” she says. Every product undergoes rigorous research and testing to ensure it meets the highest standards of efcacy and sustainability.
One standout example is the Triple Active Exfoliator, which combines three plant-based exfoliating methods into one product. “It took countless iterations and feedback loops to perfect the formula,” Luczo recalls. The result? An award-winning product celebrated for its innovative approach and gentle yet efective results.
As Furtuna Skin continues to grow, Luczo is venturing into the spa space. “At the heart of our brand is the belief in transforming daily rituals into restorative moments. Immersive spa experiences are the perfect way to bring that vision to life,” Luczo explains. Partnering with prestigious spas worldwide, the brand aims to showcase the potency of Sicilian ingredients through signature treatments.
“This initiative marks an exciting new chapter,” Luczo says. With a steadfast commitment to innovation, sustainability, and luxury, she is poised to continue reshaping the beauty industry—one transformative product and experience at a time.
Marina
Efraimoglou isn’t just a game changer—she’s a whole vibe. Imagine going from the high-stakes world of investment banking to creating one of the most serene, world-renowned wellness retreats in Greece. That’s exactly what she did by founding Euphoria Retreat, a holistic destination spa nestled in the breathtaking landscapes of the Peloponnese Region. Her journey, marked by resilience and a deep commitment to well-being, is inspiring. “I had a thriving career in fnance, but after battling cancer twice and completely burning out, I knew something had to give,” Efraimoglou shares. And give it did! That wake-up call led her down a new path—one rooted in holistic healing and traditional Chinese medicine. Her personal quest for balance and renewal became the foundation of a retreat that now serves as a sanctuary for people seeking transformation. Now, she’s helping others fnd their equilibrium, proving that sometimes the biggest power move is slowing down.
Euphoria Retreat isn’t just about fancy rooms and spa days—it’s a full-on mind, body, and soul reboot, inspired by Efraimoglou’s metamorphosis. This place seamlessly blends modern medical science with ancient Greek wisdom, ofering guests an experience that is not only luxurious but deeply meaningful. Here, wellness is a personal journey, tailored to the individual needs of every guest.
And Efraimoglou? She’s always pushing boundaries. Last fall, she launched a next-level medical initiative that’s taking personalized wellness to new heights. Guests can now send in biological samples before they arrive. Scientists in Athens analyze these samples, creating a health profle that shapes a completely customized retreat program. This innovation ensures that each person’s experience is uniquely tailored, ofering targeted solutions addressing specifc concerns.
“Guests can address issues like sleep, pain management, immunity, or even menopause,” she explains. “What sets Euphoria apart is how we integrate this scientifc precision with our unique spiritual philosophy. It’s not just about treating the body; it’s about nurturing the soul.”
Efraimoglou draws inspiration from diverse sources. “Nature renews me, young people motivate me, and my spiritual connection to the Divine guides me,” she says. Her entrepreneurial spirit, evident since her days in fnance, continues to drive her. She has never shied away from bold decisions, always following her intuition even when the path ahead seemed uncertain. Her journey hasn’t been linear, but she frmly believes in dreaming boldly. “I encourage people to dream big. If you can’t dream it, you can’t do it,” she asserts. For her, the leap from idea to execution was fueled by an “inner calling” she could no longer ignore.
Moments of clarity, like her visit to the iconic Golden Door or a pivotal yoga class after an earthquake in Athens, reafrmed her purpose. “Lying in Shavasana, I realized I wanted to create something meaningful—a space where others could fnd healing and fulfllment.”
Looking to the future, Efraimoglou has ambitious plans. In addition to expanding Euphoria Retreat with a seaside location and a city-based day center, she’s contemplating writing a book. “This journey is far from over,” she says. She envisions an evolving wellness philosophy that continues to inspire and uplift.
Marina Efraimoglou’s story is a testament to the power of transformation and vision. By blending cutting-edge science with ancient wisdom, she’s reshaped her life and redefned what wellness can be for countless others. “This is my ‘Ithaca,’” she refects, “a destination that keeps me in touch with my soul’s yearning.”
With Euphoria Retreat, former banker MARINA EFRAIMOGLOU is redefining what it means to heal the body, mind, and spirit —one guest at a time
HAYLEY
FRIEDMAN MORRISON founded the Eli Sunshine Fund to honor her son and fund research into pediatric cancers
For Hayley Friedman Morrison, the question Tell me about your son is not a painful one. In fact, it’s her favorite. “It never makes me sad to talk about him,” she says. “Most people love talking about their child, and for me, it connects me to who he is. I consider him here with me.” Eli, who passed away at just 9 years old after a battle with Ewing sarcoma, was extraordinary. “He would have turned 10 last February,” Morrison says. “He was the happiest child—funny, witty, full of energy, and constantly on the move. Even at nursery school, they nicknamed him ‘the mayor.’” Eli’s diagnosis introduced Morrison to the harsh realities of pediatric cancer. “The funding for pediatric cancer is abysmal,” she explains. “There hasn’t been a new drug for pediatric cancers in over 40 years. Families go bankrupt trying to keep their kids alive. It’s an archaic system, and I want to change that.”
Throughout treatment, Eli’s compassion was unmatched. “At Memorial Sloan Kettering [MSK], he was very aware of other kids and families who didn’t have the same support. He would ask me to bring chocolates or stufed animals for other patients.”
Though his life was short, Eli packed a lifetime of love into his years. He loved basketball, chess, drawing, painting, and cooking with his older brother, Harry. “An Eli hug was all in—he enveloped you with his whole heart,” Morrison recalls.
Driven by Eli’s spirit, Morrison founded the Eli Sunshine Fund, raising over $1 million to fund clinical trials and research for Ewing sarcoma and other pediatric cancers. The fund also brings moments of joy to children in treatment. “Eli spent three birthdays at MSK, and now we throw birthday parties for kids there,” Morrison says.
Morrison’s work is deeply personal, a continuation of the kindness and generosity Eli embodied. “I always say, if he were here, we’d be doing this together,” she refects. “He had such a good heart, and it’s a loss for the world that he isn’t here to share it.”
She is now focused on expanding the Eli Sunshine Fund through partnerships and collaborations. “I am very fortunate to have close relationships in the worlds of fashion and media from growing up in NYC and from my previous career in journalism, and we are talking to some cool brands to partner with in the future to take ESF to the next level. The fashion world has always been so inclusive and welcoming in shining a spotlight on important causes, and childhood cancer is one that needs and deserves to be amplifed.”
Morrison hopes to launch a campaign with designers and retailers for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September, a time signifed by the color gold. “We want to make the gold ribbon instantly recognizable as a symbol of hope for childhood cancer.”
To continue fundraising, Morrison is planning the second annual beneft this fall, a cocktail event to expand outreach and welcome corporate sponsors. Additionally, several brands have ofered to donate a portion of their proceeds to the foundation.
Transitioning the Eli Sunshine Fund into a formal foundation, Morrison is determined to fght for awareness and change. “I don’t want other parents to hear the words, ‘There’s nothing more we can do.’ In an ideal world, we’d be able to tell these kids that they’ll be okay.”
Morrison laments that “at the end of the day, these diseases will not be cured by big pharmaceutical companies. It’s people like me, people who loved someone like Eli, who have to keep screaming until someone listens.”
Carolyne Doyon never planned to rewrite the future of travel—she just followed her passion for adventure and excellence. From her early days navigating the airline industry (despite growing up speaking French!) to leading one of the biggest names in hospitality, Doyon’s journey has been defned by resilience, adaptability, and an unshakable drive to push boundaries. Now, as president and CEO of Club Med North America and the Caribbean, she’s shaping the future of luxury all-inclusive travel while steering a $244 million operation across multiple countries.
Her ascent through Club Med has been nothing short of remarkable. When she joined in 2008 as sales director for Eastern Canada, she wasted no time in making an impact. Within a year, she was promoted to vice president, eventually leading to her appointment as CEO in 2019.
Then came the pandemic—a moment that could have crippled the company. Instead, Doyon turned crisis into opportunity. Under her leadership, Club Med became the frst resort company in the Western Hemisphere to reopen in mid-2020, proving that resilience and smart strategy could keep the travel dream alive. Not only did she navigate the company through one of its toughest challenges, but she also oversaw the groundbreaking launch of Club Med Québec Charlevoix in December 2021, marking the brand’s frst-ever four-season mountain resort in Canada.
“Some of the biggest breakthroughs happen when you’re thrown into the unknown,” she refects. “You can either wait for the storm to pass or fgure out how to sail through it. We chose to move forward.”
Under Doyon’s leadership, Club Med isn’t just bouncing back—it’s soaring to new heights. Across the Caribbean, there are resorts in Martinique, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Guadeloupe, and the Dominican Republic, including the ultra-luxe property Miches Playa Esmeralda, part of the brand’s Exclusive Collection. The company’s North American business unit has shattered records, doubling its operating proft, and attracting a new wave of high-end travelers.
“We’re no longer just an all-inclusive brand,” Doyon explains. “We’re redefning premium travel by creating unforgettable, immersive experiences in the world’s most stunning destinations.”
But beyond the numbers, Doyon is focused on something even bigger: changing how people experience travel. “Today’s traveler wants more than just relaxation,” she says. “They want adventure, culture, and moments that truly stay with them.”
Her passion for the industry goes beyond boardrooms and business strategies. For Doyon, travel has always been deeply personal. Growing up in Montreal, she was fascinated by diferent cultures, dreaming of faraway destinations while watching The Price is Right with her mom. “I told her one day I’d make sure she traveled the world,” she recalls. “Now, I get to create those dream experiences for thousands of people.”
Despite tremendous success, Doyon is far from fnished. As she looks to the future, she’s focused on sustainability, digital transformation, and expanding Club Med’s reach to new destinations. “Luxury travel is evolving, and we’re making sure Club Med is at the forefront of that change,” she says.
At the same time, she’s embracing the personal side of the journey—balancing the demands of leadership with being a mom to her teenage son, Sam. “At the end of the day, life is about experiences—whether it’s leading a company, exploring a new destination, or just being present with family,” she says. One thing’s for sure: Whether she’s navigating the travel industry’s next big shift or leading the charge on innovation, Carolyne Doyon is making every move count. “The best journeys,” she says, “are the ones you never stop exploring.”
CEO CAROLYNE DOYON is revolutionizing allinclusive travel with Club Med’s bold vision
Game Changers
Italy’s ambassador to the U.S., MARIANGELA ZAPPIA, on diplomacy, leadership, and looking forward
Ifthere’s one thing Italy’s ambassador to the United States, Mariangela Zappia, knows, it’s how to embrace change. With more than 40 years in diplomacy, her career has been a whirlwind of countries, languages, and cultures. From navigating international security crises to orchestrating highstakes negotiations, her journey is nothing short of extraordinary.
Zappia is Italy’s frst female ambassador to the United States, a groundbreaking milestone in a career flled with frsts. She has paved the way for future generations of women in diplomacy by demonstrating that leadership, resilience, and strategic vision can drive success in even the most male-dominated felds.
“I always look forward, not back,” says Zappia, a philosophy that has helped her navigate the ever-evolving world of diplomacy. With roles ranging from African development and migration policies to press strategies and defense, she’s tackled a broad spectrum of global challenges.
Diplomacy is both an adventure and a lesson in patience. Two iconic women have shaped Zappia’s approach: Oriana Fallaci, the fercely independent Italian journalist, and Angela Merkel, whose resilience and strategic thinking set a gold standard for leadership as Germany’s chancellor. Closer to home, her parents instilled a deep-rooted sense of duty—lessons in dedication from a father who served Italy as a high-ranking ofcer of the Carabinieri and later, in retirement, as a mediator in legal proceedings as giudice di pace, a justice of the peace—and strength from a mother who was the cornerstone of their family’s success.
“My mother provided behind-the-scenes leadership and support to me, my brother and my two sisters,” Zappia explains. “She taught us strength and determination. She was the glue of the family.”
Diplomacy remains a tough feld for women, and Zappia is determined to change that. “I make a point to keep the ladder in place for other women to climb,” she says. Having lacked female mentors early in her career, she now actively guides young diplomats, ensuring that women in the feld feel encouraged, supported, and empowered to push boundaries.
Benjamin Franklin famously said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” That philosophy resonates deeply with Zappia. Balancing long-term diplomatic goals with immediate demands requires intuition, vision, and, most importantly, teamwork. “It’s so much easier—and way more fun—to achieve objectives when working with a team,” she emphasizes.
For those who think diplomacy is all grand speeches and formal handshakes, think again. The process mirrors any successful business strategy: Identify the issue, set objectives, map out possible paths, craft a compelling narrative, and engage allies while managing opposition. Adaptability is key—because, in diplomacy, as in life, things rarely go exactly as planned.
Arriving in Washington in 2021, Zappia was tasked with reinvigorating Italy-U.S. relations post-pandemic. The results speak for themselves. From high-profle visits between Italian and U.S. leaders to the historic 2023 Joint Statement solidifying deeper cooperation, Italy has reinforced its strategic partnership with the U.S.
The future of Italy-U.S. relations is all about innovation. Zappia envisions stronger cooperation in digital advancements, space exploration, biotechnology, energy, and artifcial intelligence. “These are the foundations of our future prosperity,” she afrms. With a clear vision and unwavering determination, she’s ensuring Italy continues to shine on the global stage—one diplomatic breakthrough at a time.
Sealed With a French Kiss
PHOTOGRAPHY
JAMIE MAGNIFICO
WORDS
GWEN FLAMBERG
For its latest lipstick launch, Chanel rekindled an afair with a past lover. It’s ofcial: a better-than-before formula of Rouge Coco just launched in 20 sumptuous shades (16 of which are all new!) developed by the Cometes Collective, the brand’s wildly unbound creative cooperative. The new universally fattering range has just enough pigment to glide on in a single swipe, even in the back of a moving cab, without a mirror. “For more intense color, layer coats,” advises makeup artist Tasha Reiko Brown, who painted the looks here with hues (from left to right) Gabrielle, Biarritz and Rotonde. But the key to a lasting love is what’s on the inside. Here, hydrating bullets contain peptides and camellia ceramides to plump your pucker.
CHANEL ROUGE COCO
Longwear Satin Hydrating and Smoothing Lip Care, $50 each, chanel.com; Chanel Fine Jewelry, 800550-0005
