My take on the @metcostumeinstitute show, “Costume Art”: There’s something hopeful about being surrounded by this plurality of ideas and bodies, an optimism that feels like a comforting throwback in an age of Ozempic, Mar-a-Lago Face and anti-‘woke’ rhetoric. ‘It’s about everybody and it’s about every body,’ insisted Anna Wintour, Met Gala chair and global chief content officer for Condé Nast, the gallery’s principal benefactor.
Is that sentiment at odds with the tech billionaires that would raise $42 million for the Costume Institute and later party in its galleries? That might be an unintended consequence of the entire exercise. After all, as Costume Institute director Andrew Bolton said, ‘to study fashion is to study ourselves’.
Head over to @wallpapermag dot com for the full story.
As a rural kid who discovered fashion magazines at the grocery store, I never could have imagined that I’d be covering New York Fashion Week. Two decades later, I did just that— five days, 13 shows, infinite inspiration. Head over to @wallpapermag to read my coverage. ✨
“Malibu at its most glamorous” — that’s how Pamela Shamshiri of @studioshamshiri described this high-drama beach house, as featured in our November Art Issue. Her muses (and my favorite element of this home tour)? Lina Bo Bardi and James Bond. 🌴🍸
Head over to @wallpapermag dot com for the full story.
📸 by @stephenkentjohnson
Produced by @michaelreynoldsnyc
Special thanks to @billprinceinc and @charliegunn
For as long as anyone can remember, the women of Gee’s Bend— a rural community tucked into a snug curve of the Alabama River — have been making quilts. These textiles were at first made for warmth and crafted from materials like flour sacks or old clothes. Over generations, their makers developed dynamic patterns and styles, transforming these humble coverings into works of art. Today, these hand-sewn American treasures can be found in the collection of some 40 museums world-wide. But the Gee’s Bend quilters want you — yes, you— to come visit them. The brilliant reporter @diana_b travelled to Gee’s Bend with @soulsgrowndeepfoundation for the annual Airing of the Quilts festival earlier this month to understand how these textiles have served as a community-builder and economic lifeline for this rural town. Head to @wallpapermag dot com for the full story — it’s an incredible read.
Photo attributed to Edith Morgan; and by Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
Retail design is always fun to write about because of the storytelling underpinning the spaces. Wallpaper*400 design studio @valledevalle (co-helmed by my former AD colleague @janekeltnerdev !) infused @ullajohnson ‘s new Upper East Side boutique with clever (not to mention elegant) uptown references, from the Frick to the Carlyle. ‘It feels like a glowing jewel box of treasures,’ Johnson says. ‘There is a warmth. Gilded wall coverings, hand painted arches, lush textiles, luminous plaster – all things that I love.’ ✨
Five years ago today, in the middle of the pandemic, @reddihough and I drove to the parking lot of an Elks Lodge outside Saratoga Springs, New York to adopt a dog we found on the Internet. Never had we seen a funnier looking creature — or Portuguese Podengo as we were told. Turns out, it was the best not-so-impulsive decision we’ve ever made. Happy Gotcha Day, Taco.
Chasing down the finish line at the @wgmarathon this weekend. ✨
Not pictured: busted toenails, bathroom breaks in bushes, hundreds of Strava miles, my bad-ass coach @lindaleighlore and my one-man pit crew, @reddihough . Marathons are hard— and I’m beyond grateful to still be doing this.
In 2006, a little sport called cross country landed at my high school. None of us knew what to make of it (Running? For fun??), but we showed up anyway. What resulted was not just a sports team, but a family. Safe to say, it changed many of our lives. Twenty seasons later, Giants CC is still going strong and we all gathered in Legion Park this weekend, where we’d always meet before crisp autumn runs, to celebrate and share memories. Thank you, Coach Christ, for being an inspiration to us all!
