To be sure, this is the season of knee-jerk reactions. Suddenly, corporate America can do nothing right—in fact, everything from executive compensation to promotional budgets has been denounced as a waste of taxpayer funds. What a shame that so few elected political leaders understand the real world. The irony became stronger in recent days as Read More
New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has done a first-rate job as the state’s chief law enforcement official. With good reason, political insiders believe Mr. Cuomo could be an attractive candidate for governor next year. He has been out front, early and often, on issues ranging from student-loan scams to the financial services meltdown. Read More
Alger Hiss
and the Battle for History
By Susan Jacoby.
Yale University Press. 256 pp. $24.
When Susan Jacoby told her 86-year-old mother about her most recent book subject, she got this response: “Who cares about that anymore?” With the end of the Cold War, her mother implied, generations of Read More
When French designer Sophie Theallet flew to New York 10 years ago, she’d planned to stay just a month. “I was thinking it was time to move,” she said recently, curled up on a couch in her apartment-slash-“atelier” in a leafy corner of Brooklyn. But then: “I fell in love with, uh”—she lowered her voice Read More
A lifelong Manhattanite, Janis Savitt remembers being in Bloomingdale’s as a child with her mother and seeing a showcase with a little saw in it—one of the jeweler’s key tools. “Mom, find me a jewelry lesson place in New York!” little Janis implored.
Today fans of Ms. Savit’s designs include Beyoncé, Elton John and the Read More
A few years back my grandfather, Hoyt Bacon Leisure, suffered a mild stroke. I called him in the hospital as soon as I heard the news. His voice was softer than usual and quavering.
“Spencer, I want you to go down to Paul Stuart and get yourself a suit and a blazer and some Read More
Down in the subterranean cool of Bergdorf Goodman’s cosmetics department, you’ll find a modest patch of paradise presided over by makeup artist Edward Bess. At 20, he became the youngest person ever to have a line carried by the venerable department store.
Like Bobbi Brown and Laura Mercier before him, Mr. Bess, now a Read More
Clockwise from left
Bulgari’s Astrale watch: 18k white gold case, with 92 brilliant cut and pave diamonds, Technological satin strap, White dial, Quartz movement, $26,500.
Van Cleef & Arpels Décolleté timepiece with 11.48 total carat weight on 18k white gold, $198,000.
Harry Winston Ultimate Ribbon Watch, 18k white gold and 9.4 carats of Read More
PHOTOGRAPH: Michel Haddi
STYLIST: Freddie Leiba
