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March 11, 2023
The Best
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No. 191
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In This Week’s Issue
Mother’s Ruin

From rehab, Lyndall Hobbs speaks of her heartbreaking quest to save her daughter from the ravages of fentanyl addiction …

Tears for Sears

From Wall Street, William D. Cohan recounts the precipitous fall of a great American institution—and how the financial somersaults concocted by the hedge-fund manager Eddie Lampert only hastened its demise …

Model Murder

From Hong Kong, Eric Wilson reports on the gruesome killing of the model, influencer, and socialite Abby Choi, whose body was dismembered—and worse …

The Notorious Kid

From Hollywood, James Sikura recalls working for Robert Evans. The panache! The prowess! The pajamas!

Vermeer Fever

From Amsterdam, Max Carter reveals how the Rijksmuseum’s Vermeer retrospective exceeds the hype …

Great Expectorations

From the theater, Paul Feig rages against coughers, snifflers, wheezers, and gaspers, back from their coronavirus hiatus and interrupting things once more …

Table For Two, Please!

AIR MAIL’s essential podcast finds Bruce Bozzi talking with Sharon Stone about the price she had to pay to become a sex symbol …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Lou Reed, Tai Chi sensei? … a new podcast from the creators of Serial (yes, it’s about a murder) … producer Scott Z. Burns answers our Eight Questions … Bobbi Jene Smith’s new ballet … All Quiet on the Western Front, a former triathlete’s 16-year passion project … the dirty wartime tricks of the O.S.S. … Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb! … Plus: the Attention-Whore Index demands the pleasure of your company!

But First …
Issue No. 191

The View from Here Ahem, that better not be a cough

By Paul Feig
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
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Wall Street Woes

The Fall and Fall of America’s Department Store Eddie Lampert was a Wall Street wunderkind until he got his hands on Sears and, later, Kmart. He would become the scourge of one of the U.S.’s favorite retail franchises

By William D. Cohan
Read On
Anatomy of a Murder

Grisly Business When model Abby Choi’s body was found in pieces at a Hong Kong apartment, it didn’t take long for police to arrest her ex-husband

By Eric Wilson
Read On
Hollywood Lives

Working for the Kid Did Bob Evans save Paramount in the 1970s? You bet your ass he did. So how come the Academy never gave him his due?

By James Sikura
Read On
Air Supply

Tying the Knot

This week, AIR SUPPLY raises a glass to the happy couple with a pitch-perfect pairing of presents for every union. Take heart: these thoughtful offerings are destined to be cherished throughout the years—and generations—to come
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Photo: Pierluigi Praturlon/Reporters Associati & Archivi/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images (Loren and Mastroianni)
Guest Edit

My Favorite Things Michael Hill, the creative director of the British heritage brand Drake’s, reveals his sartorial signatures and more of his everyday essentials

By Michael Hill
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Photo: courtesy of Drake’s (Hill)
T.G.I.S.

The Attention-Whore Index This week sees the return of the prodigal prince to the top of the Index. Can he be overthrown by an even more querulous windbag? You decide!

Read On
Modern Times

Devil Baby Cocaine killed my ex-husband. Now fentanyl—the worst drug the world has ever seen—has our daughter in its grip

By Lyndall Hobbs
Read On
Best in Show

Picture-Perfect The blockbuster Vermeer show at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum exceeds the hype

By Max Carter
Read On
Listen

Lunch with Sharon Stone The Casino actress talks about wearing a polyester jumpsuit to present an Oscar, getting laughed at at the Golden Globes, and much more in the latest episode of Table for Two

Read On
Cars

The Picasso of Automobiles When it comes to Ferraris, the best time to buy is always now

By Jamie Kitman
Read On
Music

Welcome to the Louniverse The late Velvet Underground front man was not only a master songwriter, he also had a great mountain pose

By Will Hodgkinson
Read On
Small Talk
“In the spirit of bipartisanship, the two sides have agreed to have a war.”
“In the spirit of bipartisanship, the two sides have agreed to have a war.”
Film

Hers for the Taking Sixteen years after securing the film rights to All Quiet on the Western Front, a former professional triathlete could be on her way to Oscar glory

By Hilary Rose
Read On
Best
Listen The Coldest Case in Laramie “Whenever I talked about the roughest place I’d ever lived, I’d always say Laramie,” says Pulitzer Prize–winning… Read A Likely Story It’s not easy being a nepo baby, as Isabelle Manning knows all too well. The protagonist of Leigh McMullan Abramson’s debut novel… Fly Qantas Soon enough, there will be no need to dread a flight from London or New York to Sydney—if you’re flying on Qantas, that is… Sip Macbeth Sir Quentin Blake has found possibly the single most Scottish way to present Macbeth. At 90 years old, Roald Dahl’s longtime illustrator… Savor Date Better I try to avoid foods that come in colorful packages. (Surely the pinks and neon yellows are to distract from some vile ingredient inside.)… Dine Saltie Girl Formerly the home of West Hollywood’s Wahlburgers, the new Saltie Girl serves up all the seafood towers, lobster rolls, and slurpable… Listen The Coldest Case in Laramie “Whenever I talked about the roughest place I’d ever lived, I’d always say Laramie,” says Pulitzer Prize–winning… Read A Likely Story It’s not easy being a nepo baby, as Isabelle Manning knows all too well. The protagonist of Leigh McMullan Abramson’s debut novel… Fly Qantas Soon enough, there will be no need to dread a flight from London or New York to Sydney—if you’re flying on Qantas, that is… Sip Macbeth Sir Quentin Blake has found possibly the single most Scottish way to present Macbeth. At 90 years old, Roald Dahl’s longtime illustrator… Savor Date Better I try to avoid foods that come in colorful packages. (Surely the pinks and neon yellows are to distract from some vile ingredient inside.)… Dine Saltie Girl Formerly the home of West Hollywood’s Wahlburgers, the new Saltie Girl serves up all the seafood towers, lobster rolls, and slurpable…
Small Talk
“I get it’s funny that my name is Cliff, but when you say ‘ironic,’ you actually want to use ‘coincidental.’”
“I get it’s funny that my name is Cliff, but when you say ‘ironic,’ you actually want to use ‘coincidental.’”
Letter from L.A.

The Battle for Chinatown In Los Angeles, the forces of gentrification face up against the long-term residents

By Quentin Cohan
Read On
Eight Questions

Down to Earth Eight Questions with Scott Z. Burns, a producer of An Inconvenient Truth—not to mention a co-writer of The Bourne Ultimatum and No Time to Die—whose star-studded new show focuses on climate change

By Jim Kelly
Read On
Small Talk
“What you’ve been coughing up—is it more of a ‘Misty Green’ or an ‘Heirloom Sage’?”
“What you’ve been coughing up—is it more of a ‘Misty Green’ or an ‘Heirloom Sage’?”
Art Nouveau

“Get Me a Schiele!” When a Hollywood film requires a priceless painting for a starring role, who handles the casting? Meet curator Leonardo Bigazzi

By Laura Neilson
Read On
Food

In the Pink It’s harvested by candlelight, flown across oceans, and sought by the world’s greatest chefs. Can we really mean rhubarb?

By Spike Carter
Read On
Small Talk
“The madman who wrote this dedicated himself to the dark arts, despite knowing perfectly well that all the real money is in Y.A.”
“The madman who wrote this dedicated himself to the dark arts, despite knowing perfectly well that all the real money is in Y.A.”
Listen

The Return of a Social Annoyance On this week’s podcast, director Paul Feig clears the air about what’s really bugging him these days

Read On

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Don’t Miss
London

Souls grown deep: the Royal Academy of Arts celebrates Black artists from the American South, from the Gee’s Bend quilt-makers and Nellie Mae Rowe to Thornton Dial and Lonnie Holley …

New York

Rembert Remembered: Winfred Rembert learned leatherwork in jail during the 1960s and, upon his release, documented his life in this medium with works that now fill three floors at Hauser & Wirth …

Mexico City

Cartier confidential: Museo Jumex presents a whole show dedicated to the legacy of Cartier, with the maison’s storied jewels on display …

Miami

Ruby in the sky: taking inspiration from works by Matisse, Ruby Sky Stiler puts women in often masculine roles at Nina Johnson …

Online

Achilles healed: centuries after Achille in Sciro premiered, at a royal wedding in Spain, Francesco Corselli’s opera makes its grand return at the Teatro Real …

Highlight

It Takes Two For the Paris Opera Ballet, choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith has collaborated with her husband, Or Schraiber, on a show that subverts gender clichés

By Genevieve Marks
Read On
Open Book

Forever in Fashion A new volume pairs quotations by history’s best fashion designers, as told to the journalist Marylou Luther, with illustrations by Ruben Toledo

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“The immensity of the universe and microscopy of the cell, computers, and geometry. These are the sources of my inspiration. The garments I prefer are those I create for tomorrow’s world,” the Italian-French designer Pierre Cardin told author Marylou Luther.
“I invented the modern woman. I invented her past. I offered her a future,” said the French designer Yves Saint Laurent. “I wish I had invented blue jeans. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity—all I hope for in my clothes.”
“What is beautiful or meaningful is not always determined by the masses or conventional thought. Sometimes we are moved by beauty in things that break the traditional sense of values,” said the Japanese designer and Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo. “I always try to break the rules with everything because no really new strong creation ever didn’t.”
“I think there’s something really refreshing when things don’t change too much,” said the American designer Thom Browne.
“You can never take anything for granted in fashion,” said the British designer Alexander McQueen. “The only way to keep going in the right direction is to be constantly apprehensive. Fear is my best friend.”
“I was in Chicago for a personal appearance at Marshall Field’s,” the American designer Norman Norrell told the author. “At the dinner party following my show, a man at my table came up to me. He wanted to know if I would ask the woman seated next to him to marry him. If I would tell her to say yes, he persisted, he knew she would say yes. I did. She did. And they got married a few weeks later. I know you know this story, Marylou, because you were that woman.”
“Yes, I really do talk to my sewing machines,” said Isabel Toledo, the Cuban designer and wife of the illustrator Ruben Toledo.
“I don’t want to build air filters into clothes or try to solve pollution through design. I want to solve pollution itself,” said the Italian designer Gianni Versace. “I think the cities of the twenty-first century will be less crowded. People will work at home by computer, TV telephones. They won’t have to drive to work, so the air will have less toxic emissions.”
Read On
Highlight

Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina In an interview, the director of Argentina, 1985 discusses the young legal team that brought down the country’s military dictatorship

By Nina Burleigh
Read On
Books
Abhrajyoti Chakraborty On

In Search of Amrit Kaur: A Lost Princess and Her Vanished World

by Livia Manera Sambuy
Read On
Evan Thomas On

The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare

by John Lisle
Read On
Great Lives

Marianne Mantell With $1,500 in savings, she started a recording company that paved the way for the billion-dollar audiobook business

Read On
The Perfect Ending

Tatiana Santo Domingo

The fashion designer answers 53 of life’s most pressing questions
Read On
Eric Hanson’s Sketchbook
Sacred and profane love.
Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

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In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Duncan Hannah Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley

Issue No. 191
March 11, 2023
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Issue No. 191
March 11, 2023
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