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December 7, 2024
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No. 282
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In This Week’s Issue
HELL IN A HARRODS BAG

As rape and sexual-assault allegations continue to mount against Mohamed Al-Fayed, a former employee reflects on the deplorable tyrant’s office manner and the relationship between his son Dodi and Princess Diana …

FRIGHT IS RIGHT

The resurgence of Trump and his right-wing ethos is far from just an American phenomenon—governments everywhere, from Georgia to Israel to South Korea, are following a similar path …

DESIGN FOR LIVING

From Tom Wolfe’s LSD stories to a legendary Bob Dylan poster, Push Pin Studios’ eclectic, inimitable graphic-design style revolutionized an art form, explains Ash Carter …

HOT MESS

A new sort of blackmail targeting porn stars and other Internet influencers forces victims to promote the very scammers that scammed them …

TUSCANY ON THE THAMES

In an interview, Ruthie Rogers, the beloved force behind London’s Michelin-starred River Cafe, reveals her secret to attracting stars—and why she thinks Ozempic is a good thing …

THE ROSSELLINI EFFECT

Hot on the heels of her new movie Conclave, Isabella Rossellini dishes on familial fame, ageism in Hollywood, and the merits of remaining single …

MOM & POP ART

If Julia Warhola was credited at all for her work, it was as “Andy Warhol’s mother.” Now a biography gives Warhola, an artist in her own right, her due …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Inside James Ivory and Ismail Merchant’s backstage battles … the French military would have great food … a new book chronicles 400 years of women’s beauty history… Germany’s Oscar entry is a work of art and a protest … Mexico’s star chef Enrique Olvera unveils his travel routine … Who was this week’s biggest Attention Whore?

But First …
Issue No. 282

The View from Here America’s rightward shift is not unique. Countries around the world, from Georgia to South Korea, are playing Fascist whack-a-mole

By Andrew Ryvkin
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Style and Substance

The Push Pin Attitude How the scrappy, ingenious founders of New York City’s Push Pin Studios revolutionized 20th-century graphic design—and left a lasting mark on the culture

By Ash Carter
21
Milton Glaser’s poster for Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits record album, 1967.
Top, Reynold Ruffins’s original logo for The Push Pin Almanack, 1953; above, the members of Push Pin, circa 1970.
A 1980 poster by Seymour Chwast advertising Push Pin Studios’ move to 67 Irving Place in New York City.
An oil-on-canvas work by Ruffins.
The Hand of Illustration, a 1981 poster by Chwast promoting talent represented by R. O. Blechman’s animation studio: from left, Blechman, Maurice Sendak, Ronald Searle, André François, Edward Sorel, Charles B. Slackman, Chwast, and Jean-Michel Folon.
Pass the Lord and Praise the Ammunition, a 1967 poster of Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman by Sorel, attacking, as he put it, “my favorite target: organized religion.”
Top, Paul Davis’s record cover for Thelonious Monk’s 1965 album Solo Monk; above, 1961’s Boston Massacre, by Davis, which became the centerfold of Push Pin Graphic No. 32; recognizable on the left panel are Chwast, with the raised arm, and Glaser, to his right.
James McMullan’s 2011 poster for America Now and Here, Eric Fischl’s campaign to help heal divisions in the country through a traveling exhibition of work by artists, playwrights, composers, filmmakers, and poets.
A 1968 poster by Glaser advertising Olivetti’s Valentine typewriter.
Sorel’s cover for the April 1966 issue of Esquire, which featured Gay Talese’s seminal story “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold.”
The front and back of Ruffins’s record cover for Sam Hopkins’s 1969 album Lightnin’!
Push Pin Graphic No. 64, by Chwast—part of a special “Mothers” edition that ran in 1976.
McMullan’s poster for Six Degrees of Separation, a play written by John Guare that premiered at Lincoln Center in 1990.
A mask depicting a devil eyeing a nun sitting on his head, by Ruffins.
Glaser’s poster for Mahalia Jackson’s 1967 Easter Sunday performance at Lincoln Center.
Sorel’s illustration of Edward G. Robinson for The New Yorker, 1996.
Davis’s poster for the play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, which opened in 1976.
A 1982 March for Peace and Justice poster by Chwast.
McMullan’s poster for the 1994 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1945 musical, Carousel.
Davis’s portrait of Dr. Spock, painted on a baby bottle, circa 1965.
Chwast’s poster for a 1981 exhibition of Push Pin graphics at the Galerie Nouvel Observateur, in Paris.
Read On
Air Supply

Palm Trees and Presents

Dreaming of California this holiday season? AIR SUPPLY brings the Golden State to you with a gift guide steeped in West Coast culture
Shop
Photo: Joseph Leombruno/Condé Nast/Getty Images (models)
Guest Edit

Richard Christiansen’s L.A. Christmas Story The founder of Flamingo Estate, his home in the L.A. hills and of the lifestyle brand it inspired, is Australian, but Angeleno culture has crept into his holiday traditions

Read On
Warning Signs

The Boss from Hell Before becoming known as a sex offender, Mohamed Al-Fayed was just another under-the-radar Lothario overseeing an empire. One of his former employees looks back

By Paul Spike
Read On
T.G.I.S.

The Attention-Whore Index The Trump nominees pile up, Elon Musk gets down, and Matt Gaetz circles the drain

Read On
The Internet’s Wild West

Hijacking the Influencers A new type of online scam targets influencers and porn stars—by seizing control of social-media accounts and holding them hostage

By Nick Thompson
Read On
Landing Gear

Closing the Captions The soundbar so effective that you can shut off subtitles once and for all! A pendulum clock for the Digital Age! Headphones that work underwater! And more …

By Jonathan Margolis
Read On
Best
DINE Employees Only In New York City, many speakeasy bars have come and gone (Milk & Honey, you are missed), but in the West Village, Employees Only… CARRY Loewe x Suna Fujita Loewe’s long-standing support of artisanship is evident, most thrillingly in its annual Craft Prize, which supports artisans from all… VISIT 192 Books All Manhattanites should become regulars at 192 Books in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. Terrence Arjoon, my personal… SHOP Michael Kors After designing collections for Lothar’s boutique as a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Michael Kors… READ Belletrist x Tertulia Just when we thought Belletrist—the online book club from actress Emma Roberts and executive… CARRY George Cleverley George Cleverley, the British maker of leather goods, has just the gift for cocktail lovers with a serious commitment to B.Y.O.B… DINE Employees Only In New York City, many speakeasy bars have come and gone (Milk & Honey, you are missed), but in the West Village, Employees Only… CARRY Loewe x Suna Fujita Loewe’s long-standing support of artisanship is evident, most thrillingly in its annual Craft Prize, which supports artisans from all… VISIT 192 Books All Manhattanites should become regulars at 192 Books in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. Terrence Arjoon, my personal… SHOP Michael Kors After designing collections for Lothar’s boutique as a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Michael Kors… READ Belletrist x Tertulia Just when we thought Belletrist—the online book club from actress Emma Roberts and executive… CARRY George Cleverley George Cleverley, the British maker of leather goods, has just the gift for cocktail lovers with a serious commitment to B.Y.O.B…
Small Talk
“I was there the entire time he painted this. Looked him right in the eye for hours. How could he not include me?”
“I was there the entire time he painted this. Looked him right in the eye for hours. How could he not include me?”
London’s Culinary Queen

Cooking, Eating, Talking, Grieving Ruthie Rogers has fed the great and the good for more than 25 years. Now, in her podcast, she uses food to delve into the pasts of Elton John, Paul McCartney, and Tony Blair

By Claire Allfree
Read On
Adventures in Filmmaking

King of the Costume Drama Amid constant fights, infidelity, and financial woes, James Ivory and his partner, Ismail Merchant, created the most elegant films of the era

By Susannah Butter
Read On
Food

Served with Distinction The French Foreign Legion prides itself on being the toughest fighting unit in the world—and also on having the finest cuisine, naturellement!

By Adam Sage
Read On
Hollywood Lives

The Rare Eccentricity of Isabella Rossellini Daughter of Ingrid Bergman, face of Lancôme, and now a farmer, the Italian actress reflects on the unexpected joys of aging and being nepo-baby royalty

By Guy Lodge
Read On
East Meets West

So Long, Fashion Victims After stints at Halston, Rochas, and Schiaparelli, Marco Zanini has struck out on his own. The only catch? To buy his clothes, you have to fly to Japan

By Laura Rysman
Read On
Books
Joanne Kaufman On

Perfection: 400 Years of Women’s Quest for Beauty

by Margarette Lincoln
Read On
Small Talk
“Here’s a little something I wrote just for me.”
“Here’s a little something I wrote just for me.”
Inside Story

A Boy’s Best Friend … At Andy Warhol’s suggestion—“she’s so-o-o interesting”—a biographer pulls back the curtain on the artist’s mother, an unsung painter in her own right

By Elaine Rusinko
Read On
Highlight

Lifting the Veil The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which dramatizes the ongoing turmoil in Iran, is itself an act of protest

By Lisa Liebman
Read On
Listen

Ruthie Rogers Reveals Her Perfect Comfort Food This week, the owner of London’s River Cafe discusses the wonders of marinara sauce, holiday entertaining, and more

Read On
The Publishing World

How to Write like Harlan Coben The best-selling author shares the tricks he uses to craft a page-turner—from conjuring up villains to landing the big ending

By Harlan Coben
Read On
Open Book

Concrete Jungles From Marcel Breuer’s early modernist designs to Le Corbusier’s pocket gardens, two new books speak to the enduring allure of brutalism

11
The Monument to the Revolution, Kozara National Park, Bosnia and Herzegovina, designed by Dušan Džamonja in 1972.
The Monument to José de Azeredo Perdigão, in the gardens of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, in Lisbon, by Pedro Cabrita Reis, 1996.
Top, a reinforced hillside on Aogashima, an island of Japan; above, the Mill Owners’ Association Building, in Ahmedabad, India, by Le Corbusier, 1954.
The Clark Art Institute’s Lunder Center at Stone Hill, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, by Tadao Ando, 2008.
Casa de Vidro (Glass House), in São Paulo, by Lina Bo Bardi, 1950.
Top, Cornwall Gardens House, in Singapore, by Chang Architects, 2014; above, the Monument to the Revolution, Korčanica Memorial Zone of Grmeč Mountain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Ljubomir Denković, with Milovan Matović and Savo Subotin, 1979.
The Mailman Center for Child Development, at the University of Miami, by Hilario Candela, 1969.
Jurong Bird Park, in Singapore, by John Yealland and J. Toovey, 1970.
Top, Les Étoiles d’Ivry, in Paris, by Jean Renaudie and Renée Gailhoustet, 1969–75; above, Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest), in Milan, by Stefano Boeri, 2014.
Untitled, a site-specific work in Normandy, France, by Karsten Födinger, 2013.
Friedenskirche (Peace Church), in Monheim am Rhein, Germany, by Walter Maria Förderer, 1974.
Read On
Small Talk
“This may pinch a little.”
“This may pinch a little.”
Close-up

Daria Kolomiec The Ukrainian D.J. and activist is using music and storytelling as a war cry

By Jack Sullivan
Read On
Highlight

Rare Bird, Bass Division Peixin Chen’s amazing journey from Inner Mongolia to the great lyric stages of the West

By Matthew Gurewitsch
Read On
Great Lives

Lance Morrow The courtly Time-magazine essayist who described the American Century with wit, outrage, and wry wisdom

By Roger Rosenblatt
Read On
The Seasoned Traveler

Enrique Olvera The Mexican chef behind Cosme and Pujol reveals his travel routine

Read On
Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Creative Director

Angela Panichi

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Ash Carter Chris Garrett Nathan King Julia Vitale

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Jonathan Becker Justin Bishop Alex Board James Emmerman Marcos Fecchino Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

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In Memoriam

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

Issue No. 282
December 7, 2024
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Issue No. 282
December 7, 2024
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