July 26, 2025 – Air Mail

ART AND ARTIFICE

How a master New York art dealer (and convicted fraudster) was nearly fooled into buying fake Impressionist paintings supposedly looted by the Nazis during W.W. II …

THREE HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Donald Trump, Britney Spears, and Kanye West walk into a bar. The punch line? The decline of American civilization in the 21st century …

THE CANADIAN JOB

Inside the $40 million Toronto-airport gold heist, executed in just 30 minutes by a motley crew of amateur thieves, that puts the Michael Caine–starring Italian Job to shame …

GOOP SCOOP

From cigarette-addicted Vassar reject to Oscar-winning wellness guru, Gwyneth Paltrow is the subject of an addictive new biography …

MAGA MIA!

Trump’s ambassador to Italy, the billionaire owner of the Houston Rockets, is currently living on a super-yacht and throwing a temper tantrum over helipad permissions in Rome …

COLLISION COURSE

Thousands of confidential files leaked by a former employee suggest everyone should steer clear of Tesla’s electric cars—not to mention its C.E.O. …

JENNIFER’S BODY

Six years after Jennifer Dulos, a Connecticut mother of five, was murdered by her husband, her body is still missing. Rich Cohen, who followed the case from the beginning, considers where it might be …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

The Astronomer C.E.O.’s Coldplay faux pas … a Monaco boat race that’s fast, luxurious, and emissions-free … a vintage Ralph Lauren mecca … Toni Morrison’s Random House editorship, revisited … a Gauguin biography tackles the syphilis rumors … this month’s best mysteries … say bonsoir to dînatoires! …

Issue No. 315

The View from Here The career arcs of Britney Spears, Kanye West, and Donald Trump are proof that celebrities really are just like us—only more so

By Jeff Weiss

Read On

Fakes, Nazis, and Fake Nazis When the art dealer Ezra Chowaiki was offered the deal of a lifetime, he found himself in a confounding world of counterfeits

By Ezra Chowaiki

Read On

The Coldplay Kiss-Cam Faux Pas How is Andy Byron, the now infamous (and now former) C.E.O. of Astronomer, ever going to rebuild his reputation? Perhaps by using the Bill Clinton playbook

By Will Pavia

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

How to Steal $40 Million Without Really Trying A gang of amateur thieves stole 6,600 gold bars from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport in 2023. Two years later, the loot is nowhere to be found

By Harold von Kursk

Read On

Sunburn After Reading

Do you need to post up in a lounge chair with nothing to hear but the sound of lapping waves in order to read a book? AIR SUPPLY brings you everything but the beach

Shop

Photo: THA/Shutterstock (La Chamade)

Selima Salaun’s Favorite Things The French-Algerian opticienne-lunetière and founder of Selima Optique shares what’s caught her well-trained eye

Shop

The Attention-Whore Index Hunter Biden vents, Tucker Carlson ferments, and Donald Trump misrepresents

By George Kalogerakis

Read On

Diary of a Foreigner in Rome The Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta, Trump’s ambassador to Italy, is making his presence in the capital known, starting with his alleged helicopter commute to work from aboard his 250-foot yacht

By Mattia Ferraresi

Read On

read Privacy You may know Molly Young’s lightning intelligence and whimsical style from The New York Times’s newsletter Read Like the Wind…

decorate Zara Home x Collagerie For numerous reasons, we have trouble resisting Zara’s siren song. Their home goods are made in…

VISIT Clare V. Fashion-and-accessories designer Clare Vivier’s Clare V. store has been a Silver Lake stalwart since it opened on Sunset Boulevard…

carry Esha Soni If you’re antisocial and don’t like compliments, Esha Soni’s sculpturally minimalistic handbags are not for you. Carrying…

Listen Buzz We know how the story goes, but we can’t wait to hear it again: Buzz Aldrin, a 39-year-old astronaut from New Jersey, planted…

shop Clementina x Drake’s At a certain point in the summer, the thought of getting dressed up to go out for dinner begins to cast…

read Privacy You may know Molly Young’s lightning intelligence and whimsical style from The New York Times’s newsletter Read Like the Wind…

decorate Zara Home x Collagerie For numerous reasons, we have trouble resisting Zara’s siren song. Their home goods are made in…

VISIT Clare V. Fashion-and-accessories designer Clare Vivier’s Clare V. store has been a Silver Lake stalwart since it opened on Sunset Boulevard…

carry Esha Soni If you’re antisocial and don’t like compliments, Esha Soni’s sculpturally minimalistic handbags are not for you. Carrying…

Listen Buzz We know how the story goes, but we can’t wait to hear it again: Buzz Aldrin, a 39-year-old astronaut from New Jersey, planted…

shop Clementina x Drake’s At a certain point in the summer, the thought of getting dressed up to go out for dinner begins to cast…

The Gwyneth Chronicles A new, unauthorized biography of the actress and Goop founder dishes a lot of dirt and shows how Gwyneth Paltrow has left an indelible mark on popular culture

By Ashley Baker

Read On

The Boats That Rocked In Monaco, 50-knot, all-electric boats owned by Tom Brady, Rafael Nadal, and Will Smith raced against a glimmering backdrop of Birkins and the Mediterranean

By Jennifer Noyes

Read On

Hell on Wheels Thousands of confidential files leaked by a Tesla employee reveal noxious working conditions, flawed technology, and a delusional, unstable C.E.O.

By Oliver Moody

Read On

Celestial Crisis Management Seeking to distance himself from Trump, God is desperate for help—even from you-know-who

By Teddy Wayne

Read On

Where Is Her Body? When Rich Cohen released his book on the murder of Jennifer Dulos, he was inundated with theories on her last resting place. The craziest theory of all just might be true

By Rich Cohen

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

“Oh, they were something called the ‘scales of justice,’ but back around 2025 people started using them for ashtrays.”

Stay Cool, Britannia! Oasis’s reunion and a slew of U.K. TV hits—including Lena Dunham’s new London-set rom-com—are bringing back Brit culture like it’s the 1990s

By Nadia Khomami

Read On

A Ralph Lauren Revivalist In the Hudson Valley sits a shrine—and shop—to all things Polo

By Trevor Jones

Read On

Fancy Feast Does your cocktail party lack heft and grandeur? Enter the dînatoire, an entertaining trend that’s sweeping New York

By Harrison Vail

Read On

Max Carter On

Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin

by Sue Prideaux

Read On

The Write Stuff An inter-office memo highlighting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s inherent racism reveals Toni Morrison to have been as fierce an editor as she was a writer

By Dana A. Williams

Read On

Bruce Davidson Goes Way Back From miners in Wales to construction workers on Staten Island, the Magnum photographer trawls through 60 years of never-before-published work for a new coffee-table book

By Alex Belth

11

Two photographs from the series *Brooklyn Gang, Brooklyn, NY, 1959,* by Bruce Davidson.

*Top, Sicily, 1961; above, Central Park, New York, 1960.*

Read On

Gwyneth Paltrow: Triumph of a Mean Girl? On this week’s podcast, go inside the new biography of her royal Goopness

Read On

“A Ridiculous Optimist” In a rare interview, Quentin Blake, the inimitable children’s-book illustrator behind Roald Dahl’s Matilda, explains why he’s still drawing at 92

By Lucy Bannerman

Read On

The Slutty Cheff An anonymous London chef documents her adventures as a young woman in restaurant kitchens and the bedroom in equal measure

By Flora Gill

Read On

Deadly Pleasures to Read and Watch A novel reckoning with the aftermath of a cult, and two detective shows set in the worlds of art and L.A. crime

By Lisa Henricksson

Read On

Top, the exterior of a Glenstone Pavilion building, designed by Thomas Phifer; above, The Child Room, by Jenny Holzer, 1990, on view at the museum.

“Probably the Best Private Art Museum on Earth”

One of the most intriguing museums in America is located down a narrow road, behind a stone wall, hidden by hills. Called Glenstone, it’s in Montgomery County, Maryland, just beyond the Washington, D.C., subdivisions named after bygone farms. READ ON

Read On

Hope Floats Will the new trend of small-ship cruising be the next big thing in travel? Luminara, the Ritz-Carlton’s new yacht, makes its case

By Alexander Lobrano

Read On

Deirdre O’Connell

The Tony Award–winning actress answers 59 of life’s most pressing questions

Read On

Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Creative Director

Angela Panichi

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Ash Carter Chris Garrett Nathan King George Pendle Julia Vitale

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Senior Editor

Elena Clavarino

Investigations Editor

Clara Molot

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Research & Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Junior Editors

Carolina de Armas Jeanne Malle Paulina Prosnitz

Associate Editors

Victoria Herman Lucy Horowitz

Art Director

Paloma Huerre

Senior Photo Editor

Emine Gözde Sevim

Deputy Art Director

Zoé Gillette

International Editor

Isabelle Harvie-Watt

Head of Communications and Film/TV Development

Harrison Vail

Columnists

Dana Brown Cazzie David Lisa Henricksson
Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson
John Lahr Jonathan Margolis Linda Wells
James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Bridget Arsenault Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Spike Carter Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Matthew Gurewitsch Michael Hainey Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner James Kirchick Alexander Lobrano Alexandra Marshall Daphne Merkin Sam Wasson

Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Pip Carter Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks Hilary Knight Danielle Kosann Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

Contributing Photographers

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

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Audience Growth Manager

Merritt Johnson

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff

Interns

Jimmy Fox Hannah Gross Charlie St. John

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Bill Keenan and Emily Davis

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Business Development Director

Catherine Scott

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Account Manager

Dillon Freeman

Chief Strategy Adviser

Adam Mendelsohn

AIR SUPPLY

Chief Merchant

Jennifer Noyes

Shop Editor

Jessica Iredale

E-Commerce Manager

Isaac Metlitsky

In Memoriam

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

The View from Here The career arcs of Britney Spears, Kanye West, and Donald Trump are proof that celebrities really are just like us—only more so

Fakes, Nazis, and Fake Nazis When the art dealer Ezra Chowaiki was offered the deal of a lifetime, he found himself in a confounding world of counterfeits

The Coldplay Kiss-Cam Faux Pas How is Andy Byron, the now infamous (and now former) C.E.O. of Astronomer, ever going to rebuild his reputation? Perhaps by using the Bill Clinton playbook

How to Steal $40 Million Without Really Trying A gang of amateur thieves stole 6,600 gold bars from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport in 2023. Two years later, the loot is nowhere to be found

Do you need to post up in a lounge chair with nothing to hear but the sound of lapping waves in order to read a book? AIR SUPPLY brings you everything but the beach

Selima Salaun’s Favorite Things The French-Algerian opticienne-lunetière and founder of Selima Optique shares what’s caught her well-trained eye

The Attention-Whore Index Hunter Biden vents, Tucker Carlson ferments, and Donald Trump misrepresents

Diary of a Foreigner in Rome The Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta, Trump’s ambassador to Italy, is making his presence in the capital known, starting with his alleged helicopter commute to work from aboard his 250-foot yacht

The Gwyneth Chronicles A new, unauthorized biography of the actress and Goop founder dishes a lot of dirt and shows how Gwyneth Paltrow has left an indelible mark on popular culture

The Boats That Rocked In Monaco, 50-knot, all-electric boats owned by Tom Brady, Rafael Nadal, and Will Smith raced against a glimmering backdrop of Birkins and the Mediterranean

Hell on Wheels Thousands of confidential files leaked by a Tesla employee reveal noxious working conditions, flawed technology, and a delusional, unstable C.E.O.

Celestial Crisis Management Seeking to distance himself from Trump, God is desperate for help—even from you-know-who

Where Is Her Body? When Rich Cohen released his book on the murder of Jennifer Dulos, he was inundated with theories on her last resting place. The craziest theory of all just might be true

Stay Cool, Britannia! Oasis’s reunion and a slew of U.K. TV hits—including Lena Dunham’s new London-set rom-com—are bringing back Brit culture like it’s the 1990s

A Ralph Lauren Revivalist In the Hudson Valley sits a shrine—and shop—to all things Polo

Fancy Feast Does your cocktail party lack heft and grandeur? Enter the dînatoire, an entertaining trend that’s sweeping New York

The Write Stuff An inter-office memo highlighting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s inherent racism reveals Toni Morrison to have been as fierce an editor as she was a writer

Bruce Davidson Goes Way Back From miners in Wales to construction workers on Staten Island, the Magnum photographer trawls through 60 years of never-before-published work for a new coffee-table book

Gwyneth Paltrow: Triumph of a Mean Girl? On this week’s podcast, go inside the new biography of her royal Goopness

“A Ridiculous Optimist” In a rare interview, Quentin Blake, the inimitable children’s-book illustrator behind Roald Dahl’s Matilda, explains why he’s still drawing at 92

The Slutty Cheff An anonymous London chef documents her adventures as a young woman in restaurant kitchens and the bedroom in equal measure

Deadly Pleasures to Read and Watch A novel reckoning with the aftermath of a cult, and two detective shows set in the worlds of art and L.A. crime

Hope Floats Will the new trend of small-ship cruising be the next big thing in travel? Luminara, the Ritz-Carlton’s new yacht, makes its case

The Tony Award–winning actress answers 59 of life’s most pressing questions

Is Edited By

Creative Director

Deputy Editors

Chief Technology Officer

Books Editor

Arts Intel Report Editor

Senior Editor

Investigations Editor

Photo Director

Copy Editor

Research & Legal Editor

Production Editor

Junior Editors

Associate Editors

Art Director

Senior Photo Editor

Deputy Art Director

International Editor

Head of Communications and Film/TV Development

Columnists

Writers at Large

Contributing Artists

Contributing Photographers

Architectural Consultant

Social Media Manager

Head of Audience Development

Audience Growth Manager

Cartoon Editor

Music Supervisor

Technology

Interns

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Business Development Director

European Sales Director

Financial & Business Operations

Account Manager

Chief Strategy Adviser

Chief Merchant

Shop Editor

E-Commerce Manager

In Memoriam