August 16, 2025 – Air Mail

DUBYA.T.F.?

Gen Z is recasting George W. Bush as a lovable Bob Ross–meets–Michael Scott figure, and older generations, who remember Iraq and Katrina all too well, are horrified …

A TALE OF TWO SOUTHAMPTONS

Members of Long Island’s Shinnecock Nation are struggling to make ends meet in a neighborhood overtaken by Manhattan billionaires …

D.E.I. BATTLEGROUND

The resignation of UVA’s respected president may seem like the result of just another skirmish in the nationwide fight over D.E.I., but the real story is more Machiavellian …

BOOZE CRUISE

Inside “the Playpen,” the corner of Lake Michigan off Chicago’s glamorous Gold Coast that has become a summer party spot where gauche yachts form buzzing flotillas of boat daddies and twerking sugar babies …

HEIGHTS OF PASSION

Wuthering Heights is getting an Aussie-erotica makeover, with Saltburn’s Emerald Fennell at the helm, Barbie’s Margot Robbie as Catherine, and Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff …

WRIGHT’S WRONG

A $7 million repair project aims to finally stop the leaks at Fallingwater, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s most celebrated—and, ironically, waterlogged—design …

THE “IN” CREW

In Florence, status floats on the Arno at the Società Canottieri Firenze, a century-old private rowing club hidden beneath the Uffizi whose guests have included the Pope and Jeff Goldblum …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE …

Bruce Weber’s formative years … L.A.’s clown takeover … Woody Allen’s ode to Peter Sellers … the party queen of Harlem … Picasso’s tour de France … Gen Z is listening to jazz like it’s the 1920s … Alicia Silverstone’s favorite things … Cast your vote in this week’s Attention-Whore Index Poll!

Issue No. 318

The View from Here In the Hamptons, the real story is how the other half lives. The Shinnecock Indian Nation occupies one of the most destitute areas of Long Island. Some of their wealthy neighbors want to keep it that way

By Amanda M. Fairbanks

Read On

How to Destroy a University The University of Virginia has become a political battleground, not just between left and right but, allegedly, between J. D. Vance and Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, a possible presidential rival

By Greg Easley

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHOP CHOPPISH SHOP

Read On

Who’s Afraid of Bushcore? Glossing over the bungling of Katrina and the disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, younger generations are recasting George W. Bush as America’s most lovable grandfather

By Carolina de Armas and Paulina Prosnitz

Read On

Backhand Complement

Ahead of the U.S. Open next week, AIR SUPPLY serves Grand Slam–worthy style with Walsh Hill Design’s hand-painted tennis-court platter, Del Toro’s V-neck sweater, and Rolex’s Datejust 41 Wimbledon dial watch. Love all, indeed

Shop

Photo: Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images (Kennedy and Kennedy Onassis)

Allison Sarofim’s Favorite Things The famed New York City hostess and founder of luxury skin-care line Loulu Hawai‘i likes Hermès blotting papers, Eres bikinis, and Birkenstocks

Shop

The Attention-Whore Index J. D. Vance evades old ladies, Donald Trump invades Washington, D.C., and Taylor Swift prevails over Jeffrey Epstein

By George Kalogerakis

Read On

“In nicer news, a tiny kitten kissed a puppy while people filming it giggled.”

Inside “the Playpen” Booze, jet packs, “Join, or Die” flags, and the occasional severed limb: welcome to Chicago’s most controversial party spot

By Leigh Giangreco

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHOP CHOPPISH SHOP

Read On

cut Mian Tian Sing My dedication to having a bouncy blowout proves the old adage that you can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t take…

shop Dior Calling all Midtown Manhattan shoppers: there’s a new kid on the block. House of Dior New York has arrived at the corner…

READ Viking Punk Joshua Mohr’s Viking Punk trilogy is a feral, genre-bending fever dream where Norse mythology collides with the grit…

watch My Mother’s Wedding When Kristin Scott Thomas was five, her father, a military pilot, died in a training accident. Her mother…

carry Louis Vuitton If the state of the world has you jonesing to get away from it all, Louis Vuitton is here to help. Artistic director…

DINE Teruko Underneath the Chelsea Hotel is Teruko—a new, elegant part sushi restaurant, part speakeasy with dim lights lining the dark-wooded…

cut Mian Tian Sing My dedication to having a bouncy blowout proves the old adage that you can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t take…

shop Dior Calling all Midtown Manhattan shoppers: there’s a new kid on the block. House of Dior New York has arrived at the corner…

READ Viking Punk Joshua Mohr’s Viking Punk trilogy is a feral, genre-bending fever dream where Norse mythology collides with the grit…

watch My Mother’s Wedding When Kristin Scott Thomas was five, her father, a military pilot, died in a training accident. Her mother…

carry Louis Vuitton If the state of the world has you jonesing to get away from it all, Louis Vuitton is here to help. Artistic director…

DINE Teruko Underneath the Chelsea Hotel is Teruko—a new, elegant part sushi restaurant, part speakeasy with dim lights lining the dark-wooded…

Fifty Shades of Heathcliff Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights—where Victorian British yearning meets Down Under B.D.S.M.—has the literary set clutching their pearls

By Alex Farber

Read On

Water Falling at Fallingwater Frank Lloyd Wright’s greatest achievement is suffering from a bad case of nominative determinism

By George Grylls

Read On

Faulty Tower The closure of New York’s historic Hotel Carter—where $99 a night got you bloodstained sheets and moldy ceilings—marks the end of Times Square’s seedy side, for better or worse

By Louise Callaghan

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

Clowning Around In Los Angeles, an underground comedy scene draws audiences into chaotic, squirm-in-your-seat shows—an antidote for the social-media-weary

By Lynn Q. Yu

Read On

Chez Picasso From the Côte d’Azur to the Rue des Grands-Augustins, a new exhibition in Dublin maps the artist’s career through the various French homes where he worked

By Nancy Durrant

Read On

The Sway of Peter Sellers Woody Allen, Christopher Guest, and Geoffrey Rush recall the influence of the great comic actor, who was born 100 years ago

as told to

Andrew Pulver

Read On

A Clubhouse with a View Through a discreet door in the Uffizi and down a maze of vaulted tunnels sits Florence’s most exclusive social club

By Bennett DiDonna

Read On

Five Hundred Years of Fusion At Patua, the best restaurant in Lisbon, the secret ingredient is history

By Dana Vachon

Photographs by Julia Shuvchinskaya

Read On

Face Time From Whitney Houston to Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Louise Bourgeois to Kate Moss, a new coffee-table book collects a lifetime of portraits by the photographer Bruce Weber

10

Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, photographed by Bruce Weber in Glen Cove, New York, 1997.

Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix during a cast shoot for *My Own Private Idaho,* in Los Angeles, 1991.

Serena and Venus Williams in New York, 2000.

The model Jeff Aquilon in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, 1982.

The model Quintin Van Konkelenberg in Paris, 2022.

The jazz musician Blossom Dearie in New York, 2002.

The Olympic diver Greg Louganis at the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, 1983.

Read On

When Gen Z Discovered Dubya On this week’s podcast, Carolina de Armas and Paulina Prosnitz explain why Gen Z thinks George W. Bush is so cool

Read On

Grandmother Courage The little-known story of the Argentinean women who fought to reclaim their stolen grandchildren—and helped topple a dictatorship

By Haley Cohen Gilliland

Read On

Joanne Kaufman On

Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance

by A’Lelia Bundles

Read On

“She had her own special way of saying things.”

Laufey With her new album, A Matter of Time, the 26-year-old Icelandic-Chinese singer, known for blending jazz into pop music, leaves behind the innocent image that once defined her

By Gracie Wiener

Read On

Both Sides Now Meet Harriet Walter, master-mistress of Shakespearean voices, now onstage in Bath

By Matthew Gurewitsch

Read On

High Desert, High Style Bishop’s Lodge is the buzziest hotel in the Southwest

By Ashley Baker

Read On

Alicia Silverstone

The Clueless actress answers 20 of life’s most pressing questions

Read On

Contemplating a fish-and-chips supper in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire.

Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

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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

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Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Audience Growth Manager

Merritt Johnson

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Randall Poster

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff

Interns

Jimmy Lux Fox Hannah Gross Alexandra Lemer Charlie St. John

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Bill Keenan and Emily Davis

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In Memoriam

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

The View from Here In the Hamptons, the real story is how the other half lives. The Shinnecock Indian Nation occupies one of the most destitute areas of Long Island. Some of their wealthy neighbors want to keep it that way

How to Destroy a University The University of Virginia has become a political battleground, not just between left and right but, allegedly, between J. D. Vance and Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, a possible presidential rival

Who’s Afraid of Bushcore? Glossing over the bungling of Katrina and the disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, younger generations are recasting George W. Bush as America’s most lovable grandfather

Ahead of the U.S. Open next week, AIR SUPPLY serves Grand Slam–worthy style with Walsh Hill Design’s hand-painted tennis-court platter, Del Toro’s V-neck sweater, and Rolex’s Datejust 41 Wimbledon dial watch. Love all, indeed

Allison Sarofim’s Favorite Things The famed New York City hostess and founder of luxury skin-care line Loulu Hawai‘i likes Hermès blotting papers, Eres bikinis, and Birkenstocks

The Attention-Whore Index J. D. Vance evades old ladies, Donald Trump invades Washington, D.C., and Taylor Swift prevails over Jeffrey Epstein

Inside “the Playpen” Booze, jet packs, “Join, or Die” flags, and the occasional severed limb: welcome to Chicago’s most controversial party spot

Fifty Shades of Heathcliff Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights—where Victorian British yearning meets Down Under B.D.S.M.—has the literary set clutching their pearls

Water Falling at Fallingwater Frank Lloyd Wright’s greatest achievement is suffering from a bad case of nominative determinism

Faulty Tower The closure of New York’s historic Hotel Carter—where $99 a night got you bloodstained sheets and moldy ceilings—marks the end of Times Square’s seedy side, for better or worse

Clowning Around In Los Angeles, an underground comedy scene draws audiences into chaotic, squirm-in-your-seat shows—an antidote for the social-media-weary

Chez Picasso From the Côte d’Azur to the Rue des Grands-Augustins, a new exhibition in Dublin maps the artist’s career through the various French homes where he worked

The Sway of Peter Sellers Woody Allen, Christopher Guest, and Geoffrey Rush recall the influence of the great comic actor, who was born 100 years ago

A Clubhouse with a View Through a discreet door in the Uffizi and down a maze of vaulted tunnels sits Florence’s most exclusive social club

Five Hundred Years of Fusion At Patua, the best restaurant in Lisbon, the secret ingredient is history

Face Time From Whitney Houston to Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Louise Bourgeois to Kate Moss, a new coffee-table book collects a lifetime of portraits by the photographer Bruce Weber

When Gen Z Discovered Dubya On this week’s podcast, Carolina de Armas and Paulina Prosnitz explain why Gen Z thinks George W. Bush is so cool

Grandmother Courage The little-known story of the Argentinean women who fought to reclaim their stolen grandchildren—and helped topple a dictatorship

Laufey With her new album, A Matter of Time, the 26-year-old Icelandic-Chinese singer, known for blending jazz into pop music, leaves behind the innocent image that once defined her

Both Sides Now Meet Harriet Walter, master-mistress of Shakespearean voices, now onstage in Bath

High Desert, High Style Bishop’s Lodge is the buzziest hotel in the Southwest

The Clueless actress answers 20 of life’s most pressing questions

Is Edited By

Creative Director

Managing Editor

Deputy Managing Editor

Deputy Editors

Chief Technology Officer

Communications and Film + TV Development

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

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

General Manager, Retail & 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