October 3, 2026 – Air Mail

VULGARIANS AT THE GATE

Forty years after Spy launched—its first issue named Donald Trump as one of “The Ten Most Embarrassing New Yorkers”—David Kamp remembers life inside the magazine that made enemies of all the right people …

BAD BLUEBLOOD

Charles Spencer calls his best-selling memoir Swan Song “350 pages of compliments” to his late sister, Princess Diana. But his devoted-brother portrait glosses over their sometimes strained sibling relationship …

MOUNTING INTEREST

Once a glitchy gay-hookup app offering only “the faint hope of sex or friendship,” Grindr is now a $3 billion company lobbying Washington—and selling pills to help users rise to the occasion …

Basquiat Case

An Italian movie mogul and his singer ex-wife have spent decades fighting over a $20 million Basquiat. The painting, meanwhile, keeps disappearing …

You Can’t Handle the Ruth

With the baseball playoffs upon us, Rich Cohen goes to bat against a bizarre conspiracy theory making the rounds in the nation’s dugouts: that Babe Ruth never existed …

A FACE ODYSSEY

To facelift or not to facelift? A 58-year-old woman heads to Rhodes, the ancient cradle of Stoicism, to see whether the philosophers can give her what Botox cannot: peace with her wrinkles …

GREAT SCOTS!

Whirling kilts, fiercely policed tartans, and aristocratic skinny-dipping: inside the Scottish Highland Ball season, where phones are forbidden and stamina is essential …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Edward Enninful on the naughty 90s … Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock’s turbulent marriage … the secret history of Twin Peaks … a Beaux-Arts landmark in Madrid gets a luxury makeover … and news of the world you’ll actually want to read, in our latest AIR MAIL Diary column …

Issue No. 377

The View from Here In 1980s New York, Donald Trump had the press in the palm of his hand. Only one satirical yet scrupulously reported magazine had the temerity to note the length of his fingers …

By David Kamp

Read On

Grindr’s Bottom Line Once “the scariest gay bar on earth,” Grindr is now courting Washington and Wall Street—and selling an ever more expensive route to a familiar destination

By Matt Kapp

Read On

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee

The Earl of Grievance Charles Spencer’s new memoir takes aim at King Charles—but it also raises awkward questions about his own relationship with Diana

By Ashley Baker

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

The Curious Case of the Missing Basquiat For 16 years, a $20 million Basquiat was at the center of a bitter legal battle between an Oscar-winning Italian producer and his ex-wife. Then, just as mysteriously as it vanished, it turned up in a Miami warehouse

By Mattia Ferraresi

Read On

Take a Hike

A good weekend should involve a change of scenery, a questionable amount of walking, and absolutely no urgency. AIR SUPPLY’s fall edit is for dressing accordingly

Shop

Photo: Will/ullstein bild/Getty Images (Connery)

Trish Wescoat Pound’s Favorite Things The TWP founder has very specific taste in clothes—and, it turns out, in everything else, too. From wardrobe staples to everyday indulgences, here are a few of her favorites

Shop

The Babe Ruth Truthers With the baseball playoffs upon us, the strangest conspiracy theory is making its way through the nation’s dugouts

By Rich Cohen

Read On

shop McMullen Over the course of nearly two decades, Sherri McMullen’s Sacramento Street independent boutique became a favorite…

read The New Yorker: From Cover to Cover Dozens of books have been published about The New Yorker, and I have…

see A Morning with Ernie Bushmiller “It’s harder not to read Nancy than to read it”—that was cartoonist Wally Wood’s (admiring) verdict on…

watch Mädchen in Uniform Released in 1931, Mädchen in Uniform sits at the confluence of Germany’s cultural contradictions in the decade leading up to…

decorate Osanna Visconti x The House of Lyria Some foot stools are stowed away and brought out only when something is beyond reach. This one from…

listen My Aim Is True Where were you (and those of a certain age and inclination will certainly remember) back in 1977 when you first heard Elvis Costello’s…

shop McMullen Over the course of nearly two decades, Sherri McMullen’s Sacramento Street independent boutique became a favorite…

read The New Yorker: From Cover to Cover Dozens of books have been published about The New Yorker, and I have…

see A Morning with Ernie Bushmiller “It’s harder not to read Nancy than to read it”—that was cartoonist Wally Wood’s (admiring) verdict on…

watch Mädchen in Uniform Released in 1931, Mädchen in Uniform sits at the confluence of Germany’s cultural contradictions in the decade leading up to…

decorate Osanna Visconti x The House of Lyria Some foot stools are stowed away and brought out only when something is beyond reach. This one from…

listen My Aim Is True Where were you (and those of a certain age and inclination will certainly remember) back in 1977 when you first heard Elvis Costello’s…

The Dos and Don’ts of a Highland Ball Scotland’s centuries-old ball circuit comes with a strict set of rules: learn the reels, never hire a kilt, and whatever you do, don’t take a picture

By Katherine Pangonis

Read On

The AIR MAIL Diary A South Korean A.I.-dating show! A Japanese crab-themed resort! And other strange stories from around the globe …

By George Kalogerakis

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

Spike Carter On

A Place Both Wonderful and Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History of Twin Peaks

by Scott Meslow

Read On

Love, Paint, and Fury Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock’s relationship was turbulent, at times violent, and one of the greatest creative partnerships of the 20th century

By Mary Gabriel

Read On

In New York

Billy Crystal returns to Broadway with an autobiographical one-man show inspired by the loss of his Los Angeles home in the wildfires…

On HBO

Sienna Miller and Dominic West lead War, a new series about a high-profile divorce and the elite lawyers working the case…

In Philadelphia

An exhibition demonstrates how Japanese-American artists like Ruth Asawa and Isamu Noguchi shaped postwar American design…

In London

Kristin Scott Thomas returns to the stage in a West End production of Anton Chekhov’s last play, The Cherry Orchard…

In New York

Metrograph pays tribute to Winona Ryder with a 10-film series that includes The Age of Innocence, Reality Bites, and Girl, Interrupted…

On Netflix

Florence Pugh, Christopher Abbott, and Mike Faist star in Zoe Kazan’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden…

Horse Power With an introduction by Tracey Emin and works by Nan Goldin, Martin Parr, and Man Ray, a new coffee-table book examines centuries of art’s most enduring muse

16

*Untitled (Cowboy),* photographed by Richard Prince, 1998.

Herbert List, *Il Cavaliere Marino Marini on His Horse in His Studio,* 1952.

*Top,* Nan Goldin, *Kate Moss on a White Horse as Lady Godiva,* for British *Vogue,* 2001; *above,* Helmut Newton, *Le Cadre Noir de Saumur,* for French *Vogue,* 1980.

Carter Smith, *Anouck Lepère,* for *W Magazine,* 2000.

Cathie Pilkington, “Weird Horses,” 2023.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, *Fantasy, The Rider on the Red Horse,* 1925.

Toshiko Okanoue, *Modern History,* 1956.

*Top,* Steven Klein, *Horse Pool,* for *Vogue,* 2005; *above,* Franz Marc, *The Little Yellow Horses,* 1912.

Diego Rivera, *Agrarian Leader Zapata,* 1931.

*Top,* Georges Seurat, *Horses in the Water,* 1883; *above,* Perry Ogden, *Pony Kids,* 1999.

Norman Parkinson, *Maria Gudmannsdottir at the Camargue,* for *Queen* magazine, 1964.

William Blake, *Death on a Pale Horse,* circa 1800.

Read On

Lost and Found After a 57-year hiatus from the New York stage, George Balanchine’s most notorious ballet, Pithoprakta, makes its return

By Faye Arthurs

Read On

Aging Like a Goddess What if aging well were purely a matter of attitude? One woman looks to the past to decide her future

By Monica Corcoran Harel

Read On

Rave New World At Tate Britain, Edward Enninful revisits the 90s, when art, fashion, and underground culture collided

By Tracy Doyle

Read On

Meet Me at Metrópolis For more than a century, Madrid’s gilded Beaux-Arts landmark was best admired from the pavement. Now the duo behind Amazónico has turned it into a 19-suite hotel and private club

By Victoria Grier

Read On

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In Memoriam

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

The View from Here In 1980s New York, Donald Trump had the press in the palm of his hand. Only one satirical yet scrupulously reported magazine had the temerity to note the length of his fingers …

Grindr’s Bottom Line Once “the scariest gay bar on earth,” Grindr is now courting Washington and Wall Street—and selling an ever more expensive route to a familiar destination

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee

The Earl of Grievance Charles Spencer’s new memoir takes aim at King Charles—but it also raises awkward questions about his own relationship with Diana

The Curious Case of the Missing Basquiat For 16 years, a $20 million Basquiat was at the center of a bitter legal battle between an Oscar-winning Italian producer and his ex-wife. Then, just as mysteriously as it vanished, it turned up in a Miami warehouse

A good weekend should involve a change of scenery, a questionable amount of walking, and absolutely no urgency. AIR SUPPLY’s fall edit is for dressing accordingly

Trish Wescoat Pound’s Favorite Things The TWP founder has very specific taste in clothes—and, it turns out, in everything else, too. From wardrobe staples to everyday indulgences, here are a few of her favorites

The Babe Ruth Truthers With the baseball playoffs upon us, the strangest conspiracy theory is making its way through the nation’s dugouts

The Dos and Don’ts of a Highland Ball Scotland’s centuries-old ball circuit comes with a strict set of rules: learn the reels, never hire a kilt, and whatever you do, don’t take a picture

The AIR MAIL Diary A South Korean A.I.-dating show! A Japanese crab-themed resort! And other strange stories from around the globe …

Love, Paint, and Fury Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock’s relationship was turbulent, at times violent, and one of the greatest creative partnerships of the 20th century

Horse Power With an introduction by Tracey Emin and works by Nan Goldin, Martin Parr, and Man Ray, a new coffee-table book examines centuries of art’s most enduring muse

Lost and Found After a 57-year hiatus from the New York stage, George Balanchine’s most notorious ballet, Pithoprakta, makes its return

Aging Like a Goddess What if aging well were purely a matter of attitude? One woman looks to the past to decide her future

Rave New World At Tate Britain, Edward Enninful revisits the 90s, when art, fashion, and underground culture collided

Meet Me at Metrópolis For more than a century, Madrid’s gilded Beaux-Arts landmark was best admired from the pavement. Now the duo behind Amazónico has turned it into a 19-suite hotel and private club

Was Founded By

And Is Edited By

Chief Technology Officer

Senior Editors

Photo Director

Art Director

Books Editor

Arts Intel Report Editor

Copy Editor

Legal Editor

Production Editor

Associate Editors

Senior Photo Editor

Designer

Photo Editor

Editor, Air Mail LOOK

Editor, Air Mail Dress Code

Columnists

Writers at Large

Contributing Artists

Contributing Photographers

Architectural Consultant

Social Media Manager

Head of Audience Development

Cartoon Editor

Music Editor

Technology

Editor, Commerce, and Chief Merchandiser

E-Commerce Manager

Business Development Director

European Sales Director

Account Manager

In Memoriam