May 2, 2026 – Air Mail

THE LION IN WINTOUR

Anna Wintour turned a once modest costume benefit into a V.I.P. colossus. Now, with Bezos money, a new Met gallery, and succession whispers, fashion’s biggest night is facing its own redesign, writes William D. Cohan …

THE TRIALS OF ELON

As Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI begins, his battle for the future of artificial intelligence looks less like a fight over safety than a campaign to control it—and inoculate it against the so-called woke mind virus …

THE POD SQUAD

King Charles III’s recent visit to the U.S. introduced a new system for managing access to him: the pod. But what does it mean if you’re in the wrong one? Alyson Krueger reports from a Washington garden party and Manhattan gala …

THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

Death no longer has to spell the end of pop stars’ careers. In fact, as the recent Michael Jackson biopic shows, in some cases it may be the start of their most lucrative acts yet, says Allison Samuels …

THE ALL-SEEING I

As A.I. offers shortcuts to knowledge and taste, Camille Charrière argues that intelligence has never been easier to display, while thinking for oneself has never been harder, in her debut Air Mail column …

UNDER THE TRIPFLUENCE

The travel agent is back, reborn as a social-media taste-maker who is part influencer, part concierge. But when your holiday goes sideways, don’t the old skills still matter the most?

MISS LONELYHEARTS STRIKES BACK

Once left for dead by dating apps, the personal ad is making a quiet and charming comeback, thanks to a new generation of swipe-weary romantics …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

The enigma of the great travel writer Jan Morris, explored … sailing from Zanzibar to the Seychelles on Aqua Lares … a rain-slicked ode to British skate culture … Peter Hujar’s beautiful, brutal eye gets its close-up … and news from the world you’ll actually want to read, in our latest AIR MAIL Diary …

Issue No. 355

The View from Here Elon Musk says OpenAI abandoned its mission to protect humanity. But is his own A.I. crusade against the “woke mind virus” any better?

By Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff

Read On

Once upon a Time in Gala-Land How a midnight dinner for fashion insiders became a multi-million-dollar media spectacle, culminating with this year’s sponsorship by none other than the Bezoses

By William D. Cohan

Read On

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee

Pod Save the King! King Charles III’s recent visit to the United States brought a new ritual to high-society gatherings and, with it, a fresh status anxiety

By Alyson Krueger

Read On

Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough From Michael Jackson and Prince to Elvis and Nipsey Hussle, the death of a pop star can be the beginning of a booming second act

By Allison Samuels

Read On

Off You Go

Graduation is a transition disguised as a celebration. The usual gifts mark the achievement; this edit is about what comes after—objects, tools, and small signals of a life that’s no longer instructed

Shop

Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images (Kennedy)

Nathan Turner’s Favorite Things A California decorator’s guide to rooms that feel easy, lived-in, and entirely intentional. Here he chooses color, pattern, and the objects that quietly pull everything together

Shop

Strictly Personal As the dating world succumbs to the algorithm, a new generation of romantics is returning to the high-effort, low-tech holy grail of 1977: the personal ad

By Zara Meerza

Read On

The AIR MAIL Diary The founder of SantaCon is on the naughty list, the Japanese government will pay for your tryst, and other strange stories from around the globe …

By George Kalogerakis

Read On

read The Bottom of the Harbor Nobody has ever written like Joseph Mitchell and nobody ever will—even he couldn’t do it anymore…

stay The Cooper For years, Charleston has been quietly climbing the ranks as the premier Southern city for lavish living. That trajectory only continues…

strut Jamie Haller The day has finally come. Jamie Haller, known for her quietly cult women’s footwear that feel broken into from the first try…

watch Nausicaa “Well, that film has disappeared,” Agnès Varda said in 2009 about Nausicaa, her 1971 response to Greece’s 1967 right-wing…

sing Mic Drop Located within the storied Art Deco walls of the former Larrabee Sound Studios, where Prince and Cher once recorded, Mic Drop…

shop Montauk Catch Club It’s always bizarre walking into an upscale supermarket in New York—a city surrounded by water and mere miles from the Atlantic…

read The Bottom of the Harbor Nobody has ever written like Joseph Mitchell and nobody ever will—even he couldn’t do it anymore…

stay The Cooper For years, Charleston has been quietly climbing the ranks as the premier Southern city for lavish living. That trajectory only continues…

strut Jamie Haller The day has finally come. Jamie Haller, known for her quietly cult women’s footwear that feel broken into from the first try…

watch Nausicaa “Well, that film has disappeared,” Agnès Varda said in 2009 about Nausicaa, her 1971 response to Greece’s 1967 right-wing…

sing Mic Drop Located within the storied Art Deco walls of the former Larrabee Sound Studios, where Prince and Cher once recorded, Mic Drop…

shop Montauk Catch Club It’s always bizarre walking into an upscale supermarket in New York—a city surrounded by water and mere miles from the Atlantic…

I Post, Therefore I Am From Substack “think pieces” to A.I.-optimized captions, Camille Charrière examines our new obsession with looking brainy while our brains go offline in her debut column for AIR MAIL

By Camille Charrière

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

First-Class Influencers Amidst “sponsored” reviews and A.I.-generated listicles, travel agents—rebranded as “advisers,” and with newfound social-media savvy—are having a comeback

By Sheila Yasmin Marikar

Read On

An Afternoon in Washington, D.C. A day after the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner fiasco, AIR MAIL arrived just in time to provide an (alcoholic) balm and (gossipy) solace to the huddled masses

By George Pendle

Photographs by Daniel Paik

8

*Top,* Julia Vitale and George Pendle; *above*, Eilif Rosok.

*Top,* Lyndon Kyle Boozer; *above*, guests at the AIR MAIL postcard station.

*Top,* Carri Twigg; *above*, Leigh Ann Caldwell and James Davis.

*Top,* guests in conversation; *above*, Geraldine Byrne Nason.

*Top,* Michelle Miller; *above*, Kenyan McDuffie.

*Top,* Gary Williams; *above*, Tanya Stockdale-Morineau, Roger Nyhus, and Talal Al Rahbi.

*Top,* a guest sending an AIR MAIL postcard; *above*, Gerald Harrington.

*Top,* guests gathered for drinks; *above*, Iain Armitage.

Read On

Pico Iyer On

All Aboard Aqua Lares On Aqua Expeditions’ latest super-yacht, the journey from Zanzibar to the Seychelles comes with Michelin-starred meals, silk beach umbrellas, and reef shark spottings

By Alexander Lobrano

Read On

In Theaters

Twenty years after The Devil Wears Prada, a sequel re-unites Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, and other original cast members…

In New York

To christen Gagosian’s new Upper East Side space, an inaugural exhibition celebrates the pioneering work of Marcel Duchamp…

In London

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie is back in cinemas for its 25th anniversary, showing at the Prince Charles Cinema until early June…

In Venice

Just in time for the Venice Biennale, which begins next weekend, Dries Van Noten has opened his new foundation on the Grand Canal…

On Apple TV

Matthew Rhys stars in Widow’s Bay, a horror series set in a small coastal town where long-dormant local legends begin to resurface…

In Rome

A gallery exhibition spotlights Francesca Woodman’s affinities for Surrealism, featuring 50 rare prints by the late photographer…

Fayette (Cockette), photographed by Peter Hujar, 1971.

Farm animals were Peter Hujar’s first subjects. The photographer’s early years were spent with his Ukrainian mother and grandparents on a farm in central New Jersey, which exposed him to the emotionality of nature. Decades before his lens moved between nocturnal vagabonds in the East Village and names such as Diana Vreeland, William Burroughs, and Fran Lebowitz, the young man realized the power of his eye. He could monumentalize any subject, even if it was an aloof cow or a dilapidated shack. READ ON

Read On

Shred It! A new coffee-table book traces the unlikely rise of British skateboarding, beginning in the 1980s, when the sport found its own rainy, grungy identity far from its Californian roots

8

Walker Wheels, a ramp in Newcastle, England, photographed by Dave Duff, 1987.

Redcliff Street, Bristol, by Rich Hart, 2000.

*Top,* Ewer Street, London, by Corin Casey, 1991; *above,* St. Helens, England, by Kevin Banks, 1991.

St Albans, England, by Corin Casey, 1992.

Pentonville Road, London, by Wig Worland, 1997.

Read On

Was Founded By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

And Is Edited By

Julia Vitale

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Senior Editors

Ash Carter Elena Clavarino George Pendle

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Art Director

Paloma Huerre

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Associate Editors

Carolina de Armas Jeanne Malle Paulina Prosnitz

Senior Photo Editor

Emine Sevim

Designer

Zoé Gillette

Columnists

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

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Spike Carter Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Matthew Gurewitsch Victoria Herman 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 Dafydd Jones Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster

Technology

Brooks Oakley

General Manager, Commerce & Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Business Development Director

Catherine Scott

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

Account Manager

Dillon Freeman

Chief Strategy Adviser

Adam Mendelsohn

AIR SUPPLY

Editor, Commerce, and Chief Merchandiser

Jennifer Noyes

E-Commerce Manager

Isaac Metlitsky

In Memoriam

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

The View from Here Elon Musk says OpenAI abandoned its mission to protect humanity. But is his own A.I. crusade against the “woke mind virus” any better?

Once upon a Time in Gala-Land How a midnight dinner for fashion insiders became a multi-million-dollar media spectacle, culminating with this year’s sponsorship by none other than the Bezoses

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee

Pod Save the King! King Charles III’s recent visit to the United States brought a new ritual to high-society gatherings and, with it, a fresh status anxiety

Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough From Michael Jackson and Prince to Elvis and Nipsey Hussle, the death of a pop star can be the beginning of a booming second act

Graduation is a transition disguised as a celebration. The usual gifts mark the achievement; this edit is about what comes after—objects, tools, and small signals of a life that’s no longer instructed

Nathan Turner’s Favorite Things A California decorator’s guide to rooms that feel easy, lived-in, and entirely intentional. Here he chooses color, pattern, and the objects that quietly pull everything together

Strictly Personal As the dating world succumbs to the algorithm, a new generation of romantics is returning to the high-effort, low-tech holy grail of 1977: the personal ad

The AIR MAIL Diary The founder of SantaCon is on the naughty list, the Japanese government will pay for your tryst, and other strange stories from around the globe …

I Post, Therefore I Am From Substack “think pieces” to A.I.-optimized captions, Camille Charrière examines our new obsession with looking brainy while our brains go offline in her debut column for AIR MAIL

First-Class Influencers Amidst “sponsored” reviews and A.I.-generated listicles, travel agents—rebranded as “advisers,” and with newfound social-media savvy—are having a comeback

An Afternoon in Washington, D.C. A day after the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner fiasco, AIR MAIL arrived just in time to provide an (alcoholic) balm and (gossipy) solace to the huddled masses

All Aboard Aqua Lares On Aqua Expeditions’ latest super-yacht, the journey from Zanzibar to the Seychelles comes with Michelin-starred meals, silk beach umbrellas, and reef shark spottings

Shred It! A new coffee-table book traces the unlikely rise of British skateboarding, beginning in the 1980s, when the sport found its own rainy, grungy identity far from its Californian roots

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

Columnists

Writers at Large

Contributing Artists

Contributing Photographers

Architectural Consultant

Social Media Manager

Head of Audience Development

Cartoon Editor

Music Supervisor

Technology

General Manager, Commerce & Brand Partnerships

Business Development Director

European Sales Director

Account Manager

Chief Strategy Adviser

Editor, Commerce, and Chief Merchandiser

E-Commerce Manager

In Memoriam