The Swans, Yves Saint Laurent and Serena van der Woodsen
one woman's trash is another woman's treasure
No offense to the ladies of Potomac and those who love them, but…
I’ve always prided myself on never watching reality television. It’s been my bragging right, my righteous sense of self creeping into cocktail party conversation… as if the hours I’ve saved from abstaining from the housewives weren’t seamlessly deployed to Instagram rabbit holes instead.
But recently, I took a look at my media diet and realized… it was all a lie. I’m just as addicted to the drama as the rest of the you.
The only difference with my subset of delicious, gossipy women (and men!) is that sometimes I cement it in history (1970s Paris!), nostalgia (New York, 2007!) or literature (Wharton!) to make it feel like an intellectually worthy pastime. In truth, it’s all the same story: restless, beautiful people haunted by their own shadows, stumbling through their glittering, dangerous lives. Lives filled with objects of desire: couture fittings at the Dior atelier, estates designed by Renzo Mongiardino, a Van Gogh sunflower as a concession prize for an adulterous husband. All in self-sacrifice for our voyeuristic pleasure.
If you’re looking for a salacious escape into the worlds of the beautiful and the damned, here is my high-low list of “cultural” pursuits:
Feud: Capote and the Swans, and/or the book that inspired it, Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal and a Swan Song for an Era
First, the obvious parallel. Lee Radziwill, one of the original swans, sister to Jackie O, beacon of high society, is related (by marriage) to a Real Housewife of New York star Carole Radziwill. Were the housewives the swans of their time?
I was so excited by the Capote and the Swans miniseries that I threw a little viewing party at home. In case you’d like to recreate it…
Dress code: Swan-like or sweats. No in between. Props to two friends who showed up in silk pajamas AND fur coats. With low bejeweled Manolo heels.
Menu: A waspy delight! A wise woman once told me, “if it’s beige, don’t bite,” but this was a sea of beige. Deviled eggs, potato chips and caviar, salmon and roast chicken, asparagus with hollandaise and endive salad. Mini bowls of popcorn. Champagne.
In truth, it’s all the same story: restless, beautiful people haunted by their own shadows, stumbling through their glittering, dangerous lives.
Lives filled with objects of desire: couture fittings at the Dior atelier, estates designed by Renzo Mongiardino, a Van Gogh sunflower as a concession prize for an adulterous husband. All in self-sacrifice for our voyeuristic pleasure.
Gossip Girl, the original
Though set in the excess of the early 2000s (remember Butter? The Ivanka Trump cameo?), Gossip Girl borrowed character names, episode titles and entire storylines from its cultural predecessors. The Gossip Girl writers room wasn’t trying to disguise their source material. A few of my favorite parallels between AP English Literature and the CW sensation:
Thackery’s Vanity Fair (the novel, the precursor to the magazine, whose moniker is a wink at our own shallow tastes) may have been published in 1848, but the tale of insatiable thirst for status, and the way we succumb to our worst desires, is the entire premise of Gossip Girl.
Lily Bass, meet House of Mirth’s Lily Bart.
The semi-ridiculous reveal of Dan Humphrey as Gossip Girl, the ruthless chronicler of his inner circle, is reminiscent of Capote’s own Esquire story, “La Cote Basque,” that caused his fall from grace. To jog your memory, Capote, who was surrounded by society belles, revealed all of their secrets in a book excerpt published in Esquire in 1965 and was almost instantly ostracized. In the end of the Dan Humphrey plot line, he reveals his friends’ worst dalliances in a multi-part Vanity Fair series. Luckily, Dan fared better than Truman (he still gets the girl).
Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald’s final haunting novel, set at Hotel Du Cap in the Jazz Age, is the story of an unraveling relationship, torn apart by wealth, alcohol and narcissism. If you look closely during high season in July, you may be able to spot the same demons playing out in front of you.
Bonus: here is a fascinating article on Gerald and Sara Murphy, the glamorous couple Fitzgerald dedicated the book to, with the inscription “To Gerald and Sarah - Many Fêtes” and who loosely - very loosely - inspired the two main characters in the novel. Which is a very strange thing to say as a dedication given the book’s thematics and eventual downfall of the main characters.
The Beautiful Fall: Fashion, Genius and Glorious Excess by Alicia Drake
The bitter rivalry of two fashion designer ingenues turned masters of the universe, Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld, who both came from humble beginnings and descended upon the decadent glamour of 1970s Paris. It’s scintillating, tragic at times, and a fascinating read.
Also, if you have a thing for fashion history, check out the Hermes and LVMH episodes of the Acquired podcast. It’s a multi-hour deep dive, but it’s filled with all the best things and players! Domenico De Sole and Tom Ford, Bernard Arnault (a man who truly knows the significance of creating objects of desire), the Hermes family, failed and hostile takeovers! Also if anyone knows how to access the Kingdom of Dreams mini-series in the US, do tell. (
perhaps you can help us?)And because I just couldn’t resist… the homes!
A drool-worthy of Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge’s four homes, designed in dialogue with French interior designer Jacques Grange. The salaciousness might be a little more subtle here, but the drama is there.
Former WWD editor John Fairchild famously loved to dish, and dish he does in his memoir. Anecdotes abound, each more ridiculous than the next. I doubt this book won him many friends, but it’s a very fun (and fast) read.
Following.! I've been trying to find Kingdom of Dreams in the US all to not avail....
J’adore every piece of this.