This Palm Beach based “Queen of Prep” was the daughter of a Standard Oil heiress who began her career selling orange juice on Worth Avenue. Customers loved Pulitzer’s bright dresses and seizing on this, she began to sell them. Soon, her creations became the favourites of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Caroline Kennedy and members of the Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Whitney families. Sales reached $15 million a year in the 1960s and 1970s and net sales in 2010, by which time the company was owned by Oxford Industries, were $122.6 million. Lily Pulitzer’s designs remain as “must-have” items in the wardrobes of wealthy socialites and jetsetters and “The Lilly” is a household name. When told a specific print could not be used for an exhibition of her works because it was expensive, she answered simply: “A budget… How embarrassing”.
Tag: social
-
Lillian Pulitzer Rousseau (born Lillian Lee McKim; 1931 – 2013)
-
David Patrick Columbia
This gentleman giant is the editor-in-chief of Quest magazine and the founder of the New York Social Diary. A revered social chronicler, “DPC” as he is widely known, previously collaborated with Debbie Reynolds on her autobiography and has also variously been an actor and stockbroker. He is seen at all of New York’s best events and amongst his favoured lunching spots are Michael’s and Swifty’s. Of dinner parties, DPC states: “You really never know who you will get as a dinner partner. It is a roll of the dice. I look forward to meeting different people from all walks of life — that is what makes life interesting”. -
Diego Bivero-Volpe: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times asks nightlife entrepreneur Diego Bivero-Volpe: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a tough battle.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
Get there on time.
Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2013?
Racism and injustice. I travel quite a bit and I am always taken aback by how prevalent both are everywhere in the world.
Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?
My family. They are all spread out, far away in different corners of the globe. It is difficult to see them often.
What might you swap all your wealth for?
The wellbeing of my loved ones.
Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the banking crisis?
I love that quote but sadly it is indicative of how failed the system is. I used to work in the equity derivatives arm of RBS’ investment bank and I can tell you first-hand it is a cowboy’s game, with a lot of cavalier moves being made at the expense of the general public.
What phrase or word do you most loathe?
Racist slurs.
In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?
This is probably true but I think all humans have a primal desire and need to help each other. I personally support Nordoff Robbins and Kids Company, both charities that help and provide support and protection for children.
The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?
Unfortunately I am incredibly addicted to my Blackberry. Thinking about it, I don’t think it one has ever been more than 5 feet away from my in almost 10 years. That is disturbing.
Diego Bivero-Volpe If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?
So many… A random list off the top of my head: All of Led Zeppelin, Marcus Aurelius, Michelangelo, Rodin, Picasso, Piranesi, Buddy Holly, Hobbs, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and maybe Daniel Tosh because he’s hysterical. It would certainly make for quite the journey all around.
If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?
It’s hard to say, I am a lover of food, but I recently have developed a new obsession with steak, so maybe that and a spinach, avocado and mango salad. In any case, let’s just hope this situation never happens.
What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?
The conventional wisdom would dictate after 5pm. If you are on holiday somewhere sunny, a glass of wine or an Aperol Spritz (if in Italy) with lunch is always acceptable.
A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?
Vodka martini, dry, 3 olives.
Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?
It’s a toss-up between very close friends and big luxurious bashes thrown by film studios and such. Both have their perks and are fun in different ways.
Who is the most positive person you know?
I am fortunate enough to have quite a few very positive people in my life.
What’s your most guilty pleasure?
Lazing about in Tuscany for 2 weeks every summer, doing nothing but eating pasta and tanning.
If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?
I strongly dislike tattoos.
If you were a car, what marque would you be?
A classic Ferrari.
Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.
I have a masters in journalism and finance.
What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?
Lots of pictures of my family, a handmade sculpture made by Amazonian natives and some invites for events this week.
Diego Bivero-Volpe is a partner in Conduit Brands. For more information, go to: http://www.conduitbrands.com
Follow him on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/DiegoB_V -
Baroness Gabriella Langer von Langendorff
The widow of the creator of White Shoulders perfume is well known in New York for both her “amply proportioned figure” and for being “highly made-up”. This resident of The Pierre loves bright colours and once told the New Yorker: “I never wear a watch at night. I don’t want to know what time it is at night”. The New York Social Diary suggests she even has her “fur coats dyed to match her emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and sapphires”. They add: “The baroness is one of those individuals of indeterminate youth and age, to put it politely, whose legend, long having departed reality, provides a rich lore that may be more enticing than the facts”. -
Hugh Warrender: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times asks financier Hugh Warrender: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
I was tempted to put something rude that would be true enough, but there’s a great poem by Rainer Maria Rilke called ‘As Once the Winged Energy of Delight’ (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/as-once-the-winged-energy-of-delight/) that informs pretty much everything I do or think.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
If you haven’t tried it, you’ll never know.
-
Baroness Stefania von Kories zu Goetzen (1939 – 2013)
American born von Kories zu Goetzen was heavily involved in The Residents’ Society of Mayfair & St. James’s and lived in grandeur on St. James’s Square. In an article in 1982, TIME accused her of being involved in a jewellery heist at the Ritz Paris. They were later forced to issue an apology. A portrait of the Baroness by Pietro Annigoni, started in Italy in the 1960s and still incomplete at the artist’s death, was so large that she was forced to move from Eaton Square to accommodate it. “I am an artist, not an architect”, he told her, before concluding: “Buy a new house”. -
Jackie Branston: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times asks concierge Jackie Branston: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
Inner strength.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
Fair play.
-
“Where are they now?” – Monica Lewinsky
What has become of the world’s most famous intern Monica Lewinsky?
Monica Lewinsky, it seems, is making a return to public life. The world’s most famous intern was spotted at the birthday party of Heather Kerzner at the Downton Mayfair restaurant last Tuesday night. In the company of amongst others the Duchess of York, Princess Eugenie and her former Admiral Codrington barman boyfriend Jack Brooksbank, Donna Air and the Duchess of Cambridge’s brother, James Middleton, the Daily Mail described her as wearing “dark layers with gem-laden accessories”.
-
Peter Scott (born Peter Craig Gulston, 1931 – 2013)
A modern day Robin Hood who claimed to have been “sent by God to take back some of the wealth that the outrageously rich had taken from the rest of us”. This Belfast born cat burglar was a meticulous planner whose roll call of marks numbered Sophia Loren, Zsa Zsa Gabor, John Aspinall and Maria Callas. He quoted Confucius, Oscar Wilde and Proust and targeted “rich prats” as it gave him a “sexual thrill”. The 1965 film He Who Rides a Tiger starring Tom Bell and Judi Dench was based on Scott and concluded that: “If I rob Ivana Trump, it is just a meeting of two different kinds of degeneracy on a dark rooftop”. Raffles would have been proud. -
The cult of “celebrity”
Matthew Steeples bemoans an overused word
They’re everywhere: you’ll find them on magazine covers, on the television and at events. They stalk out the cameras, they behave badly and make utter fools of themselves. In fact, they’ll do just about anything to keep in the “media eye”. Allegedly, Lindsay’s one, Katie’s one and Justin’s one too. They’re forced upon us so much that they don’t even need surnames anymore. The “celebrity” is the force de rigueur and they and the word that describes them has spread like cheap margarine throughout the land.
Famous for nothing other than her wealth: Tamara Ecclestone stumbles out of Annabel’s on New Year’s Eve 2012 propped up by her mother, Slavica At a book launch this week, a photographer I spoke with complained that he had become bored of tiresome and pointless individuals who consider themselves famous. The truly famous, instead, just want privacy. There are now, indeed, “celebrity stylists”, “celebrity chefs” and even our Prime Minister, David Cameron, has a “celebrity personal trainer”.
Fame used to be the reserve of the truly iconic. Frank Sinatra is, without doubt, deserving of the accolade, as are Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson and Madonna. The cast of The Only Way is Essex and Tulisa are not.
Please could someone just put the word “celebrity” back in its box?