Every year, we keep hearing how the Hamptons are ‘over’, ‘passe’, over-run with city escapees. This past Sunday’s ‘Style’ section of The New York Times was an ode to the Hamptons. It seemed that every article, every party, every picture, celebrated the lifestyles of the rich and famous frolicking on the famed east end. In fact, when I was through reading the paper, I almost felt that its message was that if you were not out there, you were ‘nowhere’. Of course, in my opinion, the main reason the city is so great on summer weekends, is precisely because all that crowd is GONE!
In response to my dear friend Christine’s question regarding which young American designers would be up to the task of showing during couture week in Paris I couldn’t agree more with her choice of Geoffrey Beene (though he is not ‘young’). My very short list at this moment includes Marc Jacobs, who has a good eye, and wonderful dressmaking and tailoring skills – as evidenced by his always superb jackets and coats – and Narciso Rodriguez, who is also a wonderful craftsman, and understands cut and proportion.
And though they haven’t completely proven themselves yet, a few names to watch for are Behnaz Sarafpour, and the team of As Four…both of whom have small boutiques at Barneys New York, where the items I have seen are couture quality.
