October 27, 2015

TOWN AND COUNTRY SURPRISE
I got a pedicure today.  No, that is not what I want to write about.  You, reader, need to know about Town and Country magazine, the November issue of which I picked up randomly from the magazine pile in the salon to distract me while my feet were soaking.

I had heard of, but never read, T&C, not really knowing what it was about, but having some vague idea about horses, beagles and trumpet-blowing men in red coats.  Then I began to notice the editor-in-chief on his regular appearance on my weekday wakeup call, Morning Joe.  I would have expected someone old, stiff and very British, like Batman’s butler Alfred, but instead, we have Jay Fielden, a 40-something hottie with messy hair like a boy-band singer, and a voice that speaks Phillips, Choate, or any other high-test boarding school.  A touch of snobbery emanates from his demeanor, and T&C is all about exotic travel and architecture, European royalty, and lives of the wealthy whose-job-is-philanthropy leisure class, referring to itself as “the trusted source of privileged information, taste, elegant living and unpretentious fun.” However, Fielden has figured out brilliantly how to expand T&C’s appeal to include people like me, who don’t live in a Manhattan penthouse on weekdays and the Hamptons on weekends, nor own a winery or horse farm in the Virginia countryside.  I will never buy a $1200 cashmere sweater, but I relished seeing the ads, works of art promoting designer bags and shoes at thousands of dollars a pop.  Even more interesting were stories of Lee Radziwill and her friendship with Giorgio Armani, Sam Waterston’s hardworking actress daughter Katherine, who has just been “discovered” in her thirties, and an article on the virtue and value of patience.  Not only were the articles captivating, I felt like I had just been inside a fairy tale.

Town & Country surprised me:  I enjoyed every ad.  I studied every page. Oh, and the pedicure was delightful.