It took an upstart editor from London to rescue Vanity Fair and make it an American phenomenon. Tina Brown looks back at the roaring eighties in her newly published diaries.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1984
I have a rush of desire to live somewhere modern. I had always imagined myself living in a New Yorker–y brownstone walk-up, but I am over old-world touches. I want to be the opposite of who I was in London. I want to live in a glass box with white sofas that looks down on the electric throb of New York. I am so dying to get out of the Algonquin, with its sleepy switchboard and jostling lobby, that I pick the first apartment the agent sends me, a sublet in a black glass tower with curved corners at the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Sixty-Sixth Street.
Harry came in from London, and we met the real estate agent in the lobby on my lunch hour. The agent wore a porkpie hat very straight on his head and a raincoat. The sublet he showed us in the Solow Tower (as it’s called) is somewhat preposterous. An over furnished glitz bowl with Ultrasuede pillars and fairy lights in the rubber plants. Two beds, two bathrooms. I have never seen a bedside table crammed with so many speaking alarm clocks and whirring coffee machines and Fabergé pill pots. Still, the selling point for me is the enormous health club on the top floor with a skylit swimming pool surrounded by windows, where you can gaze out on the glamour and the glitter of the spires below. And we only took it for six months.
The owner is a Blanche DuBois blonde I’ll call Mrs. de Voff. When she opened the door, she was wearing a negligee, which she kept unbuttoning to show her new silicone breasts.
“I am very proud to be renting your apartment, Mrs. de Voff,” I said.
This story is from the December 2017 edition of Vogue.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the December 2017 edition of Vogue.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Yes, Ayo!
There are worse places that a rising star can find themselves than at loose ends in Europe in July.
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
With the upcoming Netflix series Ripley, Andrew Scott furthers his ascent, proving himself one of the most chameleonic and charming actors around.
Life Is a Cabaret
Three years after the West End production made major waves, the storied musical arrives on Broadway. Adrienne Miller goes behind the scenes at the Kit Kat Club.
Chasing Perfection
Coco Gauff is as famous for her poise as she is for her tennis, and in person she cuts a regal figure. The Friday before last season's finals began in Cancún, Mexico, in late October, she and other top players attended a gala at the palatial Kempinski Hotel.
By the Sea
Refurbished mainstays bring fresh shine to the Golden State's coast.
Taking the Waters
Water sommeliers, five-figure bottles the market for old-fashioned H2O has never been stronger. Tamar Adler investigates.
Porcelain Petals
Korean American artist Se Oh brings botany and personal history to their work.
Fertile Territory
An abundance of gardening books offers springtime inspiration.
Girl on Fire
Grammy-winning Tyla is making music for Africa, and beyond.
La Dolce & Gabbana Vita
A new exhibition by the design duo celebrates Italy in style. By Tiziana Cardini.