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New and Noteworthy: March 2024

by habituallychic

03 . 22 . 24

I started the March New and Noteworthy post earlier in the month but got sidetracked. It actually worked out well since I was able to add a few more things that should be on your radar this month.

We could really use more hotels on the Upper East Side so I hope someone builds or converts one soon. In the meantime, the Firmdale Hotels group just opened the Warren Street Hotel in Tribeca if you need another place to stay downtown.

Last week, I stopped by the Attersee Studio to see the new spring collection. The navy and blue pieces are perfect for transitional weather this month. The Everyday Shirt in Silk Cashmere in blue that own is back in stock for those of you who missed it before. I picked up the Studio Jacket In Lucent Wool which is a great transitional jacket for those days when you need a light coat. They’ve become known for their vests and now there is new V-Neck Mini Dress that’s an extended play on the vest that can be worn alone or over pants. They are open Monday to Friday and you can make an appointment online here. They may be open one Saturday a month so follow there Instagram account for updates.

The British brand ME+EM has opened their first boutique stateside on Madison Avenue. They will open stores in Soho and The Hamptons this spring too. The 1,900sf uptown store was designed by New York-based architectural specialists Rigos Mills and local British creatives “to create a fusion of British craft and American design sensibility across all three stores”. 

When Ana Mari Ortega was in NYC earlier this month, we stopped by Lévy Gorvy Dayan gallery and both fell in love with the abstract paintings by Chinese painter Tu Hongtao. “Introducing more than thirty new works, the exhibition unveils significant developments in Tu’s practice since his first exhibition in 2020 with the gallery in Hong Kong.” It will be on view until March 30, 2024.

In my Paris Guide, I advise my buyers to follow former Colette (RIP) founder Sarah Andelman in case she hosts a pop up in Paris. Well, now she’s hosting more than just a pop up at Le Bon Marché through 20 April 2024. Her Mise en Page guest curation has taken over the entire store.  It offers everything related to books and printed matter in addition to a cafe and special products from famous bookstores from all over the world. It’s a must visit installation just to see the giant reading man sculptures from Jean Jullien.

The hidden gem Atelier Brancusi outside the Centre Pompidou has closed its doors because it will be part of the major retrospective devoted to the father of modern sculpture. The Brancusi large-scale exhibition will run from 27 March to 1 July 2024 and will comprise “some 400 works: over 120 sculptures, as well as photographs, drawings, films and archives. At the heart of the exhibition, visitors can admire a reconstitution of the artist’s studio, which he designed during his lifetime as a place in which to live, create and contemplate his works”. 

I already have anxiety about visiting the upcoming Paris 1874 Inventing Impressionism at the Musée d’Orsay because I know the crowds will be huge. The exhibition will run from 26 March to 14 July 2024 and will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Impressionism. “On April 15, 1874, the first impressionist exhibition opened in Paris. “Hungry for independence”, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Sisley and Cézanne finally decided to free themselves from the rules by holding their own exhibition, outside official channels: impressionism was born. To celebrate this anniversary, Musée d’Orsay is presenting some 130 works and bringing a fresh eye to bear on this key date, regarded as the day that launched the avant-gardes.” I would schedule your ticket the minute you book your flight.

The exhibition Sheer: The diaphanous creations of Yves Saint Laurent  will be on display at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris from 9 February to 25 August 2024. It will be the second chapter of a story that began last summer at the Museum of Lace and Fashion in Calais. For the exhibition’s next stop, in Paris, the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris invited the curator Anne Dressen to be its artistic advisor; she will focus on transparency as a chosen artistic expression of Yves Saint Laurent. The exhibition has been designed by the architect Pauline Marchetti, whose work explores the intersection of perception and space.

If you are in Palm Beach this spring and early summer, make sure you visit the Norton Museum of Art for Ellen Graham: Unscripted. “For over six decades, Ellen Graham has photographed actors, musicians, models, athletes, and royals at their most vulnerable: unplanned, unposed, and unscripted. Imbuing a sense of immediacy, showing moments of intimacy and humor, and celebrating her remarkable ability to disarm her subjects, Graham’s photographs provide unique insight into a person’s inner dimensions. This exhibition highlights several of Graham’s gifts to the Norton along with a generous array of special loans — both photographs and photographic ephemera — from the Ellen Graham Archive.” I got to know Ellen when I was decorating her son’s apartment in 2008 and loved her no nonsense attitude. I wish I could make it down for this exhibition but not sure I’ll have time.

The Gentlemen on Netflix is about aristocrat Eddie who inherits the family estate, then discovers that it’s home to an enormous weed empire, and its proprietors aren’t going anywhere. The series is based on the film by the same name and stars Theo James who ruined Sanditon but who redeems himself here but it’s actress Kaya Scodelario who steals the show. I need to see what else I can watch with her.

I was concerned that my bladder and ADD couldn’t handle going to the theater to watch the four hour documentary Menus Plaisirs Les Troisgros but luckily it’s now available to watch at home on PBS. I actually already watched it and if you love food and talking about food and eating and France, this Frederick Wiseman documentary is for you. It follows the Troisgros family and the inner-workings of their French restaurant that’s held three Michelin stars for more than 50 years. 

Manhunt on Apple TV is “part historical fiction, part conspiracy thriller, as Edwin Stanton delves into the aftermath of the first American presidential assassination-and the fight to preserve and protect the ideals that were the foundation of Lincoln’s Reconstruction plans”. I watched the first three episodes and they are a bit dark and I mean that literally. It’s a bit hard to see the screen but it was interesting to learn more about how John Wilkes Booth came to assassinate the President and who helped him while he was on the run. I hate to be sexist but it feels a bit like a show for men and boys.

In High & Low: John Galliano, director Kevin Macdonald examines fashion designer John Galliano’s rapid ascent, fall from grace, and his rehabilitation. It’s currently playing at the Quad Cinema in NYC.

Palm Royale on Apple TV is getting some mixed reviews but I loved the first episodes. It stars Kristen Wiig as an ambitious woman aspires to cross the line between the haves and have-nots to secure her seat at America’s most exclusive, fashionable and treacherous table: Palm Beach high society in 1969. I’ll let it slide that it filmed in California and not Palm Beach because the costumes and sets are amazing. Leslie Bibb and Allison Janney are also fabulous as Palm Beach society ladies.

I couldn’t get through the book A Gentleman in Moscow but I know a lot of you loved it so you might want to check out A Gentleman in Moscow series. The eight-episode limited series premieres on Sunday, March 31 at 9pm, but will be available to the Paramount+ with Showtime app subscribers on Friday, March 29. 

My friend Alyssa Kapito has just released her first book this week, Alyssa Kapito: Interiors. Her chic and uncluttered designs will make you want to throw out everything in your house but maybe that will be good motivation for your spring cleaning. Her bespoke interiors merge contemporary touches with time-honored sophistication—think luxurious textures, neutral tones, crisp whites, and sleek lines—that has made her one of the most exciting names working in design today.

Alyssa actually used to work for Bunny Williams and Bunny also just released a book earlier this month, Bunny Williams: Life in the Garden. My closest garden is Central Park but those of you with green spaces and gardens will love her “impressive grounds with charming personal anecdotes, expert advice, and creative ideas for how to bring natural elements into the home, this is a testament to Bunny Williams’ love affair with the garden and woodlands surrounding her eighteenth-century manor house in Northwestern Connecticut”.

Even though winter is back with a vengeance this week, I’m still buying spring fashions for warmer weather. I love the softness of the dusty pink Oversized Shirtdress and took two sizes down. Unlike a lot of Cos dresses, this one isn’t as long as some of their old ones so anyone petite can wear it without having to get it hemmed.

I posted about the navy Wool Blend Flare Pants but they were backordered and just arrived yesterday. The fabric is thinner than I expected and the flare is also wider but I still like them. My regular size fit perfectly with no room to spare so I just ordered them in one size up so I can have a relaxed pair too. When I have my tailor hem them, I’m going to have her narrow the leg so they aren’t so wide. It’s hard to find navy trousers so I don’t mind making some tweaks.

The blue Linen Shirtdress is just one of those good dresses to throw on at the beach or as a housedress when you’re working from home. I would keep the side slits if you plan to wear at the beach but I’ll probably have my tailor close them so I can wear it in the city.

My yoga mat has seen better days so I just ordered this pale green Foldable Multi-Purpose Fitness and Yoga Mat. The fact that it folds makes it easy to carry and store but it can also be used for extra support and as a step for exercises. I like that it will match my apartment too.

Hope you survive the hopefully last winter blast this weekend!

XOXO,

HC