Catherine "Deeda" Blair: The Beautiful Mind
The former diplomatic wife and crowning hostess possesses a cerebral, intentional style: Her grisaille, pearlescent digs in Manhattan’s River House, the angular couture of her Givenchy-and-Balenciaga-filled closet, and her iconic bouffant recognizable across Madison Avenue call for monochromatic diamond masterpieces inspired by forward-thinking women and modernist 1950s art. Her latest pursuit? Penning the just-released book Deeda Blair: Food, Flowers & Fantasy, inviting readers into her luminous world.
Bread & butter and dessert plates, from $70; herendusa.com.• Moire braid trimming, to the trade; houles.com. • Envol de Diamants necklace, price upon request; vancleefarpels.com. • Rivoli candleholders, $260 for a set of two; cecebarfieldinc.com. • Dôme de Diamants ring, $223,000; vancleefarpels.com. • Ruban earrings by Chanel, price upon request; 1-800-550-0005. • Victoria Silver Collar scent bottle, $275; williamyeowardcrystal.com.
Nancy "Slim" Keith: The All-American
With her lean, fresh-scrubbed look and dry wit, the California-born model gained social altitude in high-profile liaisons (Gable and Hemingway) and Hollywood marriages (Howard Hawks and Leland Hayward). She conveyed a raw confidence in sinuous couture jackets and toned-down taffeta that required jewels of brazen scale and rarity—Chopard’s Haute Joaillerie necklace, perhaps, with its enviable octagonal emeralds—befitting a smart girl who could shoot, drink, and turn natural style into high art.
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Malachite obelisks, $800 for a set of two; foundbymaja.com. • Kravet 4070 fabric, to the trade; kravet.com. • Queen’s Hall glassware, $570 for a set of four; saint-louis.com. • Secret Combination bracelet and earrings, prices upon request; harrywinston.com. • Haute Joaillerie necklace, price upon request; chopard.com
Gloria Guinness: The Exuberant Aristocrat
It’s no wonder the Mexican-born socialite would inspire Capote to name her among the three most beautiful women in the world, with her Modigliani-worthy neck and breathless silhouette. She bent couturiers to her will, eschewing patterns for bold, solid colors like reds and pinks that would surely have beckoned the insouciant color of Bulgari’s spinel, chalcedony, and diamond necklace. “Elegance,” she once remarked, “is in the brain just as well as in the body and in the soul.”
Vintage Amethyst Venetian goblet, $1,998 for a set of 16; housesandparties.com. • Small vase, $515; saint-louis.com. • Athena Taffeta fabric, to the trade; fabricut.com. • Veronica Conical scent bottle, $240; williamyeowardcrystal.com.• High jewelry necklace by Bulgari, price upon request; 1-800-285-4274
Barbara "Babe" Paley: The Impeccable Editor
“Mrs. P had only one fault,” wrote Capote. “She was perfect; otherwise, she was perfect.” She indulged her favored French couture and lured not one but three design teams—Parish Hadley, Paris’s Maison Jansen, and Billy Baldwin—to feather her Fifth Avenue apartment in pink walls, 18th-century European antiques, and exotic fabric tenting. One could almost imagine the one-time fashion editor floating from room to room in Buccellati’s mesmerizing moonstone jewels, the world at her coattails.
Khemarin Fabric, to the trade; jimthompsonfabrics.com. • Potted rose, price upon request; vieuxtempsporcelain.net.• Macri Colour earrings and cocktail ring, $43,000 (earrings) and $37,000 (ring); buccellati.com. • Marly silver-plated five-piece flatware set, $634; christofle.com. • White multishape diamond necklace, price upon request; graff.com
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Featured in our January/February 2023 issue. Photography by Don Penny; Produced by Rachael Burrow; Written by Tracey Minkin.
