Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1056047
letter editor STEVEN VISNEAU, SISTERBROTHER MGMT. 20 D ecember is always my favorite issue of the year. Something about it just feels brighter than the rest. Maybe it's the season: tinsel, hot toddies, Bing Crosby's Christmas album, and the fact that winter parties always seem more glamorous. Perhaps there is something about sending the year off with a bang that gets all of us particularly excited. Or, it could be that in December we focus intently on jewelry and outlandish gifts — two realms that inspire our wildest fantasies. For me, our last issue of 2018 began taking shape back in October, while attending the Neiman Marcus Fantasy Gift launch party in New York — the first time in its 111-year history that the retailer debuted its over-the-top presents outside of Dallas. The event was magic: A makeshift mansion was constructed nearby NM's under- construction Hudson Yards store — stay tuned for the grand opening come March 2019 — with every room designed and activated to replicate one of the Fantasy Gifts. There was even a very handsome version of Santa Claus. This svelte St. Nick and I were teammates for a round of Champagne-Pong (a chic twist on Beer Pong) — and, yes, we won. I can't think of a better way to get in the holiday spirit. I came back to Dallas invigorated — and I wasn't the only one. Our culture/style editor Billy Fong brought tears to my eyes with his beautiful essay about his late mother's jewelry box, a memento that brings him fond memories and occasionally yields the perfect accessory for his never-dull wardrobe. Senior editor Lisa Collins Shaddock had discovered our latest jewelry obsession, Kaiser Atelier, the Dallas-based company that specializes in the centu- ries-old technique of lost-wax casting. And I almost fell down dead with joy when our art and creative director Michelle Aviña told me our gift guide was to be inspired by Diana Vreeland — the greatest fashion editor of our time whose tenures at Harper's Bazaar and Vogue revolutionized the industry as we know it. I have been obsessed with D.V. for as long as I can remember. Her one-liners are the stuff of genius and every page of every magazine she ever created are treasures. Michelle's resulting portfolio of images depicts Vreeland-esque gifts — one-of-a-kind objects with personality and panache — alongside snaps of the women who inspired her, from Penelope Tree and Marisa Berenson to Veruschka. "You're not supposed to give people what they want," D.V. famously said. "You're supposed to give them what they don't know they want yet." With this last hurrah of the year, I hope we've given you a little bit of something you didn't know you've always wanted. Christina Geyer Dallas Editor in Chief christina@papercitymag.com