Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/135428
SIMON GENTRY FULTON DAVENPORT I was wandering through a design fair a few weeks back, and I ran into a dear older friend. We were chatting, and he ended with "Call me. I'm in the phone book." When is the last time you heard that, now that we bump iPhones to exchange numerals. I started thinking about old souls, such as Bill Lassiter, the aforementioned gentleman whose soul runs centuries prior. Another old soul is a new writer for PaperCity, Billy Fong, who monthly pens "Billy Fong Sez." This is Mr. Fong: HM: We really must sit and chat soon. BF: Professor Moore, perhaps we can never meet and just have a pen-paltype relationship. If we were to meet, I would suggest the Caviar Bar at the Webster (I hate that Target has spread my little South Beach secret far and wide by their new hipster branding campaign). You would be wearing a lavender vintage Prada turban (I only thought Kelly Wearstler could pull them off, but I am quite certain you can as well), gun-metal-gray blouse, mauve cigarette pants and some chic Helmut Lang snakeskin slingbacks circa 1998. A Goyard tote filled with all sorts of nonsense and monogrammed, of course. Me, pourquoi? I would be the one with dark-brown English riding boots, APC slim dark jeans, Hermès blue belt and white Brooks Brothers boy's-size shirt with "Ranger" monogrammed on the pocket (so Sloan Ranger of me). We lock eyes when L.L. Cool J's "Around the Way Girl" pops on, and House of Pain's "Jump Around" convinces us to get in to some shamrocks and shenanigans with some Boston boys. HM: We must have a portrait of you, preferably one by Cecil Beaton or Slim Aarons. Barring that, something from your iPhone. BF: I truly hate pictures of myself. I was meant to be a guest at the Vanity Fair Oscar party with lots of candid shots. Set the scene: my head thrown back laughing after Fran Lebowitz makes some biting comment about Cameron Diaz or a contemplative stare from Tilda Swinton's last suggestion to blow this joint and head to Trent Reznor's party at the Château Marmont. And so it goes. Holly Moore, editor in chief holly@papercitymag.com G eez, can a publisher catch a break? Normally, two things can cause me to skip a publisher's letter, as I did last month: Either I don't have anything to say (shocking, I know) or, more likely, I get too close to deadline, we have excess stories to run, and the pressure my copy director puts on me is just too great and I crack — I tell her to release the space and run the editorial. Last month, the latter happened. I don't always receive a ton of feedback when I do write, but boy-howdy, if I don't write anything, I hear about it. (Okay, mainly from friends — but thanks for paying attention!) On to more relevant things … As if you want to hear one more plug for Houston's pro soccer team, the Dynamo, and their coolas-hell new stadium — I've gotta do it. I was fortunate to see one of the Dynamo's last games at Robertson stadium against the L.A. Galaxy. I had never seen a live pro soccer game, and I was blown away. See, I'm used to watching 9-year-old girls daintily kick the ball around in general disregard of the direction of their goal (sidelined daddies nurse martinis in sippy cups). Wow, these pros are impressive. They can kick the ball with such precision that they place it anywhere on the field they want to. I even witnessed a goal where the ball came flying out of nowhere and a player nailed it into the goal with his head. Spectacular! The crowd was fun — diverse and energetic. A couple months ago, I was treated to a private tour of the ultra-mod new stadium just east of the George R. Brown Convention Center. I'm telling you, you have to see it. And now, summer … While my friends are off to places such as India, Sweden and Africa, we at PaperCity will be working hard to gear up for the fall issues — not to mention glorious July and August. I'll sneak off a couple times to my ancestral home, California, and I'll camp for a few weeks in a vintage farmhouse outside of Cat Spring. Come fall, I'll write about it — and apparently it will be read … by my friends, anyway. Jim Kastleman, publisher jim@papercitymag.com Why Don't You … Stop by Tootsies for a Vreeland Book JUNE 2012 | STYLE | FASHION | SOCIAL Lisa Immordino Vreeland — filmmaker, author and granddaughter-in-law of the legendary Diana Vreeland — will be in Houston Tuesday, June 5, at Tootsies, from 6 to 8 pm, to sign her fascinating and visual book about the high mistress of fashion, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel ($55, Abrams). A documentary of the same name is traveling the film circuit and opens in September in theaters. Stop by Tootsies for a cocktail, get a book signed and revel in Vreeland's proclamations. "The first thing to do is to arrange to be born in Paris," she once said. "After that, everything follows quite naturally." At Tootsies, Tuesday, June 5; RSVP curatebooks@papercitymag.com. Jewelry: The baroque-ness of Nini Hale Party: Champagne and Shopping for I Am Waters at Versace Pick of the New: Fresh spots to shop, gaze and graze Party: Neiman Marcus kicks off Dallas Art Fair Party: Out on the town with scary John Waters 20 O Dining: Hot new bites and boîtes Parties: Houston Grand Opera's Viva Italia Fantasy Ball; Society for the Performing Arts' Una Serra di Amore 22 Bridal Primer: The bride's little blue book Style: The Heritage Man 26 33, 36 Party: Discovery Green's Gala on the Green Wedding Style: Bridal buzz and inspiration 38 4042 Design Buzz Après-Wedding: What to pack in the honeymoon valise Wedding Style: Laurann Claridge + William Zeitz Cartier Trinity Pearls collection Bridal Primer: The bride's little blue book JENNY ANTILL One of our favorite decorators, PaperCity contributor Randy Powers — J Randall to those who are not intime — has made the Elle Décor A-List of 60 tippy-top designers across the United States. He'll be inducted into this hive of chicdom Wednesday, June 6, in New York, and we'll be clapping in person. Grab a June issue of Elle Décor to see the company he keeps (i.e., Miles Read, Jeffrey Bilhuber, Charlotte Moss, Kelly Wearstler, et. al). Then, this fall, Powers' own casa in Houston will appear in Architectural Digest. Famed interiors editor Robert Rufino styled the shoot, and it was photographed by Edward Piasecki. ur June PC Acquire talent is a former Dallasite, Houston-based artist Caroline Sharpless. During her formative years, she studied at the Corcoran School of Art — where man-of-stripes painter Gene Davis was her teacher. Now that her family has grown, this visualist has returned to the art world full-time. She most recently honed her skills at the Glassell School Caroline Sharpless' Stripes, 2010 of Art, winning a prestigious Ary Stillman Scholarship in 2011; come fall, she segues to the University of Houston to start her MFA program with a concentration in painting. We spied Sharpless amid a pool of artists vying for inclusion in the Visual Arts Alliance 29th Juried Open Exhibition. What caught our eye on the VAA press disc? Popping out from those hundreds of entry images were three quietly potent Sharpless oil on canvases — paintings of hushed interiors that adroitly Caroline Sharpless' Kitchen #7, 2011 balance abstraction and representation. Enthralled by modernism, this lady of contemplative domesticity finds her subjects in a prosaic source: Realtor ads in newspapers and magazines (including PaperCity, natch). "The sanctity of place plays heavily in my work," she says. "In my paintings, I build a space in cinematic fashion ... Leaving deserted stages without much narrative or other apparent meaning, I attempt to reduce all activity to the act of observation." Imagine Edward Hopper commissioned to paint Philip Johnson's Glass House, and you get close to Sharpless. Investigate the portfolio of 10, priced from $1,450 per painting, exclusively at papercitymag.com/Arts. Inquiries Seth Vaughan, seth@papercitymag.com. Pregnancy Style Hatched Randy Powers Designer and mother Ariane Goldman has cracked the pregnancy style dilemma with her smart new collection, Hatch. We would love it for the name alone, but the 18 easy pieces chicly cover a blossoming baby bump — and, believe it or not, become a closet staple postpregnancy. No, really. In fact, you don't even have to be pregnant to lust after the dreamy strapless gown in palest mint silk, a long tank dress in French nautical stripes, a dinner party dress, airplane dress, caftan and jumper — one chicer than the next, with or without a baby on board — in colors such as sandalwood, fawn, melon, cobalt, navy and black. Hatch donates $5 from each purchase on its Web site to Every Mother Counts, an organization that seeks to improve maternal health worldwide. $78 to $368, at hatchcollection.com. Kate Allen Stukenberg JUNE | PAGE 4 | 2012 RICK WELLS 24 17 RICK WELLS in this ISSUE 4, 6, 8 POP. CULTURE. GOSSIP. 6 10 12 PC Acquire 14