Lifestyle
Paris Exhibition to Focus on Art Nouveau and Beyond
On June 2, Van Cleef & Arpels is to unveil “A New Art: Metamorphoses of Jewelry, 1880-1914,” an exhibition in Paris focusing on almost 100 items from a period that included the Art Nouveau era, many designed by the foremost artisans of the age, like René Lalique, Georges Fouquet and Henri Vever.
“Art Nouveau is a topic that we had not covered in the past in our exhibitions, and we do, when we program our shows, always try to look at different angles, different time periods, as well as different cultures,” said Lise Macdonald, the president of the brand’s L’École, School of Jewelry Arts. Its most recent show featured gold ornaments from China over several centuries.
Reservations can be made on the school’s website for the free exhibition, to be held in L’École’s 18th-century building near Place Vendôme through Sept. 30 (with a hiatus from Aug. 5-21). Most of the exhibits, on loan from brands and institutions like the Musée d’Orsay, have distinctively Art Nouveau details: curving lines, a combination of precious materials and commonplace ones like glass and pewter, and imagery inspired by nature or fantasy.
But the movement, which had its heyday from about 1890 to 1910, was not limited to jewelry. “The vision of Art Nouveau was that all of the arts are touched by it,” said Paul Paradis, a teacher at L’École who worked on the exhibition. “It was a total design concept, from the ceiling to the floor to the door handles.”
None of the jewelry — including a Lalique necklace in gold, enamel, glass and platinum with dangling pendants that resemble women with vivid green and cobalt butterfly wings around their legs — was made by Van Cleef, which opened its first store in 1906 on Place Vendôme.
“The mandate of the school is not to focus on Van Cleef & Arpels,” Ms. Macdonald said; it is meant “to speak to the larger audience on the history of jewelry, on its know-how and on gemology.” During the period represented in the exhibition, Van Cleef was focusing more “on abstractions and symmetry and the trend of Art Deco.”
Joanna Hardy, a fine jewelry specialist based in London who is not affiliated with the school, said L’École is more concerned with education than it is with marketing. “Just because they didn’t make it, doesn’t mean to say they wouldn’t show it,” she said.
Nonetheless, the show’s theme seems to reinforce the brand’s positioning.
Van Cleef is “trying to use Nouveau to say, ‘We are about craftsmanship — it’s not just about the gold you buy or the diamonds you buy,’” said Akshay Madane, a partner at the management consulting firm Kearney.
Other luxury brands have used museum sponsorships and exhibitions to sell similar stories, he said. “They’re trying to educate and inspire, and they’re doing it slowly in a subtle way so as not to come across as sales-y, because that’s not what these brands are about.”
Lifestyle
Death doula says life is more meaningful if you 'get real' about the end
Yeofi Andoh/HarperCollins
As a death doula, Alua Arthur helps people to plan for the end of life and, when the time comes, to let go. She says that while we’re conditioned to fear death, thinking and talking about it is instrumental to creating meaningful lives.
“When I’m thinking about my death, I’m thinking about my life very clearly: … What I value, who I care about, how I’m spending my time,” Arthur says. “And all these things allow us to reach the end of our lives gracefully, so that we can die without the fear and the concerns and the worries that many people carry.”
Before becoming a death doula, Arthur worked as attorney — a job she hated. Unhappy and depressed, she took a trip to Cuba where she met a fellow traveler who had terminal uterine cancer. Talking to the woman about death, Arthur realized she needed to make a change.
“Up until then, I was just kind of waiting for my life to write itself without taking any action to make it so,” she says. “Thinking about my mortality, about my death, really created action.”
Arthur went on to found Going with Grace, an organization that supports people as they plan for the end of their lives. She says a big part of her work is helping people deal with regret as they reconcile the lives they lived with the lives they might have wanted.
“When folks are grappling with the choices that they’ve made, my role is to be there with them,” she says. “Sometimes the greatest gift that we can offer is grace. … Part of the reason why I named the business ‘Going with Grace’ is because of the grace that needs to be present at the end of life, for people to be able to let go of it.”
Arthur’s new book is Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End.
Interview highlights
On the death of her brother in law, Peter, in 2013
It was the first time I was really faced with this reality that the people that we love might not be here for much longer. It felt really isolating. I knew intellectually that there were a lot of other people that were ill and getting close to … the end of their lives, but it felt like we were the only ones that felt like we were on this little cancer planet by ourselves, where somebody we loved will soon be dying. And there wasn’t some one person that I could turn to to say, “Help! Just help. I’m lost here,” or “Today’s really hard,” or “How do we navigate this?” Or “What do we do with all these medications?” “Where can we find smaller sized hospital gowns that will arrive, like in the next days?” (Because he was losing weight so rapidly) We just needed some help and I mean, practically, but also just somebody to be there to listen, to rely upon, somebody that I could lean on as other people were leaning on me. …
Many people have already served as death doulas for somebody in their family, and most of us will at some point. Which is why I think it’s so important that we all have a functional death literacy, because we live in community. We die in community. At some point, a member of that community is going to need the support. So many of us are going to do it and already have. That’s how I learned how to do it is through Peter. I took courses afterwards, but that was the initial spark, the initial practical application of the work itself.
On facing grief
The thing about grief is whether or not you want to face it, it’s going to find its way through. Either we don’t acknowledge it emotionally, and it manifests itself in work, or our relationships, or addiction or some other traumatic event, or it shows up in our bodies as illness. But grief is present. Grief lives in the body and it must be accessed at some point. It will force its way. I think that since we push so many of our sad or difficult emotions away, we don’t allow space for grief because it is difficult. But I don’t yet know anybody who has died from grieving. It’s hard, and yet there is always another day, provided we choose the next day.
On the importance of talking to your medical proxy
The first thing I encourage people to do is to think about the person who will make the decisions for them in the event that they can’t. That is a health care proxy or a medical power of attorney, or just somebody whose job it is to make your decisions. Somebody who would make decisions the way that you would. Not the way that they would, not the things that they want for you, but rather what you would want for yourself. And to begin communicating those desires to your health care proxy, because the communication of that desire is going to open up a beautiful, rich conversation about what you want with your life, how you want your life to eventually end, if that is the way that it’s going, and then get you started on the path toward planning for it.
On how not talking about death openly leads to fear and anxiety
I think a lot of the old way of thinking is largely responsible for the death phobia that we currently experience in today’s culture and society … where we pretend it’s not happening, where bodies are whisked away to funeral homes just moments after the death has occurred. We don’t take time with the body. We don’t take time to talk about death. We pretend it’s not happening until it’s too late. That death phobia has caused a real crisis, I think, in this country and in the West overall, where we are living out of relationship with nature and with our mortality, which is ultimately a detriment to us as a culture, but also to us as individuals.
On helping people who are at their worst
People are most human when they are dying. They are at their fullest. That means their best and their worst. I think as people are approaching the end, they are grieving as well. They are grieving their own death. They are grieving all the things that they’re going to leave. I think we often forget that when somebody in our lives is dying, we are losing them, but they are losing everything and everyone and leaving the only place that they’ve known consciously. And so that brings about a lot of emotion, and some of it is anger and frustration. And sometimes disease causes personality changes. Sometimes there is some vitriol and sometimes it’s just really not pretty. … If we can be present for their experience, which often is rooted in fear, then I think it allows us to not take it so personally and to give them some grace for what it is that they are experiencing.
On advice for caregivers
Give yourself plenty of grace. You, I’m sure, are doing amazing because this is really, really hard. … I wish somebody had said that to me at various points. … Next, I’d also encourage that people try to take a minute to check in with their bodies and take care of their bodies’ needs. Make sure that you’re eating to the best that you can … find pockets of rest where you can. To the extent that you can, speak your needs and let somebody else support you in it. If you have a need, no matter how small it might be, speak it and open the space for somebody to support you in it. And I’d also say reach out for some support if you can, not only to a friend … but there are plenty of doulas that are willing to support their community members at a free or reduced cost, maybe even a sliding scale. Reach out. There are plenty of resources that are available, but most importantly, if you hear nothing else, please just give yourself some grace for the process. It’s tough.
On advice for the moment you sit with a loved one during their death
Do your best to stay present. Do your best to stay in your body. It can be so confronting that the desire, the urge to disassociate or to distract is huge. And yet, if there’s somebody that you loved and cared for, if you could hold thoughts of love and care and honor and gratitude for their lives, that’s a really beautiful way to be during that time. And also, as always, give yourself plenty of grace for however it is that you’re approaching it. If there is somebody in the room that is having a bigger emotional reaction, ask for their consent before touching or interrupting it or being with it in any way. And not everybody who is crying wants the tears to stop, or needs a tissue to plug them up, or wants a hug. Maybe they want to stay present in their bodies without the imposition as well. … It’s utterly profound. Getting to witness the doorway to existence is a gift and a privilege and a huge honor. And so hopefully we can continue to treat it as such.
Sam Briger and Thea Chaloner produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
Lifestyle
Dreaming about vacation? Consider a beautiful pair of sunglasses
What is a dream if not a vacation for the mind? To get lost in a reverie is a momentary respite from the prison of the possible — a chance to experience the impossible for a second. If you can’t change your surroundings, you can at least change your perception of them. Vacations are dreams where you actually can change your surroundings. They’re fantasies of how you might live if you were a different person, with a different life and different priorities. A whirlwind romance, a chance meeting that could change your career prospects, a series of awful wardrobe choices that fortunately none of your friends or colleagues will ever see. It’s all possible on vacation. The greatest luxury of a vacation is the right to reinvent yourself, to see the world differently. And there’s no better way to see the world differently than through a beautiful pair of sunglasses.
Nikola wears Cartier Signature Cs; Kenzo rose fitted shirt in faded pink mesh polyamide; rose turtleneck top in faded pink mesh polyamide; kitten heel in leather covered by faded pink Kenzo rose printed textile.
Swap wears wears Cartier Signature Cs; Amiri men’s floral beaded sweater vest; men’s covered sequin layered shorts; Saint Laurent shoes from Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills.
I own at least a dozen pairs, of varying cost and quality — Gucci, l.a. Eyeworks, Persol, Garrett Leight and maybe one or two from the bin at CVS. But if I were to imagine the ideal vacation, I’d wish for these Cartier Signature C sunglasses to fall out of the sky and into my lap. A striking pair of sunglasses recontextualizes your entire face, hiding your eyes and wrapping you in a sense of mystery that otherwise wouldn’t be there on your same old lumpy visage. They also shroud the environment around you in a smoky haze, making everything you see more dramatic.
The Cartier Signature Cs are rimless and come in a variety of colors, with my personal pick being the green lenses. So your vacation is going to be kind of green most of the time. But that revision of the natural is what dreams are all about. Real dreams don’t usually take place in normal colors. They’re black and white or red or blue tinted. The gold finish on the temples is what justifies the exorbitant price tag and commands attention. There’s a gentle curve to the bridge at the front of the frames and what almost looks like horseshoes on the hinges that connect the temples to the lenses. In all dreams, there’s a bit of whimsy.
Trying on the Signature Cs is an experience unto itself. Cartier’s store is one big fantasy world, filled with objects most people can’t afford but lust after. It’s a favorite of the famous and the would-be famous. Seeing Timothée Chalamet in a Cartier Crash watch recently made me want to sell all my plasma just to afford a knockoff. Tom Cruise wore a pair of Cartier aviators in the latest “Mission: Impossible” film, and Michael Douglas wore a showstopping pair as the loathsome Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street.” Larger-than-life shades for larger-than-life characters. The Cartier store is as lofty as the celebrities that wear their goods, intimidating to a normal human being like me. I tried on the Signature Cs and immediately wanted to take them off. Not only did I not want to break them and be on the hook for more than a grand in product but I also just didn’t feel like I should be wearing them. More so than even the fancier frames I own, this felt like fighting above my weight class. I shuffled out as soon as possible.
For most, sunglasses are a disposable item — something to lose on a long flight or sit on by accident. My girlfriend has gone through more than a few pairs in the two years we’ve been together. It’s what keeps most people from investing in a pair of luxury sunglasses. They can’t be investment pieces, because they are sure to vanish eventually. This is why I dream about the Signature Cs. I can’t think of anything more luxurious than taking something disposable and elevating it; to be so rich and fancy that something people accidentally drop in a sewer drain or leave in a hotel bathroom while on vacation can cost $1,200.
Nikola wears wears Cartier Signature Cs; Courrèges textured vinyl crop jacket; vinyl re-edition mini-skirt; Ferragamo Shoes from Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills.
Swap wears Cartier Signature Cs; Amiri men’s floral beaded sweater vest; men’s covered sequin layered shortsfrom Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills.
In the grand vacation of my dreams, I’m by the pool most of the day. Everyone I meet flashes a smile at me because I’m so interesting. My incredible, rare sunglasses are making people stop and do a double-take, wondering if I’m some kind of celebrity or visiting dignitary. I’m just a regular guy on holiday, but they don’t have to know that. Martinis magically appear in my hand every few minutes, but I’m never sick. For some reason, the rice balls at Capri Club are the only food on offer, but I’m not even in Eagle Rock. Everything I want is there, and everyone wants me there.
But why is it that we dream in broad daylight? What makes us yearn for something more than what is there in front of us, especially here, in L.A., of all places? For decades, people have been coming to Los Angeles to chase their dreams. As a great woman once said, “We come to this place for magic.” You hope that in L.A. you will be discovered, respected, elevated and understood. For most, that doesn’t happen, or it does on a much smaller scale than what they imagined. And not everyone’s dreams are the same, of course, though I suppose you could say most of them involve being rich. Even if you don’t explicitly want to be rich, the natural byproduct of success in the entertainment industry.
Swap wears Cartier Signature Cs and Simone Rocha RTW Spring 2024 shirt, pants from Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills.
Nikola wears Cartier Signature Cs; Givenchy RTW Spring ‘24; Rabanne jupe fringe trim mini-skirt; tweed fringe trim cropped tank top; Bottega Veneta shoes from Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills.
The reality of life here, the necessity of survival, and the limits of one’s ambition chip away at the dream day by day. Paying your ever-increasing rent, bowing to the whims of trillion-dollar conglomerates that see your work as merely a line on a spreadsheet, and boy, how about that traffic? Eventually, you roll your eyes when people talk about how hard it is to live in L.A., because you’re doing it. It’s not a dream, it’s reality. So, what does one do when they live in the Dream Factory (or, Dream Factory-Adjacent, if you are trying to save money)? They leave.
Vacations are a thing not everyone can afford. Just the act of picking up and escaping the city is itself a luxury. A pair of sunglasses, even modest ones, can connect the wearer to the feeling of being in paradise. That paradise might be Van Nuys, but that’s all connected to perception. How you look at a strip mall or a gas station defines what it is and what it means. Maybe you can’t stand eating the same food or looking at the same faces every day, but have you considered that here, in L.A., you are living a version of the dream that brought you here? Maybe you can’t afford sunglasses that cost $1,200 (you probably can’t), but you can always find a new way to see the world. And that’s actually free.
Producer: Mere Studios
Models: Nikola Bogdanovich, Swap
MUA: Carla Perez
Hair: Adrian Arredondo
Photo assistant: Sadie Spezzano
Lighting design: Ethan Benavidez
Styling assistant: Izzy Huynh
Lifestyle
An immersive museum in Kansas City allows kids to explore their favorite books
Katie Currid for NPR
In children’s museums around the country, there are a lot of similar exhibits: the water exploration table, the kid-sized grocery store, the colorful jungle gym. But at The Rabbit hOle, an innovative and immersive museum dedicated to children’s literature that opened on March 12 in North Kansas City, Mo., you won’t find those things, which is exactly what co-founder Pete Cowdin intended.
“There’s so much repetition, there’s so much sameness, because most of the exhibits and most of the museums around the country for children are built by a handful of design companies,” Cowdin says. “All those things are fine, but I do think that there’s room for a different kind of experience.”
Cowdin co-founded The Rabbit hOle with his wife, Deb Pettid, after years as booksellers and owners of a beloved Kansas City children’s bookstore, the Reading Reptile. Now, the two are leading a revolutionary space in a 150,000-square-foot former warehouse, employing over 20 full-time artists and fabricators to bring children’s books to life in interactive exhibits.
Katie Currid for NPR
Katie Currid for NPR
“We want to bring more critical culture to children’s literature,” Cowdin says, “not in a way to tear it down, but to call up the things that are actually taking away from the art of picture book making or the art of creating literature for young people.”
The museum has the rights to over 70 works from the last century of children’s literature, and works with the writers and illustrators or the estates of those books to bring them to life in unique and interactive exhibits. The museum features exhibits based on well-known children’s classics like Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, Curious George by H.A. and Margret Rey, Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, and, perhaps most popular, a recreation of the actual room from Goodnight Moon, the book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd, where children and adults alike can explore the great green room.
Katie Currid for NPR
Katie Currid for NPR
But the museum also features lesser-known children’s books, such as Perez and Martina, a story based on a Puerto Rican folk tale by Pura Belpré and illustrated by Carlos Sanchez, or Uptown, by the late John Steptoe, which brings a storefront from Harlem to life, created in collaboration with Steptoe’s children.
“It’s our mission to inspire the reading lives of children and adults,” says Emily Hane, The Rabbit hOle’s development and grant manager. “We want to be a place where kids can really discover the types of stories that they like that they’ve maybe never been exposed to before — whether it’s because they’ve never seen a picture book with a kid who looks like them, or heard cultural stories that might resonate with their own household.”
Katie Currid for NPR
In the museum, patrons enter through a burrow and rabbit hole, and can play in the kitchen from Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal, or take a nap against the tree from Esphyr Slobodkina’s Caps for Sale. They can then pick up the book the exhibit inspired and enjoy the pages they’ve seen brought to life. Cowdin says kids are really the leaders in the space.
“We’re not telling parents and children how to use the space and what they should [do], we’re asking them to explore, and to find the books that are there and to find the exhibits and to experience exhibits and then to come together again around the book to read the book,” says Cowdin. “The whole goal of the project is to bring young people — but also parents and educators — closer to the story.”
The museum was inspired by places like the City Museum in St. Louis or art installation Meow Wolf, which make art-forward spaces that don’t have a “right” or “wrong” way to interact with the exhibits.
Katie Currid for NPR
Katie Currid for NPR
“If all we did was make a beautiful place for children, it would be rare, honestly,” says Cowdin. “We’ve done more than that and we’ll continue to build on that.”
On top of the book exhibits, The Rabbit hOle also features a bookstore and will soon host author talks and open a room for making crafts based on the museum’s exhibits. The museum also has plans to open a resource library for educators and scholars, and will also have rotating exhibit spaces and a story and print lab, with room to host residencies for authors and illustrators.
“Whenever you’re talking about children’s culture, there is this [idea of], ‘Oh, it’s good enough. It’s for kids, you know, just make it cheap. They don’t really deserve anything beautiful’,” says Hane. “And that’s the exact opposite of how The Rabbit hOle feels. We believe that kids deserve something beautiful. Yeah, it’s going to be durable. Yeah, we’re going to be able to sterilize it and clean it and everything. But just because it’s for children, doesn’t mean it is a lesser art form.”
Katie Currid for NPR
Katie Currid for NPR
Katie Currid is a photographer based in Kansas City.
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