Town and Country

Cover story

Photo by Douglas Friedman

A secret pass to the island where the rich, royal and rockstar roam. There I met Tiqui Attencio, who has has a place on the island since 1974, during the heyday, when she and Mick and Jerry would take the motorboat to Bequia for pizza and party at the Cotton House. While there I observed the lives of the rich in their natural habitat, trying not to disturb them. It was a momentous experience. Unforgettable. And Tiqui is truly fabulous.

Avenue Magazine

Every now and then as a freelance writer you are pitched by editors about a subject and have to write what I call a “Fake Trendpiece”. This is one of those articles, about how rich parents are making efforts to keep their kids from being little assholes. It’s possibly happening, but it isnt a huge movement underfoot that is changing society. To write these, you just have to find three people who are doing it and then bolster your premise with a few statistics. Remember that next time you read about some new cool trend. The benefit was talking with Rosalind Wiseman, author of the landmark book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence (the basis for Mean Girls). She was amazing.

Town and Country

photo by Douglas Friedman

I went to meet Tommy Hilfiger and his wife Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger in their newly renovated mansion Coral House on Billionaires Row, a half mile from Mar a Lago, in August of 2024 with 300 dollars in my checking account.

Town and Country

America’s true national pasttime — trying to get into the club you weren’t invited to

Avenue Magazine

Anna Pei is architect legend I.M. Pei’s grand daughter. Their close relationship steers her life calling: archival work and the preservation of memory.

photo by Matthew Avignone

Town and Country

How the Pope of Trash became a national treasure. A profile of John Waters.

photos by Douglas Friedman

Gawker

The New York Times

A look at the Moma Design Store, where art and commerce blur so fully that people walk around observing product like art and art like product.

The New York Times

A retail review of the Hollister store.

Buzzfeed

An easy to read map of how a town goes from derelict to deluxe. Written with Amanda Duarte.

The New York Times

“Fourteen years ago these clothes would have been incomprehensible to me. If I had walked in, listening to Letters to Cleo on my portable CD player, I would have reacted like a cave man who, hurtled through time, had come across a microwave and was dumbfounded. “Wha? $135 for T-shirt? Me no understand.”

photo by Hiroko Masuike

Out magazine

An interview with Abbi Jacobsen and Ilana Glazer at the peak of Broad City’s rise into the comedy canon. We met at the St Regis hotel. It was early in the morning. Like any celebrity at the dawn of notoriety, they had green juices and chia parfaits and were tired. But they were both super nice as the fame cloud was rolling over their heads.

Town and Country

How Spiritual Snobs became the new One Percent

Town and Country

How to speak, act, and shop like a cryptocrat—even if you have no idea what a blockchain is.

American Theater

A review of four books on performing solo work and monologues.

American Theater

A triple-book review of biographies about three leading lady legends of the stage: Julie Andrews, Ethel Merman, and Mary Martin. A joy of an assignment!

Glow Magazine

There was this weird streak of work I had where I was interviewing a lot of models. At the height of her pay grade, I met Daria Werbowy for a moment during her photoshoot. Her agent was really angry I mentioned her (then don't talk so loudly around me!).

Paper Magazine

I interviewed Mariah for Paper Magazine. I met her at the photo shoot and then later talked to her on the phone, while she was in a bath. Reader, I loved her. She is your genuine Long Island girlfriend who became a diva -- funny, honest, real, fabulous.

Glow Magazine

Glow is like the Canadian Allure magazine. One summer, I spoke to Ms. Klum on the phone. I had just discovered Buddhism and meditation and was predictably high off my first discovery of the practice. I asked Heidi if she had a spiritual practice. “No,” she answered. “I just like to sit on the couch and watch TV with my kids.”

InStyle Magazine

Right before the end of the time when magazines had expense accounts and hired freelancers to write cover stories and send them places, I traveled to Vancouver to interview Ms. Deschanel at the peak of her New Girl fame and She & Him buzz. She was very kind. I asked where she lived. She said, politely: “Oh I can’t tell you that. If it gets in any press I will have stalkers.”