Poetry Everywhere | Tony Kushner Reads Whitman

In celebration of National Poetry Month in April, PBS plans to sprinkle 32 short poetry films (like this one of Tony Kushner reading Whitman’s “Passage to India” from Leaves of Grass) throughout its April broadcast schedule. If your heart cries out for less random poetic treats with Garrison Keillor intros, there’s always the new iPhone app and YouTube.

Hats, Beer, SX-70 Land Cam Polaroids...

This is what happens when you shoot tipsy people with hats and weapons with a leather SX-70 Land Camera filled with expired film: amazing greenish, faded photos of tipsy people with hats and weapons!

Our mom’s 1960s Italian ceramic pouf – a reader found its exact twin on 1stdibs!

Andre Salyer, the SX70 owner and photographer of all images but this one.

Hat Tricks at the Peabody Museum

I love headgear. To a sickening degree. So, I got a little pain in my stomach this morning when a reader sent me a photo of an incredible Samurai helmet from Harvard's Peabody Museum that looked like it would work just as well for polo matches as it would to dodge swords. So, I went to the Peabody site, explored the great (albeit short on words) online collections and the jealousy washed over me. Here are some of my favorites - many of which, with tweaks, would look great today (ok, the Tlingit wooden helmet above, is probably best left on the wall).

Wooden hat made by Ifugao hat maker after seeing American army hat.

Plantain Fiber Fighting Turban

Grass caps

Quilted pith helmet originally belonging to F.J. Gillen

Hat, northwest coast

Samurai helmet mentioned above

Apache buckskin cap

Braided hat

Shallow Plantain Fiber Hat, Collected in 1940

Kayan straw hat

Wicker hat

Knitted grey pullover mask

Coiled weave hat

Grass Cap

Netted Cap, Caraya Indians

Peabody Museum

Harvard University

11 Divinity Avenue

Cambridge, Mass.

Wedding at Belmont Free Church, Surrey, 1931

Groom and groomsmen in scouting uniforms! From the Sutton Archives.

The Society at Vicky + Lysander's

Last night, a few key members of the The Society allowed themselves to be hosted by Vicky & Lysander, one of New York's key faux power couples (actors) who love trust funds as much as they love their good friend Tinsley Mortimer (never met her). Porter was on photo duty, while I sat the table in the temporary dining room at the Lower East Side storefront (Grand Opening, 139 Norfolk Street).

We rented the petal plates, the flatware and glass from the great Party Rental Ltd. and I filled the center of the table with collard greens, artichokes and purple cabbage candle holders (just cut off the bottom, tie some twine around and use an apple corer to make the hole). Leif Sigersen, Helena Christensen’s friend and Butik co-owner did this cabbage thing for a dinner party featured in a magazine years ago and I’ve always loved it.

We ate food from Mama's Food Shop and drank Zacapa rum neat.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

JFK and Caroline, St. Patrick's Day at the White House, March 17, 1961

Photo by Paul Schutzer for LIFE Magazine.

The Louvins - In Color!

Go Jayhawks!

March Madness starts Tuesday. Get those brackets ready!

(If history means anything: the first college basketball team, Kansas, 1899 with Coach Naismith, the man who invented the game).

HHH Shopping Guide | Military Cheap

RDD USA, one of my favorite sources, helps soldiers and citizens dress for pennies. While the average size of a U.S. Navy Seal is something like 5'7", soldiers in Sweden are all apparently around 8'7" with broad shoulders (I really wish I knew more Swedish soldiers), so err on the small side when ordering. It can be hit or miss, but that's ok when you get a great jacket for around $10.

{1} Military Russian Tank Top Telnyashka Type G.I, $15.90

{2} Italian web cotton belt, $5.90

{3} Swedish OD Work Jacket (used), $10.90

{4} French Wool V-Neck, $8.90

{5} Swedish OD Work Jacket, $10.90

{6} Swedish Off-White Parka, $13.90

Lovely Louis (Vuitton)

Betty Drapers and Hitchcock ladies should be quite pleased that Marc Jacobs has given them a whole new litany of ways to expand their wardrobes next fall. Check it out.

24-Hours in Miami

It's quite nice when business takes you to a tropical paradise. I'm just back from 24 hours in Miami. While most of the time was spent inside the convention center, I got up early to breakfast at the The Viceroy (just around the corner from my hotel) and then popped to The Delano on Collins Ave. and the beach for about 20 minutes on the way to the airport. (Above: the beach behind the Delano).

The Delano's back garden leading to the pool.

Entrance at the Delano.

My Dries van Noten carry-on and Tom's.

The restaurant at the Viceroy

The view from the Viceroy pool.

Outdoor drinking space at the Viceroy

The Viceroy's tiny infinity pool

Tufted booths at the Viceroy

Friday Flicks | Leisure Time in Yalta

Yalta: Home to the Big Three conference in '45 and a whole lot of beauty. Makes the idea of a Soviet sanitarium seem quite lovely, frankly.

HHH Shopping Guide | If You, Too, Painted Your Apartment Baby Blue

It's amazing how a fresh paint job and a little furniture scooting can open the mind to a whole new plethora of purchases. Here are a few that might be a teeny, tiny bit more practical than a Céline bag (albeit not that practical or remotely necessary at all):

{1} Quiet Monkey Decoupage Tray, John Derian, $175

{2} WM Hocker makes the most exquisitely fun toy soldiers. Here’s a 12-piece Anglo-Indian Polo Match for $320

{3} Wool and cashmere pillow, Hermès, $580

{4} I’ve just requested a sample of this Capetown Antelope carpet from Myers Carpet and Flooring in Dalton, Georgia. It’s $43.93/square yard and they’ll make it into a rug. You buy the full width (13’2”) and go as long as you can fit and/or afford, I suppose.

{5} In the absence of doors for my bedroom: Deep Sea Curtain by Thomas Paul, Anthropologie, $208-$268 per panel

Céline | Accessories for Home...and Woman

I say this on here quite often, but when I buy a bag, I want it to match....my apartment. When I pack for a trip or come home from work, I want to set down my little tote, duffle or clutch and have it fit seamlessly into the room. Since I generally limit myself to a uniform of a black Gap long-sleeved My Favorite T, skinny black cords and ballet flats, matching an outfit is of no consequence. All four of these beauties from Céline (which has been so stinkingly fantastic since Phoebe Philo took over) would look perfect on the ole Chesterfield...or on the chrome/leather moiret/chairs or in my bedroom. Time to start saving. (Above: my favorite from the Resort 2010 collection).

Spring 2010

Spring 2010

Fall 2010

The Big Spring Clean | The Metamorphosis Revealed

We not only spiffed, we covered those black walls with Benjamin Moore’s Aura in Warm Springs #682 and the moldings in Glidden’s Bone White semi-gloss. It’s like living inside a slightly lighter version of a Tiffany box (if Tiffany boxes were also lined in that iconic blue).

Our chrome, silk moiret and leather chairs now hover around our mom's old ceramic Moroccan (oops - Italian!) pouf on the zebra skin rug.

The chesterfield sofa, which had been the great room divider, now sits against the eastern wall beneath the big Venetian mirror, four of my Scottish military prints, two vintage pith helmets and Cormac, the highland bull.

The new "office"

We clustered three of the heads so they'd have company over the desk (which had been oddly housed in the dining room) and replaced the $7 painting of a priest with a portrait of a man with pipe and ascot painted in England in 1947 (an Ebay purchase from about a year ago).

The old "office" now transformed into a drinks station right off the dining room table - an utterly more logical use of space. We added our should've-died-years-ago-given-how-we-treat-them palm trees and the circa-1910 falcon chart we found in an old bookshop in Prague.

(Photos by Porter Hovey)