What Your Hat Says About You
Plus: flying cars, much ado over a Rolex sign, and Aerin Lauder's favorite thrift shop.
The Pivotal Helix, a “personal aircraft” that starts at $190,000 and does not require a license, is invading The Hamptons. What could go wrong?
The Palo Alto-based Pivotal is doing a public demonstration of its one-person flying cars in the Shagwog Marina area through Saturday. In a promotional video, a Pivotal rep described driving as boring, and said, “If you want to see The Hamptons in a whole new way and really dial it in, this is the way to do it.” If you put down a deposit for a Helix, you can be trained in flying it in just “a few days.”Jenny Landey, a Sotheby’s real estate agent known for representing some of The Hamptons’ most elegant properties, has already expressed her disdain, posting to Instagram, “This cannot be legal outside my house?” I’ll pop down to Shagwog today to check it out.
In today’s free newsletter, a guide to East End hat symbology, a kerfuffle over a Rolex watch sign in East Hampton Village, and Aerin Lauder’s Hamptons Ten.
Watch This Space
Is a Rolex watch face looming above Newtown Lane OK? At an East Hampton Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on July 10, a gentle skirmish erupted over acceptable signage in the village. A lawyer associated with 28 Newtown Lane, a historic building that currently houses a Rolex boutique, argued that it should be allowed to construct a discreet-ish archway with a watch face in front of Odd Fellows Hall.
Signs in the commercial area of East Hampton Village are highly regulated; they can only be 8 feet tall, with one per lot, and must clear the Design Review Board. The proposed Rolex sign/symbol is a watch face on a (10-11 foot-tall) slim archway. The London Jewelers-run Rolex boutique is in a gray-shingled historic landmark by Joseph Greenleaf Thorpe, who also designed Grey Gardens and Calvin Klein’s former estate—currently on the market for $165 million. When it was a Chanel pop-up store a few years back, an influencer told me, ““If you don’t take a selfie in front of the little Chanel boutique house-looking store, then I’m not sure if you even went to the Hamptons.”
Jameson McWilliams, an attorney speaking on behalf of London Jewelers patriarch Mark Udell, said she notified close to 70 neighbors about the variance: “We got a lot of phone calls but we didn’t get anything negative in writing,” she said. James McMullan, the board’s vice chairman, pushed back, saying, “This creates that undesirable look. It will block the view of a historical landmark building. The applicant could achieve this by another method.” The historic preservation committee will be consulted as Greenleaf Thorpe shudders in his grave. (He’s buried in Montclair, NJ.)
A Very Aerin Hamptons Ten
Aerin Lauder, granddaughter of Estée Lauder and founder of lifestyle company Aerin, has been a Hamptons fixture her entire life. She lives in a Greek Revival house in Wainscott she inherited from her cosmetics-queen grandmother, with much of it preserved in the just-so style of Estée (to the point that a guest once smoked a pungent vintage cigar that belonged to her grandfather). Today, Aerin has her own East Hampton store (a stone’s throw from the Rolex boutique mentioned above) that sells everything from candles inspired by her garden to the mahjong sets every Hamptonite is clamoring to buy these days. Lauder is the latest tastemaker, after Katie Couric, Jenna Lyons, Andy Cohen, Isaac Mizrahi, and more, to answer THC’s signature questionnaire.
Describe your perfect Hamptons day.
A day at the beach with a good book
What’s your favorite spot for a drink?
The Hedges Inn
What’s your secret shopping spot?
The ARF Thrift & Treasure Shop
Who would you love to bump into at the farmer’s market?
Ina Garten
What’s your main gripe about the Hamptons?
Traffic
What would be your dream dinner: spot, order, company?
Duryea’s with my two sons and my husband. I would order a lobster roll with French fries and a glass of rosé.
Where do you go in the Hamptons to be alone?
The beach
Who makes the best lobster roll?
Duryea’s
What’s the perfect book to read in the Hamptons?
Strangers by Belle Burden
Who should fill out this questionnaire next?
Christy Turlington
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The hat analysis is perfection.
Splendid index. As a birder, the idea of unrefined pyrotechnics terrifying the piping plovers is high comedy.