CONTENTS

The Spring Style Issue

102 A LASTING LEGACY Following in the footsteps of her mother, the late Nina Griscom , Lily Baker Hottensen models spring looks for our annual photo shoot in the Dior Suite at the iconic St. Regis Hotel New York. produced & Written by Brooke Kelly Murray, Photographed by Julie Skarratt

114 THE SIGNATURE REDS OF MAISON VALENTINO Assouline’s Valentino Rosso is a sweeping celebration of the Italian Maison’s relationship with the color red —s panning the eras of Valentino Garavani to the current creative director. by Jared Brill

120 QUEST STYLE Some of the greatest fashion moments from our favorite arbiters of chic. by Elizabeth Meigher

126 DESIGNER REVELATIONS In her 70-year career as a fashion journalist, Marylou Luther has interviewed nearly everyone in the fashion world. Rizzoli’s new book, Be-Spoke: Revelations from the World’s Most Important Fashion Designers, features some of the witty quotes she collected. by Brooke Kelly Murray questmag.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

DAVID PATRICK C O LUMBIA

DEPUTY EDITOR

ELIZABETH MEIGHER

ART DIRECTOR/

PRODUCTION MANAGER

TYKISCHA JACOBS

SENIOR EDITOR

BROOKE KELLY MURRAY

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER

ROBERT BENDER

PHOTOGRAPHER-AT-LARGE

JULIE SKARRATT

SOCIETY EDITOR

HI LARY GEARY

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

HARRY BENSON

KATE GUBELMANN

TONY HALL

ALEX HITZ

ROBERT JANJIGIAN

RICHARD JOHNSON

KAREN KLOPP

JAMES MACGUIRE

HAVEN PELL

CHUCK PFEIFER

DAISY PRINCE

LIZ SMITH (R.I.P.)

TAKI THEODORACOPULOS

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

HARRY BENSON

CAPEHART PHOTOGRAPHY

BILLY FARRELL

MARY HILLIARD

CRISTINA MACAYA

CUTTY MCGILL

PATRICK MCMULLAN

NICK MELE

ANNIE WATT questmag.com

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LUWAY LU

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BOARD OF ADVISORS

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HOWARD LORBER

ANDREW SAUNDERS

WILLIAM LIE ZECKENDORF

© QUEST MEDIA, LLC 2023.

All rights reserved. Vol. 37, No 2.

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I WRITE TO you while winging my way south, via JetBlue in Seat 3C, from New York to Palm Beach. I can happily report that Manhattan’s streets look cleaner (aka: “safer”) and the restaurants, hotels, clubs and boutiques are overflowing with enthusiastic dinners, returning guests, loyal members and motivated $hopper$. In the face of surreal global politics and confused capital markets, this is indeed welcomed news. Yet, Caesar’s “Ides of March” still await us, dear readers; let us not become complacent until the Fat Man from Beijing sings his aria in Moscow.

With the lion of March now upon us, Quest is again publishing our Spring Style Issue, brimming with fancy frocks and affordable accessories. Our classically chic duo of Senior Editor Brooke Kelly Murray and Photographer-atLarge Julie Skarratt have brought us Lily Baker Hottensen, the stunning progeny of renowned surgeon Dr. Dan Baker and the late Nina Griscom, with whom then-supermodel Ms. Skarratt once posed at snappy events for the fashion rags and broadsheets. Using the sumptuous St. Regis Hotel as background for this cover story is equally cunning, as the original structure sprang from the vision (and pocketbook) of Colonel John Jacob Astor IV.

Not to be missed inside these pages is Contributor Jamie MacGuire’s incisive profile of New York’s legendary mayor, The Hon. Jimmy Walker - one of our beloved town’s most controversial and colorful politicos who held court at City Hall during the last Gilded Age. Just beyond this entertaining piece is a riveting interview that our keen Contributor Jayne Chase has conducted with prolific author Deborah Goodrich Royce on her new murder mystery titled Reef Road - centered around the very same Reef Road that our Palm Beach readers will geographically recognize as residing in the wildly popular (and populated!) North End.

I close with an emotional ying-yang of some sorrowful news, plus a promising announcement. We regretfully report that Quest’s founder, the indomitable Heather Cohane, passed away peacefully last week at her home in the South of France. Godspeeed, dear Heather; you were a canny and delightfully sharp-witted publisher who beat the odds in creating the journal which we are now gratefully reading. And from deep loss comes great gain, as we proudly share that joining Quest’s bevy of savvy contributors is Richard Johnson - the fabled columnist of New York’s most established tabloids. Richard’s deft prose dominated PAGE SIX for over a dozen years. He will be covering the ever expanding Palm Beach scene from his regular table at Swifty’s in the palatial Colony Hotel (conjure up Walter Winchell penning said column from his private perch at El Morocco!). Richard welcomes all readers’ inquiries and scoops via richardjohnson@ questmag.com. ...woke messages to the contrary. Onward strides Quest into March, with a decidedly quickened pace! ◆

Chris

Meigher

ON THE COVER: Lily Baker Hottensen wearing a gown by Oscar de la Renta and jewelry by Graff in the Dior Suite at The St. Regis Hotel New York. Photographed by Julie Skarratt.