In this the month of all things bright and beautiful, WAG sets out to scintillate with some of the most dazzling people, places and things of 2012.
To dazzle – which comes from the word “daze” – doesn’t always have the best of connotations, as you’ll see in our by now signature introductory essay. There’s a little larceny at the heart of the word.
Yet there’s no deception in our dazzlers. Though they are capable of show-stopping artifice, buoyed by spectacular technique, they are at the core people of quality whose art comes from the heart. Perhaps no one better crystallizes this than our cover subject, Donna Karan, whose clothes can slink or sizzle but whose work today also focuses on the Urban Zen Center and paying tribute to sculptor Stephan Weiss, the late husband who was her business partner, rock and soul mate. As Karan tells Zoë Zellers, “There’s too much ego in the world, and it gets in the way of giving back and making a difference.”
That selfless spirit pervades our baker’s dozen of dazzlers – actors, athletes and activists who understand that what really shines comes from within. They are people like Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who stood up to the Taliban and risked death in her quest for women’s education and self-determination. What magnificent courage. That’s dazzle.
Of course, being WAG, we have to have our fling with bling, too. Yet even here, the experts will tell you that all that’s gold doesn’t glitter. As Greenwich jeweler Sorab Bouzarjomehri of Sorab & Roshi shares with Patricia Espinosa, “If someone comes into my store and asks how many pennyweights of gold is in here, you’re not my customer. You don’t go into a gallery and ask how many gallons of paint are in this painting. It’s irrelevant to what the art is.”
Port Chester-based jewelry historian Elyse Karlin would agree, revealing to Mary Shustack: “I’ve seen collections of costume jewelry that are so fabulous you could pass out.”
In the end, it’s the love that you bring to the challenge at hand – be it a performance or a pair of earrings – that makes someone or something truly dazzling.
Speaking of which, I have the pleasure of introducing Wagger Andrea Kennedy, a West Coast transplant who has a way with words and a style all her own. This month she plumbs the incandescence of some sparkling gowns, along with that of gorgeous New York Rangers’ goalie (and fashionable man about town) Henrik Lundqvist.
Welcome, Andrea.
And on behalf of her and the rest of our beloved WAG staff, I wish you a dazzling season.
