I LOVE NICE THINGS.

“Billy Baldwin had a tremendous influence on me,” Mica Ertegün says of the pioneering midcentury interior designer. Ertegün, who cofounded her New York firm, MAC II, with the late Chessy Rayner in 1967, traces the earliest incarnation of her simple, “though not minimalist,” style to Baldwin. She describes his work as “very clean-looking, not cluttered, with very straight lines,” lacking the fussiness of his era and instead being far more modern than anything else happening at the time. These days, when seeking inspiration for her own clean-lined and understated interiors, which she fills with a rigorously chosen assortment of art and antiques, the Romanian-born designer and her staff of 11 turn to myriad sources. Mica Ertegün 212-249-4466 Although she eschews trends, believing instead “that the basic taste never changes,” Ertegün does keep an eye on recent developments in the field. She often finds that new products, be they wall finishes or building materials, can shape her vision on...

In the real world, Hello Kitty was born in Japan in 1974, when a young Tokyo-based company called  Sanrio  asked designer Ikuko Shimizu to invent a cartoon animal who would appeal to the preteen girl in everyone. Sanrio, which already had a bear and a dog (and, curiously, a strawberry) in its growing cast of characters, needed the new critter to decorate a plastic coin purse it was planning to produce. Shimizu "wanted to create a cat that was kittenish for sure," author Marie Y. Moss writes in the  book   Hello Kitty Hello Everything , "but one that would certainly prefer a catnap to catnip." And so the designer drafted a white cat wearing a red bow and blue overalls. On November 1, 1974, Sanrio introduced the first picture of Hello Kitty. She sat between a bottle of milk and a pet goldfish, and had turned her head sideways to face her newfound friends. In a word: cute. Or more accurately,  kawaii , the distinctively Japanese breed of cuteness that injects ad...

Flip through the "inspiration" file that every designer keeps, and at some point you will find a picture of C.Z. Guest. Debutante, showgirl (briefly), model (painted nude by Diego Rivera), socialite, gardener, intimate of artists and writers; Guest had the kind of life that seems fiction, and the perfect patrician looks to illustrate it. She wore her designer clothes with thoroughbred elegance, keeping to simple lines, rich fabrics, and soft colors to suit her cool complexion. But perhaps what drew creative types to her most was Guest's down-to-earth personality, exemplified by her recent advice to would-be gardeners visiting her web site, "The most important thing is to enjoy yourself and have a good time."

Anna Wintour is the daughter of Charles Wintour, former Editor of the Evening Standard. She started her career in 1970, working in the fashion department at Harpers & Queen in London. Six years later, she joined its sister New York publication Harper's Bazaar as its Fashion Editor. After a stint as Senior Editor at New York magazine, controlling the title's fashion and lifestyle coverage, Wintour was named Creative Director of American Vogue in 1983. British Vogue hired her back as Editor in Chief for two years. In 1988, she rejoined American Vogue as Editor-in-Chief and in that capacity, has helped raise over $10 million for AIDS charities since 1990. Like her image, Wintour's daily regime is legendary. Now based in Manhattan, she wakes up at 5:45am every morning, plays tennis for an hour before being professionally made-up, coiffed and chauffeured to the offices of American Vogue. Though one of New York's most prolific party throwers, she never stays at any one e...