I LOVE NICE THINGS.

The 1957 and 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham was the most expensive American car at the time. It was a styling masterpiece and a technological wonder. Virtually every comfort and luxury available at the time was included at no charge. These limited production cars weren't intended to make a profit for Cadillac, they were a declaration of Cadillac's superiority in the luxury car market. The Eldorado Brougham was Cadillac's supreme achievement in the late fifties and by virtue of their rarity, each one has been collectible from the moment it was built. There was no better statement of success in its day than arriving in a Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. Identification of the Eldorado Brougham is similar to that of other Cadillac vehicles of the era. A Body Name Plate is mounted in the engine compartment on the driver's side, directly behind the brake booster and on top of the heater plenum (near the heater and fresh air duct). The code numbers provided on this plate identify ...

The Only Way to Fly 1979 would be the third and final year for the mid-sized Thunderbird body style introduced in 1977. Sales would drop from their all-time high in 1978, but they were still in the top three for the line. The decision to take the Thunderbird down to a smaller size and a more affordable price was a good one, as this series had been the most popular ever, and after people had dreamed of owning one for years, this change finally made flying a Thunderbird a reality for many. Ford had advertised that when America needed a better idea, Ford would put it on wheels. In the case of the 1977-1979 Thunderbirds, it certainly did. There were a few changes for 1979, really just enough to allow people to notice they were seeing the latest model. Up front, the grille became bolder, consisting a series of four large rectangles across and down. This was a distinct appearance change from the previous two years, and allowed the '79 cars to stand out. In back, the full-width Thunderbir...

Vinyl Roof ($129.70)  (Standard on Crown Coupe) 488  Remote Trunk Release ($28.25) 570  Tilt-A-Scope Steering Wheel ($92.45) Air Conditioning ($452.25)  (Front only) 414  Air Conditioning ($636.15)  (Front and rear units) 413  Auto-Temp Front Air Conditioner       (Late production only)  ($493.45) 473  Auto-Pilot ($94.90) 452  Electric Door Locks ($46.50)  (Crown Coupe and      Convertible only) 452  Electric Door Locks ($70.70) 521  Tinted Glass ($52.70) 424  AM Search-Tune Radio with Front and Rear      Speakers, Power Antenna, and Floor Tuning      Switch ($165.45) 423  AM/FM Search-Tune Radio with Front and Rear      Speakers, Power Antenna, and Floor Tuning      Switch ($227.75) 428  AM/FM Stereo Multiplex Radio with Power Antenna      ...

Imperial received attractive styling updates for 1965. The front grille was sectioned into four parts, with a wide chrome band surrounding the grille. At the top of this band, Imperial was spelled out in lettering cast into the chrome. The chrome splitting the grille from top to bottom at the center was wider at the top, and tapered at the bottom. Another chrome bar split the grille horizontally, and ran between the new tempered glass head lamp covers, a new styling touch that was added to other Chrysler models as well. Fine horizontal lines were etched into the glass covers, giving them a nice detail. Even though the Imperial had been completely restyled the previous year, there were a couple of notable major changes for 1965. The push button transmission controls were replaced in 1965 with a shift lever mounted on the right side of the steering column, removing any concern the former controls may have provided to prospective customers. Advertising for 1965 continued to emphasize the ...

An Imperial in your driveway told the world you'd made it. It also told everyone that you were an individual, apart from the crowd. You made decisions based on what you knew was best, not because everyone else was doing it. Imperial owners were a rare breed. And perhaps that's why Imperials have always been so rare. It takes a special kind of person to appreciate the unique advantages of owning an Imperial. For Imperial was not like any other car in the land. And not being common should be a benefit of luxury car ownership. With most things, rarity equals exclusivity, and based on those terms, the Imperial was the luxury car to own because it was so rare. Why the 1974-1975 Imperials weren't a big hit with the upper class is a mystery. They were strikingly beautiful automobiles, with lean, clean lines and not even one unnecessary extra tacked-on piece of chrome. Imperial interiors were breathtaking to look at, and quite comfortable, too. Performance and handling were lively ...

In the late forties, a new body style was introduced at the car shows, and it began to gain popularity very quickly. The "two door hardtop" was said to combine the best features of two different styles, the two door coupe and the convertible, with none of the draw backs of either. People with coupes had to contend with the "B" pillar between the front door glass and the rear quarter window, which blocked vision out of the car and didn't have the sleek appearance of a convertible, which lacked the B pillar. However, women especially preferred coupes because convertibles with the top down mussed their hair and required frequent make up touch ups. Plus, convertibles were more expensive and not as weather proof as a coupe. With the two door hardtop, people got the best of both worlds: hardtop safety and protection from the elements with no B pillars, which gave it the sleek look of a convertible. The first mass produced cars with this new body style were the 1949 Ca...

My goodness  Ms Guinness is appalled by people's 'sloppy' dress sense She favours 6 " shoes with no heels,  tiny corsets and extravagant hats.  So perhaps it isn’t surprising to learn that fashionista Daphne Guinness has a low opinion of the clothes other people wear. The heiress to the brewing dynasty says:  ‘You can tell the state of civilisation by the way people dress.  If the people who fought two World Wars came back to 2010 and saw all of us running around in tracksuits, what would they think?  It is just being sloppy. And it is not about the money, it is a mindset.’ Speaking at a fashion party in Mayfair, the 42-year-old daughter of Lord Moyne tells me people don’t make enough effort to dress properly. ‘I have nothing against people who are round,’ she adds. ‘I am far too thin, for example. I’d really love to put on a few pounds. But I certainly think some people look tremendously unhealthy — and quite unhappy actually.’

194 Santa Catalina Road, Palm Springs, CA 92262 On a site of undisturbed native vegetation, the desert retreat designed by San Francisco architect Jim Jennings for himself is defined by an 8-foot-high concrete wall that supports a steel roof structure and encloses two courtyards. Unlike the traditional post-and-beam model where glass expanses blur the boundary between landscape and building, this house is about the walled enclosure marking the building as volume and mass. What is adapted from mid-century design is the logic and clarity of an unconventional residential structural system - and the virtue of supreme indoor-outdoor living on a small scale. The award-winning residence has been featured in Architectural Digest and several international publications.

Coinciding with Vogue’s Fashion Night Out in London, was the launch of a fashion related exhibition curated by Jules Wright from the Wapping Bankside Gallery in London on September 8 th , 2011. The exhibition highlights a selection of works by fashion photographer Deborah Turbeville and takes place at the Donna Karan flagship store in the West End from 9 th  September to 15 th  October 2011. Deborah Turbeville’s influential and avant-garde exhibition follows the successful Lillian Bassman exhibition at the store. Her out-of-age iconic style, the way she manages to illustrate sophistication, aristocracy and sensuality in her photographs is her signature. The location of the exhibition couldn’t be any more perfect. It belongs to the fashion world, and Donna Karan is the perfect store for those photographs to be showcased. The Fashion Pictures © Deborah Turbeville Her vision is one of poetry and decadence. Her works are both commercial and artistic. She seeks the scenes for her d...

Isabella Geist Southampton White Elephant One of the most famous–or infamous–houses in the Hamptons, the property currently called Elysium has been a lightning rod of controversy for more than three decades. Take a historical property on one of the most beautiful stretches of beach in Southampton, throw in a crooked parvenu with bad taste, add a whiff of financial monkey business, a dollop of tough zoning laws and top it off with a $37 million price tag, and you get the makings for a true real estate disaster like this one. In a part of the world where no one bats an eye at homes that cost upwards of $20 million and excess is a foreign concept, Elysium is a tough sell. Imagine if someone turned a beautiful vintage  Rolls-Royce  into a stretch limousine and painted it hot pink, and you get the idea. Underneath there is a truly fine house–but so much has been done to it that it might be easier to just tear it down and build a new one rather than bother with fixing it. Originally...

For just $15 a day, Suffolk County residents can drive up in an R.V. and stay at the park at the end of Meadow Lane in Southampton, N.Y., where the views of the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Shinnecock Bay on the other are considered to be among the most spectacular on the East palace the likes of which is seldom seen in an area of increasing architectural homogeneity. He has done a gut renovation and then a complete demolition of  the enormous house that once stood there, been through three different architects in the process of building his new one, scoured the Western world for the best monochromatic furnishings money can buy, and even done extensive work to the dunes so that they are exactly to his liking. Mr. Klein is hardly the only famous person to have taken up residence on this narrow band of very expensive land. Neighbors include David and Julia Koch and Aby Rosen and Samantha Boardman, as well as the investor Leon Black and the hotelier Ian Schrager. But it’s Mr. Klein’...