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eat This
A London Lunch Spot That Keeps It All in the Family
After stints at such storied culinary destinations as the River Café and Spring, the 31-year-old chef Max Rocha has opened his own restaurant, Café Cecilia, serving breakfast and lunch in a gleaming new space overlooking Regent’s Canal in East London. The name is a tribute to Rocha’s Chinese paternal grandmother, Cecilia, “who saved up money with her poker buddies to send my dad to London to study fashion,†he says. Inside, it’s a family affair: Rocha enlisted his father, the fashion designer John Rocha, to consult on the minimalist interiors, and his sister, the designer Simone Rocha, created the staff’s outfits. Rocha’s food is an unfussy riff on the meals his mother, Odette, made for him and Simone when they were growing up in Dublin: homemade Guinness bread; a pork, apricot and pistachio terrine; deep-fried sage and anchovy fritti; slow-cooked rabbit ragù with tagliatelle; and, for dessert, a version of Odette’s famous chocolate pot, a rich concoction of chocolate, eggs and cream served with a sprinkling of sea salt and a buttery shortbread biscuit. cafececilia.com.
Shortly before the death of her friend Lee Radziwill in 2019, Tory Burch released a series of handbags in tribute to the socialite and fashion icon’s “extraordinary personal style.†The Lee Radziwill Double Bag was the standout, its casually elegant folds meant to evoke the layers of a trench coat. Now, to mark the opening of the new Tory Burch store on Mercer Street, the brand is releasing a customizable version of the bag in a limited edition of 150. Options include two sizes, three artisanal woven straps and three colorways in shades of mossy green, warm tan or linen white. The bag can be further personalized with a monogram and date, and will be available exclusively at the new boutique — which, decorated with Burch’s “found pieces†and located just a few minutes’ walk from the location of her first store, feels, the designer says, like a “homecoming.†toryburch.com.
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When Modernism Made a Home in the U.S.
The Hungarian-born mid-20th century architect and designer Marcel Breuer, who was responsible for the former Whitney Museum of Art on Madison Avenue, is known for his Bauhaus furniture and monumental architecture. But he also built a slew of modernist houses up and down the East Coast, including half a dozen for Rufus Stillman and Andrew Gagarin, competing corporate titans who lived in Litchfield, Conn. “Breuer’s Bohemia,†a documentary streaming on Vimeo On Demand by James Crump, whose films include “Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art,†tells the story of the close friendship and collaboration among all three amid a racy haute-bohemian milieu of infidelity and pool parties spanning East and West coasts, with cameos by Alexander Calder, Paul Newman, Arthur Miller and Robert Redford. The accompanying book from Monacelli Press is out Sept. 14. breuersbohemia.com.
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Performative Portraits
An equestrian helmet (“Paul and Iâ€), a puff of feathers (“Body 1â€), teased wigs with harsh eyebrows drawn in the hairline (“Ethyl Eichelberger Angelsâ€) — these are just a few of the props and costumes on display in the photographs of Michael Bailey-Gates, which evoke the aesthetics of classical portraiture even as they upend conventions of gender and beauty. “A Glint in the Kindling,†the artist’s first monograph and the inaugural publication from Pinch Publishing, presents a selection of Bailey-Gates’s recent work, along with an eponymous solo exhibition on view at the Ravestijn Gallery in Amsterdam from September 18 through October 16. The portraits turn on unexpected juxtapositions — sinew and hair poke out from delicate silk garments (“Self Portraitâ€); a spider sits poised opposite a lolling tongue (“Bobbi’s Faceâ€) — and often have the feeling of film stills. “The people I’m attracted to photographing all have really self-observing and reflective relationships with their bodies,†Bailey-Gates says. “Gesture is just another form of language — they’re saying, ‘Know this about me.’†$55, pinchpublishing.com.
Porto founder Loddie Allison describes the Pouch, the first collection of her women’s leather-goods and accessories brand, as “a revival of the oldest handbag and wallet in history,†one that “predated and even inspired the invention of pockets.†The concept is elegant in its simplicity: an immaculately produced leather bundle held together by a drawstring. Having spent time in Argentina, Allison was influenced by the aesthetics of the estancia, or cattle ranch, and its leatherworking and silversmithing traditions. In keeping with this reverence for craftsmanship, each Pouch is handmade in Tuscany from local organic cotton and napa leather. It’s also available in a mini size and comes in six colors. porto-studio.com.
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