Stan Herman Talks New Book, His First Vogue Cover
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MI CASA ES SU CASA: However you have been spending these months of quarantine, be prepared to feel a lot worse about your at-home pursuits, or lack thereof.
Designer Stan Herman has been finishing up his memoir, and at the age of 92, there is a lot to cover. Reached at his house in the Hamptons on Wednesday morning, Herman was admiring the 150 mallards outside his waterfront home. Anyone who has seen this month’s Vogue cover of Paloma Elsesser has unknowingly seen Herman’s property. “I’m finishing my memoir and looking at the lake that is now on the cover of Vogue,” Herman said.
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His next-door neighbor, IMG Models’ president Ivan Bart, whom Herman sold that property to, is familiar with the scenic surrounding.
Referring to the recent Vogue shoot, Herman said, “They were looking for a waterfront site, and they said, ‘Why not here?’ Annie Leibovitz’s people came out and they loved the look of it. They came out with a cast of 100 and this beautiful woman Paloma [Elsesser] was photographed coming out of the lake like a phoenix. There are three covers this month and she is one of them.”
But Condé Nast did not pony up a location fee, Herman said, “No, I don’t know want my lake known.”
Referring to the recent deaths of Pierre Cardin, Jack Lenor Larsen and Ruth McCarthy Manson, Herman said, “At this point, I’m the last of the nonagenarians. I’m the only working designer of my age. Who else? There’s nobody else. The only other person of my time is Adolfo. He’s younger than me and he’s not working. It’s so hard to believe that I went from the young whippersnapper to the ‘alta cocker.’”
And Herman is still playing tennis regularly. “That’s what I’m going to be doing in 20 minutes. I’m all dressed in my tennis garb. I was just finishing my notes,” he said. “My father lived to be 105 and he rode horses until he was 95, so I’ve got to keep up with him.”
Interestingly, recalling his nine decades of life is a snap, but capturing the present is more challenging. “I’m having a tricky time trying to write a little bit about the world today. It’s so much easier to go back, and what is happening with Black Lives Matter and how so many things are changing so quickly — quicker than ever before. The last 10 years have really been amazing,” Herman said. “Our industry was a very conservative one. People kept thinking it wasn’t, but it always was very conservative.”
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