The city of Palm Beach is a symbol of luxury and glamour. If we add the wonderful Florida weather into that equation, it becomes even more ideal for celebrities and socialites to come every year, even adopt the town as a permanent residence.
In the book In the Spirit of Palm Beach (Assouline), Pamela Fiori has collected 160 pages with 159 illustrations that showcase the city’s elegance and charm. Fiori takes us on a tour of its impressive mansions, golf courses and gastronomic delights; to the historic Breakers hotel, founded 116 years ago, and which Fiori considers one of the best in America; to exclusive boutiques, jewelry stores… everything from the point of view of the editor, who has visited since the 70’s and owns a residence there with her husband.
This book becomes a walk through history, stopping at each decade, revealing capricious anecdotes from some the most powerful families in Palm Beach, like the time when Eva Stotesbury commissioned architect Addison Mizner to build her impressive mansion of more than 40 rooms on 42 acres overlooking the ocean.
Perhaps the most precious treasures in this book are the wonderful photographs, many of them unpublished. Lilly Pulitzer in the 50’s, the 1968 photo of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Leas with their Rolls Royce at the Flagler Museum, Estee Lauder in 1974, Ivana Trump in the 80’s, or Jackie Kennedy are stunning memories captured in the book through the lens of high society photographer Slim Aarons and other great artists of the time.
From 1993 to 2010, Fiori was the editor in chief of Town & Country, the iconic magazine founded in 1846. Before that Fiori was an editor at Travel & Leisure for over 14 years. This experience has provided the writer/editor, born in New Jersey, with a profound knowledge of the world of luxury that she has managed to capture it in her essays and books, becoming an authority in all things related to great style.
And for those who want to travel to other wonderful destinations with pristine beaches, the perfect choices are In The Spirit of Capri and In the Spirit of St. Barths, also written by Fiori and published by Assouline. ■
