HTSI editor’s letter: what makes a style classic?

The San Francisco de Asís Mission Church in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, has long captivated artists. Ansel Adams was so enamoured that he developed the Zone System, a new technique in tonal shading that helped turn his subjects into icons, thus redefining America for the modern age. Georgia O’Keeffe, who started visiting New Mexico in the 1920s, painted Ranchos Church as an abstracted landscape, reducing the place of worship to a series of elemental shapes. Even then, the building is immediately recognisable: with its sinuous buttresses and smooth walls of adobe plaster, it has since become one of the best-known churches in the world. 

It also forms the backdrop to Max Farago and Jay Massacret’s cover story “Mission Statement”, a gentle homage to the pioneering spirit that helped establish Taos’s reputation as an artistic hub. The clothes featured are among the classics that define the Western wardrobe – the suede fringed jacket, the white shirt, the stiff jeans, the cowboy boot. I was fortunate enough to lead a discussion at the FT Weekend Festival in Washington DC last month where we tried to capture the essence of “American style”. This draws on many cultures, from street gangs in LA to traders on Wall Street, and from Dust Bowl cowboys to the Ivy League. What unites it is a sense of function and utility. The look has a no-frills sense of purpose: it’s practical, unfussy, tribal, adaptable and yet highly codified. Massacret, the story’s stylist, offers an especially austere take – O’Keeffe would be proud. It also reminds us that the true mark of a classic is that it should never age. 

The true mark of a classic is that it should never age

Incidentally, for those considering cowboy boots but worried that they might look too cosplay, I recommend consulting Holly Henry, a bespoke bootmaker in Boulder, Colorado, who sells through the platform Old Stone Trade. I had a pair made last year, in chestnut brown with a 3in heel and an almond-shaped toe. By softening some of the boot’s more exaggerated features, she gave a subtle nod to the design that feels more acceptable for a gal like me who has never sat upon a horse. As good for the office as for the rodeo.

The actor Hayley Atwell has been beguiling audiences with her mellifluous voice for two decades. Now she’s using it to knock them out. As the creative director of a new app, Sleep Worlds, she is one of the creators – and voices – of a series of stories designed to lull the listener into a somnolent state. Written by, among others, poet Emily Berry, the stories are a curious effort – designed less to entertain than to gently bore – with narratives that plod on without drama or distraction to create bigger soporific worlds. Beatrice Hodgkin meets the duo as they record a latest offering – a trip to a deliciously mundane museum archive. It couldn’t be further from Atwell’s current on-screen role as an action hero in the final instalment of Mission: Impossible. 

Many will know the legendary wines of Beaucastel, the French winemaker sometimes dubbed “the Pétrus of the south”. Now, after a major redevelopment by the architects Studio Mumbai, Studio Méditerranée and garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith, the estate, which dates back to the 16th century, has been converted into a new headquarters, replete with (by-invitation-only) tasting rooms. HTSI drinks columnist Alice Lascelles was offered an exclusive first tour and a sampling of some of the vineyard’s most esteemed wines. Read all about her experience, and her taste of a mythic terroir.

Buly 1803 The Perfumed Treatments set, €195

Lastly, have you bought a Father’s Day gift? I have no truck with people who refuse to mark such events. Everyone deserves a celebration, Hallmark holiday or not. Inès Cross has rounded up some ideas for those lacking in inspiration, from classic ties to grooming products. Can’t be bothered to buy a present? Well, consider this your final notice to at least pick up the phone.

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@jellison22