Product Description

Nicky Haslam has found himself at the centre of the most interesting circles wherever he is - at parties, opening nights, royal weddings. In London in the late '50s he crossed paths - and more - with Cecil Beaton, Francis Bacon, Diana Cooper, Lucian Freud, David Hockney and Noel Coward. In the '60s, in New York, he encountered Dorothy Parker, Cole Porter, Andy Warhol, Jack Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe while working at "Vogue" and "Show" magazines, before decamping to a ranch in Arizona to raise Arabian horses, when he wasn't commuting to Los Angeles to decorate for the stars. Back in England in the early '80s, he attended the wedding of his cousin Diana Spencer and designed for everyone from James Goldsmith to Bryan Ferry. Haslam is a gifted and exuberant storyteller with an exacting eye for the telling detail. "Redeeming Features" is a fascinating look at our culture, a compelling and wholly singular document of our times.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1968 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

Customer Reviews

Nicky Haslam knows how to win friends and influence people
I knew very little about Nicky Haslam prior to reading this book. I noticed photographs in the newspapers some years ago of him - a rather elderly interior designer in London who was obsessed with Liam Gallagher and had changed his appearance to resemble his new hero. I grew up on a Manchester housing estate quite similar to the Gallaghers which made this society figure's obsession seem incredibly weird. Who was this man and why were the press so indulgent of him?

Here is the answer. From his youthful wealthy and privileged background, Haslam was attracted to Gypsies and Teddy Boys. He has a knack of accumulating distinguished and entertaining friends from Tallulah Bankhead and Diana Coopper to Andy Warhol and the Prince of Wales. His perfectly functioning gaydar leaves one to believe that in 1950's London practically every male - married or otherwise - was either gay or bisexual. It is also beautifully written and highly amusing.

Talleyrand was supposed to have said that those who did not live in the years before the revolution could not understand the sweetness of living. One feels much the same sense of a past, sweet existence on reading this warm hearted and utterly engaging story.