Once In A LifetimeIn Once In A Lifetime, Katie Rife charts the many melodramatic ways things can go awry in a Lifetime Original Movie

Husbands are but one star in the firmament of people who will betray you in a Lifetime movie, but as far as relationships go, marriage is possibly the most fraught. Its an intimate relationship, making the violation all the more profound when the inevitable deception is revealed. You can sense this vulnerability just in the titles of Lifetime films about spouses hiding horrifying secrets: Stranger In My Bed. In Bed With A Killer. The Familiar Stranger. The Stranger Beside Me. And then theres the sobering reality that husbands are a leading cause of death for their wives, making an abusive partner a far more visceral threat than, say, a homicidal interior decorator.

Domestic violence as TV-movie kitsch floats in the same problematic pool as all murder-for-entertainment propertiesspecifically, the deep end also occupied by Dateline and your various Investigations Discovery. Those shows so often turn out the same way that The Husband Did It T-shirts are all over Etsy. And theres a similar inevitability when a younger man with Ken-doll good looks, or an older man who has everything except for love, is introduced in the first act of a Lifetime movie with the words stranger, secrets, or betrayal in the title. (Theyre not all as forthright as I Almost Married A Serial Killer, which gives you the plot of the movie up front.) But given the real-life ubiquity of family violence, these films have to go way over the top to vault over squirming discomfort into howling camp.

This is especially true of 1995s The Stranger Beside Me, not to be confused with Ann Rules famous true-crime book about working at a suicide hotline with Ted Bundy. This ones also based on a true story, about a Texas housewife named Linda Bergstrom whose repeated attempts to report her husband as a serial rapist were ignored by both the U.S. Navy and local police. Opening with the title in yellow cursive script over generic country-western twang, the movie embodies the wholesome mid-90s aesthetic of delicate floral prints and pearl chokersand thats before Alyson Hannigan shows up in a bridesmaid dress that looks like its made out of Fruit Roll-Ups.

Tiffani Thiessen stars as Lindas stand-in Jennifer Gallagher, who at the beginning of the film meets what seems like a nice young man at a church picnic. Over the next hour or so, Jennifer gets married, moves to California with her husband, Chris (Eric Close), squirms uncomfortably at the other Navy wives sex talk at a bustling honky tonk, and ignores a series of glaringly obvious red flags that include Chris petulant response to Jennifers very valid anger at him for missing the birth of their first child. (I was busy, he says, unable to make eye contact.) That last offense is dramatized in the form of a montage whose combination of self-seriousness and low-budget ineptitude would normally prompt a derisive snort. Which it does, but not without a heavy undercurrent of guilt, given that the film juxtaposes Jennifer in the delivery room with Chris attacking a woman in her bedroom.

As a viewer, the feeling you get watching all these warning signs pile up is a lot like the frustration of seeing a co-ed go into the woods alone in a slasher moviewhich isnt entirely coincidental. The Stranger Beside Me was director Sandor Sterns 20th TV movie, but aside from co-writing the 1979 basketball comedy Fast Break, when his work did make it to the big screen, it was in horror: He wrote the screenplay for The Amityville Horror (1979), and his sole feature-film output as a director was 1988s Pin. Stern shoots Chris like a slasher villain, lurking in shadows with a beam of light shining over his beady eyes and letting his face fall from a fake smile to an evil scowl when Jennifer turns her back. (Think of the lead performance in Silent Night, Deadly Night 2, and youre in the ballpark.) Not only that, but the last third of the film transforms Jennifer from a helpless victim into a final girl, sticking around just long enough after learning Chris is a predatory sociopath to collect evidence damning enough that even Chris buddies on the police force cant protect him anymore.

Another parallel between Lifetime movie abusers and slasher villains is the overwhelming sameness of these menin looks, personality, and tactics. Theyre all clean-cut, which makes them appealing to all but the most intuitive friends and relatives. Theyre all able to put on a superficially charming act, further isolating their victims when those they tell about the abuse respond with, But hes such a nice guy! Theyre possessive, defensive, moody, belittling, and skilled at making themselves out to be the victimall strategies of mental and emotional abuse. Most of all, theyre crushingly mediocre, and deep in their narcissistic hearts, they know it.

Fatal Honeymoon (2012) offers up a relatively specific, but perfectly emblematic version of the phenomenon. Its cold-blooded killer, Gabe (Billy Miller), is a marginally good-looking, muscle-bound Alabama frat boy whose interests include football, deep-sea diving, and badgering his fiance, Tina (Amber Clayton), about whether shes signed the life insurance paperwork yet. Gabe is a model of abuser logic throughout the film, gaslighting Tina, isolating her from her friends and family, and pressuring her into doing things shes not comfortable with. Tina is afraid of the water, and isnt even that good of a swimmer. But Gabe presses her into going diving on the Great Barrier Reef for their honeymoon anywayone of many reasons why its suspicious as hell when she drowns mid-dive.

That film is also based on a true story, which accounts for the specificity of the characterization. By contrast, however, the paint-by-number nature of director Nadia Tass filmmaking gives Fatal Honeymoon a kitsch quality that not even co-star Harvey Keitel, who did this Lifetime original in between shooting Moonrise Kingdom and the Romanian WWII drama A Farewell To Fools, can overcome. Generally, its a mothers intuition that saves the day in a Lifetime movie. But in Fatal Honeymoon its Keitels grouchy, Sinatra-loving father-in-law who uncovers Gabe plot to murder his daughter, following a trail of clues from Alabama to Australia in an attempt to prove that the son-in-law he never liked anyway is actually a murderer. Keitel puts on his best Alabama accent, but the movie around him is so lackluster that he comes across older and more ineffective in Fatal Honeymoon than he does in films shot years later. As for why he did a movie so cheap that most of the exposition takes place in cars and sparsely furnished living rooms, well, free trip to Australia, maybe?

But for all its flaws, Fatal Honeymoon offers such a clear-cut lesson in how abusers behave that it points to the socially redeeming qualityif youre interested in that sort of thingof this particular variety of made-for-TV trash. Even otherwise forgettable Lifetime movies, like the recent A Boyfriends Deceit (2018), are full of melodramatic dramatizations of things to look out for if your daughter, friend, coworker, cousin, or neighbor is in a new relationship with a guy who your gut says is bad news. Confronted by his girlfriend, Annie (Emily Rose), after shes detained and questioned by police who find a bloody knife just chilling in the backseat of his car, the boyfriend of the title pouts, I can only say sorry so many times! An absurd thing to say in response to a reasonable question about why the hell you have a bloody knife in your car, to be sure. But its also a great example of weaponized guilt and denial.

That being said, Lifetime movies are less emotionally intelligent when it comes to dramatizing why victims stay in abusive relationships. Presented with horror-movie flourishes and delivered in an over-the-top acting style, the abuse in these films is obviousunlike the more insidious machinations of real life. When we fast-forward through the grooming and the gaslighting to get to the dramatic stuff, our sympathy gets tied up in the victims eventual wish-fulfillment triumph, not her all-too-realistic suffering. Such is the case with the reverse-Misery tale Her Perfect Spouse (2004), directed by Lifetime staple Douglas Jackson. Co-star Michael Riley bears such a strong resemblance to Twin Peaks villain BOB that you know his character, mystery novelist Ty Kellington, is going to bring radio producer Lisa (Tracy Nelson) nothing but misery. And indeed, Ty does turn out to be another generic Lifetime narcissist, whose only distinguishing quality is that hes jealous of his wifes success at work.

Over the past 30 years, careers have become increasingly important for Lifetime heroines, who tend to have the same types of jobsarchitect, newspaper columnist, bakery owneras their rom-com counterparts. That reflects changing social mores, of course, but it also adds a narrative shortcut to a Lifetime screenwriters quiver; when a concerned parent or sibling doesnt make sense for the plot, a loyal employee or trusted coworker will do. And even housewives in these movies may find an ally in their husbands assistant or at a volunteer gigtake Janice Mitchell (Judith Light), who proves that men are a bad idea even when youre not married to them in perhaps the most entertaining movie discussed herein, 1995s Lady Killer, which premiered on CBS before making its way to Lifetime.

Although the movie came out in 1995, the specific variety of aspirational identity Light representswhite, blond, thin, moneyed, into jogging and sophisticated cultural markers like classical musicis a hangover from the decade of Dynasty and Polo Ralph Lauren. She should be irritatingly perfect, but Janice is actually a sympathetic and likable character. Lights hair does a lot of the dramatic heavy lifting in this film, sitting neatly pinned into place or falling out in messy chunks depending on her mental state at the time. But Light, best known either for her runs on One Life To Life and Whos The Boss?, also has more dramatic chops than some of her Lifetime peers. She brings a certain poignancy to moments like the scene where her husband leaves her alone at her own birthday party, or the dramatic monologue where she lays out the aimlessness she feels now that her daughter, Sharon (Tracey Gold), is away at college.

That rootless feeling is what drives Janice to begin a passionate, soapy (literallythey take a lot of baths together) affair with Guy (Jack Wagner), a much younger plastic surgeon. Guys sociopathy and narcissism are, again, utterly banal, save for one distinguishing characteristic that drives the plot. This time around, its a mommy complex. Things begin to go bad when Janice cancels a weekend getaway with Guy because her husband, Ross (Ben Masters), returned early from a business trip, prompting him to express his fury by drawing a sad face on a prescription pad. He retaliates with a mid-movie sexual assault that, to both Lights and director Steven Schachters credit but not to the audiences pleasure, is actually quite disturbing. But after this sobering brush with reality, the plot gets outrageous once again after Janice and Ross retreat to the family lake house so Janice can recuperate.

Its here, draped in homespun quilts and framed by rustic wood paneling, that Lady Killer accomplishes what many Lifetime movies about bad men cannotclearing the bar of real-life trauma and ascending into high camp. Not long after Janice and Ross arrival, Sharon arrives with her new boyfriend in tow. Its Guy, showing a dedication to revenge that would make Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction proud. Ross likes him, inexplicably; Janice is within her rights to hate the guy based on the age gap alone (seriously, its mortifying), but when he hisses to her, Youre much better in bed than your daughter, Janiceand the audienceknow its time to take care of this psycho for good. Its a torrid tale with a simple, satisfying ending, and any lingering guilt over the affair is burned away when Janice pushes that asshole off of a lighthousesomething more than a few moms in the audience would probably like to do to their daughters boyfriends, even if they hadnt had sex with them first.

Next time: Unless its an issue film about coming out, the Lifetime channel tends to be, to paraphrase Edith Massey, sickeningly heterosexual. But that doesnt mean a woman cant ruin another womans life.

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If youre ever tempted to trust a man, Lifetime movies can fix that for you - The A.V. Club

Netflixs Say I Do is a celebration of love that transcends all societal boundaries. It is a testament to couples who overcome their obstacles and decide to have a dream wedding. The best part is that they dont have to do any of the planning. Three experts, Gabriele Bertaccini, the chef, Thai Nguyen, the fashion designer, and Jeremiah Brent, the interior decorator, ensure that everything goes to plan. Naturally, the couples we see are all over the US, and different splendid destinations are chosen for the ceremonies. However, Say I Do was filmed quite a bit in secret, which might make you wonder about the locations. Weve got you covered.

The best part about Say I Do is that the wedding destination is the primary filming location. Among the places we see in the series is the Drees Pavilion at 790 Park Ln, Covington, Kentucky. It is one of the most popular wedding destinations and offers a fantastic view overlooking the skylines of Cincinnati and Covington. Marcus and Tiffany tie the knot here.

Some of the dream weddings also take place in Cincinnati, Ohio. For example, Nikko and Amber get married at The Phoenix on 812 Race St, Cincinnati. Besides being equipped to handle intimate ceremonies and larger gatherings, the venue is perfect with multiple rooms to choose from, and hands-on event staff to ensure that the wedding takes place without a hitch. Joe and Kerrys Gatsby themed wedding also takes place at the same destination. Of course, the romantic balconies and the Archway Ballroom makes it popular among couples looking to start a new life together.

Mattie and Melvin get married at The Summit in Madisonville. We see the wedding taking place on the rooftop. The Vice President of operations spoke about it, saying that it is one of the hotels highest honors to help a couple celebrate love, via a wedding ceremony. The Summit is a part of the Preferred Hotels and Resorts network and opened in 2018. It is at 5345 Medpace Way.

Jason and Jonathan have a beautiful wedding in a rustic setting, which is theStone Creek Lodge at Crawfordsville, Indiana. Everyone who saw the property when it was starting, commented on how it would make for a great wedding venue. The proprietors decided to capitalize on the popularity of barn weddings and even added a building so that other events can be hosted at the location as well.

Essie and Bruce also have their unique barn wedding at the 3 Fat Labs Estate Wedding & Event Barn in Greencastle, Indiana. The venue offers a sophisticated country-style retreat where couples can enjoy perfect views with the vibrance of nature and backdrops that make the day truly special for lovebirds.

Say I Do has made use of picturesque locations, which have been turned into something magical, thanks to the experts. With everybody pitching in, the weddings are perfect, and the couples can start a new chapter of their lives with hope and love in their hearts.

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Where is Say I Do Filmed? Where Are the Wedding Venues Located? - The Cinemaholic

Although having enjoyed a varied career, India Hicks is perhaps best known for two things: her eponymous lifestyle brand (now defunct), and being Prince Charles goddaughter and the bridesmaid to Princess Diana at the 1981 wedding, watched by 750 million people. Second-cousin to the Prince, she is the daughter of David Hicks renowned interior decorator and Lady Pamela Hicks, daughter of Louis Mountbatten 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who was assassinated by an IRA bomb in 1979.

Raised in Oxfordshire and attending boarding school in Scotland, Indias was an upbringing more traditional than her perhaps unexpected later relocation to the Bahamas, where she has lived for the past 24 years with her husband and their five children. Since closing her lifestyle brand in 2019, India has become increasingly dedicated to charity work, presently supporting her Bahamian community following a devastating hurricane in early September and of course the more recent outbreak of coronavirus, which has overwhelmed the area she calls home.

Speaking with India on Skype, she tells me that from a young age she was taught the importance of supporting those less fortunate in both the local and global community: Ive always done as much as I can; we were brought up to give back. I have grandparents who set a very good example of that. India took with her this proclivity for charitable work when she relocated to the Bahamas in 1996: Every year here, I would bike a hundred miles in a bike race, raising money for breast cancer in the Bahamas which is very prevalent here in the Bahamas because of a gene in Black African women to have this predisposition to have breast cancer. Indeed, India and her husband adopted their child Wesley after his Bahamian mother and aunt died from the disease.

It was in September 2019 that a devastating hurricane hit the surrounding islands and destroyed two neighbouring communities. Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 hurricane, was the most intense cyclone on record to have struck the Bahamas, and is estimated to have cost almost $3.4 billion in damage. Sitting on the advisory board of the Global Empowerment Mission, India says that she following the coinciding closure of her business had the ability and the time to get very involved in the efforts to support her fellow islanders in the wake of the disaster.

To the foreign eye, India acknowledges that poverty and the effects of such disasters are masked by sunshine and pink sand beaches, whereas in England its grey skies. She tells me that people are distracted by the beauty of the idyllic island the foamy coastline, leaning palm trees, cloudless blue sky. But 60% of the homes in Abaco were damaged or destroyed; the power grid serving the entirety of the islands was ruined. For several days, much of the island including its airport was underwater.

I went out with them first [relief workers from the Global Empowerment Mission] to Abaco, and they were doing very interesting things; for example, taking batteries so that people couldactually get their phones charged in order to call people to let them know that they were still alive Disaster relief work is very immediate. Theres the immediate horror of whats happening and then it disappears off, and people get very distracted by the next thing: its a bushfire in Australia, or there is a flood in India, or there is an earthquake in Sri Lanka. I wanted the attention to stay on the Bahamas because the work had hardly even begun. Were coming up to a year later and people are still living in tents; there is still no power; the government is still fairly ineffectual when it comes to those hurricane victims.

Though India built a social media following (some 223k followers) promoting her branded fashion items and sharing aesthetic glimpses of her life flitting between England and the Bahamas, she recognised immediately that her platform could and should be utilised to promote her charitable efforts: I realised that I was lucky enough to have built some following from a social media standpoint, and suddenly there was some point to the social media which was being able to tell these stories I think people were ready to listen, so I was able to raise money as well as get a message out.

If were living in an age where social media has such an importance, then lets use it if we can. The disappointing part of this, of course, is that people are much more interested in my dog, and my daughter making donuts than they are in the charity work we do so I try to come at it from a slightly different point of view. Im now trying to think more creatively about the messaging of it all but you have to be very careful that its not all me, me, me. And, yet, the way that were able to raise moneyis through me talking about it. So I feel slightly conflicted there.

By experiencing first-hand the effects of the hurricane on her community, India describes feeling that she had been given a new job a new purpose; she tells me about the importance of communicating stories when asking for peoples donations, emphasising the significance ofhow requests for help are conveyed in relation to securing contributions: Its finding ways of finessing stories in order to keep coming back to the same audience and asking for more.

While the Bahamas might sound an exotically far away location to the British reader, the desolation of the hurricane couldnt have been closer to home for India, who described the aftermath as happening right on my doorstep literally. At the end of my drive, there are families who have been so affected by the tourism economy closing down overnight that there are a staggering amount of families who can no longer feed themselves.

But as the devastation caused by the disaster are localised, so too are relief efforts: India leads a team which was drawn from residents of the community, each contributing skills to the operation of a wide-spread aid effort. India herself sits-in on discussions with their local MP, church and school authorities, and the local councils.

Indias close involvement in the organisation of efforts to rebuild the island and support its inhabitants, she says, is crucial: If Im asking someone to donate money whether it be $20 or $20,000 I am able to assure that person I can hear the decisions that are being made; I get out at 6:30am on a Saturday and Im there packing the bags; I see the church vehicles going out; I see the recipients I see the process from beginning to end When you give us your dollars, I can account for it. I know where every cent is going theres transparency from beginning to end.

However, being so intimately affiliated with the community her and her team work to restore, she has come across the moral complexities of charity work: It becomes really difficult when it comes down to the need versus the want who wants the food bag, who needs the food bag. A fair means of decision seems to be that the leaders of the islands churches decide who most urgently needs the food and supplies provided by Indias team.

The recent wake of COVID-19 added to the Bahamian devestation: with a significant proportion of the island relying on the profits from tourism and travel, the necessary halt of tourist footfall to the islands is perhaps a lesser-considered effect of the pandemic: Im daily having conversations with people about when the borders will open; when the tourists will be back; when do we think the food bank needs to be teamed until?; when will life get back to normal?

While the residents of the islands are keen to see tourists return, bringing with them much-needed revenue, India reflects on her own situation amidst the uncertainty of travel. Considering herself a global sort of person, India has children at school in the UK, the US, and a mother and family in England. Suddenly, I feel much more remote, she says; much more isolated than I have for the twenty-four years [of living in the Bahamas] it makes me very nervous that I may have to make tougher decisions about when I get to see my mother and if Im able to freely travel and come back and forth.

Reflecting on her childhood in Oxfordshire, India considers how it might be if she were isolating with her family back in the UK: If I lived in Oxford, I wouldnt have this innate fear, because I would be in a much bigger country, my mother would be two fields away, my kids could possibly go to college somewhere in England. But, because weve built a global life for ourselves, I am fearful what the future holds My fear is that I have taken travel for granted. Ive taken the fact that I live in the Bahamas, but can nip on a flight at a fairly reasonable price over to England. Ive seen the world like that that it is so global, that it is so easy to travel. And now, suddenly, that is probably going to be removed the luxury of being able to travel when I want.

India spoke of the precariousness of the situation how she feels that shes blindly finding [my] way forward, because nobody knows when the effects of the closures will ease-up. Really, weve been doing a lot of work in raising awareness and raising money. The challenges are there, of course as its global, its very hard. But she continues to work hard to alleviate the twofold devastation of the hurricane and COVID-19 on her community, and she along with her fellow Bahamians will undoubtedly celebrate when travel resumes.

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In Conversation with India Hicks - Cherwell Online

Despite being a complete psychopath, Paulie Gualtieri (AKA Paulie Walnuts) is a fan favorite within the Sopranos fandom. A lot of that is due to Tony Sirico's effortless charisma. Some of it has to do with being a complete psycho. But most of it stems from his hilarious dialogue.

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The Sopranos is filled with funny lines and characters, but nobody even comes close to Paulie when it comes to humor. Sometimes he's intentionally funny. Sometimes we're laughing at him and not with him. Regardless, it's a near-guarantee that anything coming out of Paulie's mouth will be a riot. These are ten of Paulie's funniest quotes, ranked.

Paulie (like everyone else in The Sopranos) is very proud of his Italian heritage. And seeing espresso really makes his blood boil. While being served in a major coffee shop franchise (likely Starbucks), Paulie laments the commercialization of Italian cuisine.

According to him, "They ate pootsie before we gave them the gift of our cuisine. But this, this is the worst. This expresso s***." It's not just his anger that's funny - it's the fact that he said "expresso" in place of espresso. Yeah, he knows a lot about his heritage...

If there's one thing Paulie takes more seriously than his Italian heritage, it's entertaining the children of the neighborhood.

The shy and reserved Bobby Baccalieri is hesitant about playing Santa for the kids, forcing Paulie to stand and reprimand him, saying, "The boss of this family told you you're gonna be Santa Claus.You're Santa Claus. So shut the f*** up about it!" There's nothing funnier than seeing violent psychopaths furiously arguing about who's going to be Santa that year.

Poor Bobby is always getting the brunt of Paulie's jokes. While goofing around with Chris, Paulie sees the overweight Vito and Bobby speaking to each other, their protruding guts practically touching each other.

He turns to Chris, saying, "OH, look at that! It's like an ad for a weight loss center. Before, and way before!" Bobby says what the audience isthinking - "This guy. Does he ever stop breaking balls?"

One of Paulie's greatest quirks has to be repeating his jokes.

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A running joke throughout the series sees Paulie making a quip, turning to Tony, and asking, "You hear what I said, Ton?" He then immediately repeats the joke that everyone just heard, word-for-word. It makes the audience laugh every single time, and it helps cement Paulie as one of the goofiest and most hilarious characters on the show.

Leave it to Paulie to say exactly what's on his mind. While visiting Tony in the hospital after he slipped into a coma, Paulie is clearly instructed by Meadow to say encouraging things, as coma patients can supposedly hear what people are saying.

Immediately upon seeing Tony hooked up with tubes and a ventilator, Paulie can't help but exclaim in horror, yelling, "Oof, madone! He looks terrible!"

Pine Barrens has to be the funniest episode of The Sopranos, and it's easily Paulie's greatest hour. While on the phone, Tony tells Paulie that the guy they're pursuing is an ex-commando who killed sixteen Chechen rebels with the Interior Ministry.

Paulie mishears him, telling Chris, "You're not gonna believe this. He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. The guy was an interior decorator!" To this, Chris famously quips, "His house looked like s***!"

Paulie often tries to sound cultured, but he just can't quite get there.

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During Tony B's welcome home party, Paulie drops some Sun Tzu wisdom on him, mispronouncing Sun Tzu's name as Sun Tuh-Zoo. Not only that, but he calls Sun Tzu the "Chinese Prince Matchabelli."Prince Matchabelli is actually a luxury perfume line.Paulie meant Machiavelli, but Machiavelli was never a prince. He obviously got confused with Machiavelli's seminal treatise, The Prince.

No scene better encapsulates Paulie's wild personality traits better than Minn's murder. Right before killing the poor old lady, Paulie is busted rooting around underneath her bed (after loudly breaking down the door).

Caught in the act, Paulie feigns friendliness with "Minn! Your door was open! I brought you something from my Ma!" The sight of Paulie's head emerging from behind the bed is one of The Sopranos' finest visual gags.

Chris's intervention, while obviously not funny in and of itself, is one of the funniest scenes in Sopranos history owing to the outlandish behavior of those around him.

First, there's Silvio's story of finding Chris passed out in the toilet. And then there's Paulie, who is painfully, honestly, but hilariously blunt: "I'llkeep this short and sweet. You're weak. You've become an embarrassment to yourself and everybody else."

As funny as Paulie is, the show isn't afraid of reminding us that he is actually a violent psychopath and anunbelievable racist. In this scenario, the show wants us to laugh at Paulie, not with him.

While Tony B is talking about his ambitious Korean boss, Paulie comes in with his incredible advice: "Word to the wise. Remember Pearl Harbor!" Not only does it not make sense, but Paulie confuses Koreans with the Japanese.

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The Sopranos: 10 Of Paulie's Funniest Quotes, Ranked | ScreenRant - Screen Rant

Sothebys specialists taking phone and online bids from around the world. (Courtesy Sotheby's)The virtual event, linking buyers across the globe, played out like a high-stakes night at the casino.

NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLESothebys, with Christies one of the two big auction houses, held its big-ticket modern and contemporary evening auction this past Monday. Its Sothebys cash cow for the year, and it was a fascinating, well-done virtual event. I saw the future of the auction business, and it worked. Bidding was spirited, and the balletic, gestural Oliver Barker as auctioneer was himself a work of performance art. He can coax bids from a mummy.

Art by Francis Bacon, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, and others, priced in the millions, sold, mostly sight unseen, in an event that was part old-fashioned auction, part variety show, part telethon, all with the sparkle and edgy feel of Election Night. Sothebys called it a marquee auction. They pulled it off with savvy and zest. They made a boatload of money, too.

The big news story from the auction was the sale of Francis Bacons Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus, from 1981, the last and grandest of the artists 28 triptychs. I think Bacon had his moments, but overall, hes an Angry Young Man artist, Irish and troubled and a 50s and 60s character. I wrote about the Bacon show at the Houston MFA in March, and while hes a great painter, I left thinking he was tiresome and pretentious, with a limited vision. Hes a brand and personality. And, for the life of me, and I know my Aeschylus, I dont see how the triptych references the Oresteia. Its a riff on Goya.

Still, its striking and powerful. The Hans Astrup Foundation, which got it in 1987, sold it to enhance the endowment of Oslos Astrup Fearnley Museet, a very good contemporary art museum founded by the Astrup family. The work has been an anchor in all the big Bacon shows. On an estimate of $60 million to $80 million, it sold for $84.6 million, including the buyers premium.

The bidding went swiftly by million-dollar increments from $48 million to $60 million and then stalled. At that point, a new, online bidder appeared with a $60.1 million bid. Silence. A phone bidder raised it to $61 million. Then a war started between a bidder with firepower against a drop, drop, drop enemy whod raise him by $100,000 each time his return bid went up, to 62, then 63, up to $75 million until the bidder with the pop gun finally stopped. The total price was $84,550,000 plus the buyers premium. I assume Sothebys vetted the online bidder, who seemed to tease with his little $100,000 increments. Was he for real?

No one outside of Sothebys inner sanctum knows how much Sothebys actually made. Last year, it went private, so Sothebys doesnt have to make all the disclosures that, say, a public company like Christies has to make on financing and negotiated premiums. My friends there tell me theyre happy, though.

Whether COVID-19 came from that Chinese lab or Big Bat Macs in Wuhan, it put the international art market in a coma. Sothebys is a business, however, and Gone Fishin isnt a good way to make money. Of course, we still have many museums thats the nonprofit world that wont open and serve the public, though state and local health officials say they can.

The well-paid, lucky-ducky staffs hope to doze and laze in place, at home, in perpetuity, depriving art lovers of the cultural heritage their tax dollars subsidize. Maybe theyve heard that the Blizzard Beach water slide at Disney World is reopening on July 7 and dont want to miss the fun. Really, now, if Disney World, the Louvre, and the Vatican can open next week, what excuse do American museums have for keeping their doors closed to the public all summer?

Talk about lucky-ducky privilege. Actually, what Im hearing now is that many museums in America are so roiled by layoffs and internal charges of racism that the directors and senior staff just want to hide for as long as they can.

Sothebys motto for its marquee auction is pivot, adapt, innovate, and each it does. Theres a feature for simple country souls like me explaining different ways to experience the auction. The auction started Monday evening, ET, at 6:30, with auctioneer Barker in London and specialists in London, New York, and Hong Kong taking live bids by phone, online, and text messages. A 30-second preview on the Sothebys website predicted Super Bowl drama, which, for the art world, it delivered.

The Ginny Williams sale grabbed me when Sothebys announced it earlier this year. I liked her a lot. Williams (19272019) and her husband, Carl, moved to Denver in the 1950s. There, Carl made a fortune as a cable-television pioneer. Ginny was from Virginia and combined Southern charm with cowgirl grit. I liked her flamboyance and frankness. She was deeply knowledgeable and had a curators sensibility.

She was both an art dealer in Denver, starting in the 1980s when the city was a cultural backwater, and a collector, though I think her dealership was a front for her collecting. I always wondered whether or not she sold much. Williamss aesthetic was 70s and 80s, with a focus on women, especially Louise Bourgeois. She bought well. She had catholic taste, but in the 1990s, the market for female artists was still quiet. Thats when she bought her Frankenthaler and Mitchells. Her Bourgeois holdings were encyclopedic.

Her sale had 18 lots and not a dud among them. It was whats called a white-shoe auction, which means everything sold. Thats rare. Royal Fireworks, by Helen Frankenthaler from 1975, is gorgeous. A wave of warm, luscious orange flows across the surface, with a narrow strip of pure azure below it. Frankenthaler (19282011) is always good. In the 1970s, she started to paint with acrylic on canvas, leaving the soak-and-stain technique aside. Its a less gauzy effect. I could look at for hours in a frame of mind lapsing into dreams and fantasy. Look at that big Bacon triptych for too long, and Id get indigestion. At a $2$3 million estimate, the Frankenthaler sold for $7,895,000 in quite a bidding war.

There were three very good Joan Mitchell paintings. Liens Colors, from 1956, shows the elegance that Mitchell (19251992) brought to abstract expressionism. I like the painting and put aside my longstanding opinion that shes an interior decorators artist. On a $5$7 million estimate, it sold for $5,950,000. Two other Mitchells, one from 1962 and another, Straw, from 1976, look and feel more like landscapes accelerating what Monet was doing at the end of his career. They exceeded their high estimates, I think, because they drew collectors both of abstract expressionism and representational art. The three paintings, all big and very good, provide a micro-retrospective of Mitchell over three decades.

Everything in the Williams auction sold, and many topped their high estimates. Sothebys sometimes offers inflated estimates, which leads to disappointed sellers, but this time it guessed well. It had great quality on its side, too.

The Williams sale was followed by the bigger contemporary-art sale. Together, selling 48 objects, the contemporary sale and the Williams sale lasted about three hours, with a break, so it felt like going to the theater. Matthew Wongs The Realm of Appearances, from 2018, started the part of the sale that followed the Williams cache. Wong (19842019) was a wonderful artist who killed himself last year. He shuttled from Alberta in Canada to Hong Kong and back, suffered from autism, and was a gifted colorist whose abstract landscapes are both dreamy and, understandably, rare.

Sothebys put his painting first to give this part of the sale a jolt. It slapped a low $60,000$80,000 estimate on it, knowing bidding would not plow but blow through it. It reached $1.1 million in increments of $10,000 and $50,000. Then, a buyer bidding in Honk Kong by phone decided to nuke this stately progression by bidding $1.5 million. That stopped everyone in his or her tracks and won the day.

The psychology of these auctions sometimes feels like what happens in a casino. The houses goal is to get people to throw money away in buckets. The Wong placement, first in line, and the low estimate were meant to ignite s spending spree.

The Bacon triptych wasnt the only heavy hitter in this sale. Roy Lichtensteins White Brushstroke I, from 1965, sold for $27,300,500 with the buyers premium on an estimate of $20$30 million. Its prime pop art, if you like that kind of thing. An enchanting Mark Rothko painting, from 1969, sold for $8,350,000, just over the low estimate. Its from the distinguished collection of Harry and Mary Margaret Anderson (called Hunk and Moo), who owned it from 1972 to Moos death last year. Hunk died in 2019.

The Andersons were rich but bought early and well. Their collection wasnt huge, but it was the best of the best of abstract expressionism and Bay Area figurative painting. I love the Rothko. It has a nocturne palette, uncharacteristic of him, and its on paper, not canvas, which consigns it, as far as the marketplace is concerned, to the less esteemed works on paper class. That dings its value but, to me, if the surface is covered with paint, its a painting.

Its also late Rothko, who is not seen as a 1960s artist. Thats the time of pop art. There are some serious collectors of post-war art who want their Rothkos to come from the 1950s or early 1960s, seen as his zenith. Late Rothkos also suffer from guilt by association with the black Rothkos in the chapel next to the Menil Collection in Houston. These black Rothkos precede his 1970 suicide, so to a buyer looking for joie de vivre, the art market cautions beware when it comes to his late work. The Anderson picture evokes the nocturnes of Monet and Whistler and is in a league of its own.

The Andersons were a lovely, down-to-earth couple who gave most of their collection to Stanford for its university art museum. Their heirs need something to live on, though. Hence, the sale.

A Jean-Michel Basquiat drawing of a head went for $15,185,000 on a $9$12 million estimate. I wouldnt call him overrated, but my problem is that he died at such a young age that assessments have to be inconclusive. For that money, a Michelangelo drawing could be had. Mr. Marketplace sometimes has his priorities wrong.

There were two paintings by Willem de Kooning (19041997). East Hampton Garden Party, from 1976, was painted for Emilie Kilgore, then a young Houston woman who became his friend and muse. Its inscribed to her. De Kooning hadnt entered what his dealer once told me was his senile phase, but it wasnt far on the horizon. Estimated at $1.8$2.5 million, it sold for $2,188,000. Its from the time the artist lived in the Hamptons, and it suits that milieu.

Seated Man, from 1941, is de Kooning before he became de Kooning. Until he did the slashing Women series starting around 1950, de Kooning was part of a circle in New York anchored by John Graham. Grahams acolytes and kindred spirits then were Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Stuart Davis, and the young Jackson Pollock and David Smith. Seated Man depicts a clown de Kooning had seen in a circus. Its very tail-end Ash Can style inspired by big-city life but with a cool, European look. Its less about the figure of the seated man and more about form, with a touch of surrealism. Its a more bracing picture than Kilgores, but its for either a museum or a serious modernist collector. It went for $2,420,000 on an estimate of $1$2 million.

Sothebys is selling Williamss art in waves. The consignment was about 450 objects, and like all the auction houses, Sothebys arranges and tiers them based on medium, glitz, and price. On June 30, Sothebys had a day auction devoted to Williams. Her photography collection comes on the market on July 9. Theres an online sale of more work in an auction running from July 9 to July 20 and another sale in the fall.

I like things that are printed and not virtual. That said, much of my writing appears on the screen as I enjoy being part of the digital publishing revolution. Still, I do like printed auction catalogues. Sothebys did a great job exceeding what a printed catalogue offers. Its evening-sale screen catalogue linked the paintings for sale with similar work in great museum collections. Its a good marketing tool, and it helped me, as an art historian, put the art on the block in context.

The problem with buying art at auction right now is access to the objects. Many bidders will have bought or tried to buy art sight unseen. As unthinkable as that seems to me, my reporting two weeks ago on the print fair proved that people will do it. And at the evening sale, I saw theyll do it even if theyre spending millions.

That said, potential buyers could preview the art at Sothebys in New York by appointment if they could get to New York. Since Sothebys had the Williams and Anderson consignments for months, I expect people have been looking at the art and thinking about bidding long before the quarantine shut New York. Unless Sothebys broke the rules, its spaces were closed to its staff and potential bidders alike.

Sothebys did a few other things. It offered an augmented-reality feature simulating how a work for sale would look at home. I tried it. The Bacon triptych, stretching about 14 feet, wouldnt fit. Thats fine. It would scare my cats. Joan Mitchell , strangely, suits a Vermont farmhouse, our country garden, and looks good in our dense interior packed with old stuff.

Its easy to speak to specialists via Sothebys version of Zoom. Sothebys obviously considered the many ways people like to receive and process information and decided to go to great lengths to hold hands. Theyve created a new, more relaxed kind of salesmanship, abetted by the simple fact that, until the last week or so, everyone has been working from home, away from office dynamics that can make people anxious. And buyers are mostly at home, too, and by this point are sick of looking at what theyve got on the walls. COVID-19 will prove itself a boon to the interior-design business.

I think there was some back-and-forth with many of the sellers over the unique calamity of a recession, public-health crisis, and a travel ban. Sothebys made a good case for cleaving to the line.

The financial crisis in 2008 spooked lots of potential sellers from sitting on their art. For months in 2008 and 2009, consignments were mostly limited to the Three Ds sales forced by death, debt, and divorce. As a practical matter, this reduced the number of quality objects on the market.

Lets face it there will always be lots of rich people, and those with the capacity to spend tens of millions on art float above the hard knocks that entangle we penny-watching mortals. The same dynamic exists now. Quality sells. Twenty-seven of the 30 works in the evening modern and contemporary sale have never hit the auction block before. As Ive said many times, fresh meat sells.

It was an extravaganza and well done on every level. Five-minute videos on, for instance, Williams as a collector of female artists and the Bacon triptych used Sothebys department heads as presenters. These augmented the sometimes la-di-da catalogue entries, which veer more toward the flowery than the spartan.

Sothebys specialists spoke accessibly and with authority. They all looked good and game for the adventure. I enjoyed the videos. Ive been to a million previews, and the specialists always look tense. Here, they looked relaxed and persuasive. The Williams video is set in her high-ceilinged, white, big-box living room, where her three big Mitchells, her Frankenthaler, and an Ellsworth Kelly look fantastic.

The sale broke records for Frankenthaler and for Basquiat drawings. The total take also exceeded Sothebys total of high estimates Sothebys has often missed its totals, sometimes by a lot, with the field littered with unsold art. Its got new ownership, a fresh, exciting look, and some new specialists. I think these have made a difference. Congratulations to Sothebys for a good sale done in high style.

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Sothebys Art Auction Breaks Records - National Review

This might mean swapping out your heavy drapes for sheer ones. Shutterstock/backpacker79

Natural light can brighten a room, make it look larger, and show off light-catching finishes, according to Annie Santulli of Annie Santulli Designs.

So, naturally, the first thing she thinks you might want to get rid of is any window treatment that makes it especially difficult for you to get natural light.

"Window treatments should frame a space, but they don't have to be overbearing or heavy to add warmth," Santulli told Insider. "Using sheers or translucent metallics are a way to create some level of coverage without adding weight."

But if you still want to block the sun or have privacy, she suggests layering different window treatments to add dimension and texture to your space "while also allowing for more options to handle light and privacy."

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Interior designers reveal the 12 things in your home you should get rid of - Insider - INSIDER

MARTIN, Bessie Davis, 85, of Richmond, Virginia, died on Wednesday, April 22, 2020, at Sunrise Villa - Tuckahoe. Born April 1, 1935, in Amherst County, Virginia, she was the daughter of the late Everett Anthony Davis and Clementine Figgers Davis. She leaves to cherish her memory her husband of 64 years, Lewis E. Martin Jr. of Richmond, Virginia; two sons, Eric Martin (B. Denton Freeman) of Richmond and Davis M. Martin (Pam) of Montpelier, Virginia; two grandsons, Swayne and Everett; five stepgrandchildren, W. Wyatt F. Kump, H.H. Turner Kump, Cyrus S. (Case) Kump III, Daniel W. King and Miranda B. King; two brothers, Anthony E. Davis (Dottie) of Elon, Virginia and Robert D. Davis (Dolores) of Lynchburg, Virginia; two sisters, Effie D. Farmer of Richmond and Ethel D. Andrews (Wes) of Colonial Heights, Virginia; and 20 nieces and nephews. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by three brothers, Norman W. Davis, Weldon M. Davis and Leonard E. Davis; three sisters, Mary D. Burks, Ruth D. Wright and Mildred D. Massie; and four nephews. Bess was a graduate of Madison Heights High School and a member of Second Baptist Church in Richmond. She was employed in banking for many years in Richmond, Virginia, rising to an executive level in the 1970s. Later, she opened a marketing agency serving financial institutions, and after a move to Clearwater, Florida, resumed an earlier career in real estate sales. Additionally, Bess was an excellent interior decorator and shared her talent with others. She loved to travel, cook and entertain, and was a wonderful hostess. Bess had a way of making everyone feel at home with her kindness and brightened any room with her warm smile. She had a flair for fashion, always being perfectly attired and was ready to go out shopping with family and friends at any time. A memorial service to celebrate Bess' life will be held at a later date. The family wishes to express a special thanks to the staff at Sunrise for Bess' excellent care. For those wishing to make memorial contributions, please consider Alzheimer's Foundation of America, alz.org. Online condolences may be left at woodyfuneral homeparham.com.

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MARTIN, Bessie - Richmond.com

The secret lives of Hollywoods closeted movie stars serves as the main engine of Hollywood, Ryan Murphys splashy reimagining of cinemas golden age. The Netflix miniseries takes heavy inspiration from the life of Scotty Bowers, the late Hollywood pimp who worked at a gas station that doubled as a sex work operation. Reportedly, Bowers set up queer trysts for everyone from Katharine Hepburn to Cary Grant. While those two stars dont get the in-depth treatment in Hollywood, the series does take a look at the rumored affair between Hattie McDaniel (played by Queen Latifah) and Tallulah Bankhead (Paget Brewster), portraying the pair as lovers in episode five.

In the episode, the duo are cozied up at McDaniels house, chatting amiably about their all-night fling with one of Bowerss employees. The show treats the relationship as a fact, presenting McDaniel and Bankhead as an established couple. In real life, rumors persisted for years about the pairbut its hard to pin down when and where those rumblings first began.

Like many stars who may have been closeted in that era, neither woman ever confirmed the whispers, though the McDanielBankhead affair has been repeated in nonfiction books like The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood and The Sewing Circle, a contested account of lesbian and bisexual women in Hollywood. In 2000, there was even a musical about the pair, titled Tallulah and Hattie: Dead at the Pearly Gates Cafe. The affair, it seems, has become an accepted part of each actors respective Tinseltown lore.

Beyond the affair, though, both women had active romantic lives. McDaniel, the Gone With the Wind star who made history as the first black actor to win an Academy Award, married four times over the course of her career. She had two brief marriages early on in her career, the Hollywood Reporter notes, long before starring in Gone With the Wind.

In 1941, she married Los Angeles real estate agent James Lloyd Crawford; four years later, they got divorced. McDaniels married a fourth, and final, time in 1949, to interior decorator Larry Williams; they divorced the following year. McDaniel never had children, entrusting her legacy to her sister Etta, whose children maintain it to this day, per THR.

Bankhead, meanwhile, developed a reputation over the course of her career as a sexual provocateur, often remembered more for her larger-than-life personality than her onscreen pursuits. I was obsessed with Tallulah Bankhead, because she was so ballsy and out there, and also felt never seen and never appreciated, Murphy told Vanity Fair. A big Broadway actress, came to Hollywood, didnt have the success that she wanted.

Still, Bankhead was well known in A-list Hollywood circles. We all adored her, Joan Crawford once said, according to The New Yorker. We were fascinated by her, but we were scared to death of her too. She had such authority, as if she ruled the earth, as if she was the first woman on the moon.

As The New Yorker notes, Bankhead claimed to have slept with 500 people, and was rumored to have had affairs with a slew of starsincluding actor Eva Le Gallienne and actor John Emery, whom she married in 1937, then divorced four years later. During their marriage, she reportedly developed a habit for sneaking guests into their bedroom while Emery slept, then pulling back the covers on him. Did you ever see a prick as big as that before? she would say, according to The New Yorker. Soon she sang a different tune: Well, darling, the weapon may be of admirable proportions, but the shot is indescribably weak.

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Hollywood: Were Hattie McDaniel and Tallulah Bankhead Really an Item? - Vanity Fair

Nobody knows complicated family dynamics better than Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and her mother, Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop). The characters on Amy Sherman-Palladinos Gilmore Girls spent seven seasons and a Netflix reboot sorting through their drama.

While Lorelai and Emily had brief moments when they didnt argue, most of the time they made little digs at each other courtesy of the shows signature fast-talking dialogue. There were times when both Gilmore women were justified in their actions, there were also instances when Lorelai had been way too harsh on her mother. Keep reading to check out our picks for moments in the series when Lorelai couldve showed her mom some kindness.

For those who didnt watch Gilmore Girls every week, heres a brief rundown of Emily and Lorelais relationship. Lorelai grew up in a wealthy home with her parents, Emily and Richard (Edward Herrmann). Outspoken, she never felt comfortable with their lifestyle. At 16, Lorelai and her high school boyfriend, Christopher Hayden (David Sutcliffe), became parents.

Without any warning, Lorelai and her daughter, Rory, moved out and started a new life in Stars Hallow away from Richard and Emily. Gilmore Girls starts with Lorelai asking her parents for help something shes made a point not to do to finance Rorys education at a prestigious private high school. When she agrees to have dinner every Friday night in exchange for tuition payments, viewers learn theres a lot of lingering resentment and anger between them.

Lorelai and Emily went to a spa together in Gilmore Girls Season 2 Episode 16: Theres the Rub, according to Fandom. Sure, Emily invited herself to a spa weekend with Lorelai but the least Lorelai couldve at least had a positive attitude during their time together. Instead, she tried to arrange it so they barely saw each other before resorting to the spas quiet room to get Emily to stop talking to her.

The trip wasnt all bad. The mother and daughter had a few bright spots; they stole robes and later left the spa to have dinner at a bar. But, overall, Lorelai couldve borrowed some of Emilys openness to try new things. Remember how excited Emily had been about the cucumber-infused water and the mud baths? We wish Lorelai couldve been like that from the start of their getaway.

According to Fandom, in Gilmore Girls Season 2 Episode 11: Secrets and Loans, Lorelai needs $15,000 to repair extensive termite damage to her and Rorys house. After getting turned down by every bank for a loan, Rory called Emily for help.

When Lorelai shows up to yet another meeting about a loan, shes surprised to see her mother there. Upset, she makes her mom sit quietly throughout the entire meeting until its clear she needs her to cosign the loan. While Lorelai had every right to be unsure about her mothers motives, she couldve been much more mature and kind in the way she approached the situation.

After a long search for the perfect interior decorator, Lorelai finally found someone she meshed with. There was only one problem; they had previously worked with Emily.

Not wanting to lose the gig, the decorator declined to work with Emily when she asked. One way or another, Emily found out, which led to Lorelai agreeing to hire a different decorator. This one still strikes as being incredibly childish.

Rory and Lorelais plan had always been for Rory to attend Harvard much to the disappointment of Richard who went to college at Yale. In Gilmore Girls Season 3 Episode 7: Let the Games Begin, Lorelai and Rory joined Emily and Richard on a road trip to Yale.

They had a great time until Richard surprised Rory by telling her he set up an interview for her with the universitys dean of admissions, according to Fandom. Just like Rory and Lorelai, Emily had no idea what Richard had been planning. Instead of placing the blame solely on her father, Lorelai blames Emily for the surprise meeting too.

Want more Gilmore Girls? Check out which episodes made the cut on our list of the shows best episodes.

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'Gilmore Girls': The Spa Weekend and 3 Other Times Lorelai Could've Been Much Nicer to Emily - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

New traditional is the new modern.

Instagram and Pinterests influence over interior design has pushed styles to evolve faster than any other time in history. The past decade has seen a range of styles come into prominence starting with ultra-modern and then mid century modern design. Enter Chip and Joanna Gaines with their modern farmhouse look and shiplap everywhere, which ultimately ushered in more contemporary looks.

But the next big thing in interior design is undoubtedly new traditional, which is sometimes called grand millennial. And theres no more important furniture designer and entrepreneur pioneering this movement than Roxy Te Owens, who is the founder of Society Social. If you havent heard of this brand yet or explored their Instagram account, its time to get on board.

A Female Founded Brand

Society Social was founded in 2011, when Owens was living in Charlotte, North Carolina working as a buyer for Belk department stores. She was decorating her first apartment and couldnt find exactly what she wanted. There really wasnt a place for the girl who wanted a pink sofa or something just a little bit different and custom. At the same time, I didnt have a lot of money to spend on designing our first apartment or to hire a decorator for that matter, she tells me. Society Social was my mission to offer fun, custom furniture at somewhat accessible price points.

Society Social chairs

Its not a surprise that Owens started a furniture line because she was born into the industry. But that doesnt mean she has had a free ride. Owns family immigrated to North Carolina from the Philippines before she was born. They had very little and built a business making private label furniture for other brands, even living in the factory with their daughter for the first two or three years of her life. Many of the artisans who make Society Socials furniture in both North Carolina and the Philippines are people she has known since she was a child.

But Owens is a true entrepreneur. Other than the knowledge she learned from her family and the fact that she uses their factories, nothing was handed to her. She started Society Social with her own savings and hasnt taken on a single investor.

Her family was skeptical at first, which is understandable. They werent a consumer-facing brand and werent sure if people would buy furniture online. [They told me] no ones going to buy a piece of furniture unless they can see it and touch it in person, she says. But they ended up being her biggest supporters. Launching with six bar carts, a sofa, and a lounge chair, she never looked back.

New Traditional

Society Social is equally rooted in traditional silhouettes and Instagram. Weve always been traditional with a twist, says Owens. I like layers, textures, patterns, and color. To me, that feels homey.

New traditional is about shapes and ideas like an English wingback chair and putting a new spin on it with colors and fabrics, or accents like contrast piping. Its an ode to the heritage from a millennial perspective.

Design Truly Within Reach

Another thing that is unique about Society Social is the scale of their pieces. While they can be used in larger spaces, they are specially designed for smaller homes and apartments. Not just in big cities, but everywhere, people are living smaller overall. All the sofas were 75 to 77 inches in length when we started and was very intentional. People have asked us for sectionals and big pieces of furniture and I wont do it, says Owens.

Price is also important. While Society Social isnt trying to compete with big names like Ikea or Pottery Barn by any means, their prices are dedicatedly accessible with items such as the Elise Sofa starting at just $1435.

Customization is also at the heart of Society Social, being one of the few brands that offer a large number of custom options for upholstered items.

Dunmore Cane Credenza in Dragon Fruit

While many furniture brands offer just a few color fabric choices for upholstery, there are tens of options for most pieces as well as color matching of Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore paint. Its incredibly easy to get exactly what you want.

Collaboration With Ariel Okin

In April 2020, the brand launched a collection with interior designer Ariel Okin, who is best known for her work designing Lena Dunhams New York apartment and Goops headquarters. This collaboration not surprisingly was the result of Owens reaching out to Okin on Instagram. There are seven pieces in this collection including seating, tables, a bookcase, and pillows.

The Bobbie Coffee Table is one of the most charming pieces in the line. Named after Okins father and father-in-law, it features Trompe LOeil wicker in a skirt-like scalloped shape thats reminiscent of coastal town silhouettes. While the upholstered top is soft and kid-friendly, you can easily use it as a regular coffee table with a tray. There are 56 different fabric choices for this piece.

Pieces from the collaboration with Ariel Okin

Another notable piece in the collection is the Benny Rattan Bookcase. Easily mistaken for an antique, it has four shelves perfect for storing books, knickknacks, or even plants. Its also the perfect spot for selfies and other social media photo opps.

Social Media And Design

Looking at the brands Instagram feed, its easy to understand how theyve built a following. Social media has been the biggest influence on design in the past decade. I think that Instagram, Pinterest and all social media has really empowered the consumer to become their own designer because there is so much visual information out there about how to lay out furniture and educate yourself on different styles. [You can learn] what silhouette of a sofa might fit mid century modern or traditional space, says Owens.

Its truly democratized design and has been a way to educate the consumer, but the flip side is that there can be too much of a good thing. I dont think theres a downside except that everyones homes look the same. There arent a lot of places to go if someone wants to shop traditional.

That sentiment is exactly why Owens is a visionary.

Whats Next

Owens will keep designing and selling furniture, but ultimately her vision for the brand is to open up a Society Social restaurant or hotel, much like Restoration Hardware, but with her new traditional aesthetic. That would be my biggest dream. Theres no one else whos doing it right now, but maybe one day, she says. Considering how far shes come, its a dream thats likely to come true.

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Meet Roxy Te Owens: The Founder Of Society Social And Pioneer Of The New Traditional Design Movement - Forbes