INTERVIEW: Jennifer Creel. Actress, Model, Entrepreneur, Fashion Fixture & Philanthropist.



A Jewel in the Crown of Manhattan.

 

If you don’t know who Jennifer Creel is, you must not live in Manhattan, or follow society's biggest players. In the city that never sleeps, there are few that stand out against the backdrop of flashing neon signs or the brawling noise of traffic. In the Big Apple, the rules are simple. If you’re not attractive, you must be fashionable. If you’re not fashionable, you must be rich. If you’re not rich, you must be elegant. If you’re none of these things, you’re in the wrong city. However, if you’re Jennifer Creel – beautiful, fashionable, well-heeled and elegant – your social calendar is booked. 

INTERVIEW: Olivier Magny, Owner of O-Chateau (Paris), Sommelier, Best-Selling Author and TV Host.

When I decided to write a post in consideration of all the manifold ways the French culture (particularly that in Paris) can teach us to be more sophisticated, elegant and refined, and how in turn, the well-heeled American can share a little advice of his/her own - I immediately thought of Olivier Magny.

Monsieur Olivier Magny Hard at Work

 

The young and handsome sommelier, owner of O-Chateau in Paris, author of Stuff Parisians Like and Into Wine, and winner of the 2013 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. Who better? Yet, with all of his accomplishments, his greatest, is the philosophy on life and culture he shares with that, oh, so, particular French charm or je ne sais quoi. Couple this with an insouciant sense of humor, wit and passion. Yes, Olivier, please pour another glass of vin.

Old Money, New Money & Celebrity Culture

“Do not attract attention to yourself in public. This is one of the fundamental rules of good breeding. Shun conspicuous manners, conspicuous clothes, a loud voice, staring at people, knocking into them, talking across anyone – in a word do not attract attention to yourself. Do not expose your private affairs, feelings or innermost thoughts in public. You are knocking down the walls of your house when you do.” - Emily Post

For the most part, I blame the media and it’s sidekicks – advertising and entertainment news – on influencing an insatiable love and lust of largesse, or mass consumerism driven by celebrity culture that we Americans have become infamous for. As Chris Hedges, reports in his book, Empire of Illusion, “Functional illiteracy in North America is epidemic … Nearly a third of the nation’s population is illiterate or barely literate – a figure that is growing by more than 2 million a year … Television, a medium built around the skillful manipulation of images, ones that can overpower reality, is our primary form of mass communication.”