"I know a little show business is important."

David Hockney, via David Plante, Becoming a Londoner: A Diary

Photo Credit: The Sixties: A Decade in Vogue

“To have prestige in New York, aristocratic lineage and wealth are not enough. One must also be sociable, amusing, and more than willing to entertain.”
 
Jerome Zerbe, The Art of Social Climbing

Photo Credit: "El Morocco's" Family Album

“The general run of people boarding planes in Los Angeles often leaves something to be desired. Their dress, manners and over-all behavior tend on the whole to rank lower than other cities.”

Coffee Tea or Me? The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses

Image Credit: LaChapelle Land

"So we fly to the skiing and then helicopter takes us to the yacht for the swimming—and from the ice to the warm sea—all in a few hours—horrible. I did it three times and I told Gianni, ‘Never again’—too boring."

Marella Agnelli, The Grand Surprise: The Journals of Leo Lerman

Photo Credit: The Fifties in Vogue

Cecil Beaton took a hiatus from the fashion magazines during World War II and did his part to support the war effort. For Beaton, that meant traveling the world for Britain's Ministry of Information. Part of his duty was photographing the armed forces.

"Fashion is an expression of the times. Elegance is something else again."

Horst P. Horst

Image Credit: Vogue's Book of Houses, Gardens, People

In last night’s Democratic presidential debate, moderator Anderson Cooper asked the candidates whether they believed in capitalism. Unfortunately, Beverley Nichols was not among the debaters. In one of his best books, Laughter on the Stairs, he recounted asking a liberal friend if he wanted to destroy the capitalist system. The friend responded, “Not in the least. The capitalists, yes. But not the system.”

"One must not be whimsical in purchasing a suit, unless one can afford to have many."

Leo Lerman, The Grand Surprise: The Journals of Leo Lerman

Image Credit: A Wonderful Time. 

"More than any other city on earth, New York lives in public. It drinks, dines and dances in multiple postures in public places and it takes inordinate pleasure in reading about itself so occupied."

Lucius Beebe, The Stork Club Bar Book

"Using good manners is like putting money out at interest—you get back more than you put in."

Kathleen Black, Manners for Moderns

Image Credit: Le Bon Ton, 1910-1950