Hasta La Ideas

While we didn’t appreciate Morley Safer‘s mocking of the fashion industry, last night’s 60 Minutes segment did settle one burning question: What kind of chairs does Anna Wintour prefer? In the fleeting shots of her office at Vogue HQ, we recognized the trio of steel chairs circling her desk as the cafe classic “Chaise A” designed in 1934 by Xavier Pauchard for Tolix, which still manufactures them by hand in its Burgundian factory. Longtime bistro staples, the chairs appeared on the decks of the S.S. Normandie (for our money, the most stylish ocean liner of all time) and at the Paris Exposition of 1937. Meanwhile, Design Within Reach, which sells the chairs for $250 each, spreads the rumor that “the chair was created for use in the weather forecasting room on a battleship,” and notes that it “was supplied to bars and brasseries by breweries in exchange for selling their beer.”