HL Group Toasts Town & Country’s Stellene Volandes

Last night, HL Group’s Hamilton South and Lynn Tesoro raised their glasses to toast Town & Country’s recently-appointed editor-in-chief Stellene Volandes at the Baccarat Hotel in midtown. The cocktail hour brought together fashion’s top executives, including AERIN’s Alessandro Fabrini, David and Sybil Yurman, David Webb’s Mark Emanuel, Esquire editor-in-chief Jay Fielden, Michelle Smith, Monique Lhuillier, Oscar de la Renta’s Alex and Eliza Bolen, Taffin’s James de Givenchy, and more.

We caught up with Volandes amid champagne and hors-d’oeuvres to get the low-down on her new position, and, of course, her new office…

How have the past few months been since starting your new role?
I’ve been with Town & Country for five years, so it feels very much like home. I became editor-in-chief in March, and it feels great! There are new challenges, but I love the magazine so much and I travel a lot to different stores and do events for T&C—it means so much to our readers. It’s so much a part of their lives and their own personal history that I feel so proud to be a part of it.

What’s the new office like?
Luckily, I had Will Kahn, who’s our fashion accessories and marketing director, swoop in and help decorate the office. I was out at the Basel Watch and Jewelry Fair and I came back three days later, and Will had completely transformed the office, raided the prop closet from a few shoots, and added some things from my apartment because I was moving. So it looks really, really nice, and I couldn’t be happier.

How are the views?
I have so many people up to the office for meetings and they are really in awe of the whole building. It’s just a beautiful place to work and is sort of your fantasy of what a magazine building would be like.

Do you ever daydream when you look out the windows?
I think it’s called “inspiration” [Laughs].

Would you say you’re more “town” or “country”?
I’m more town.

Why?
I grew up in New York and love it. I feel strongly that if you live in the city you should sort of take advantage of everything it has. I’m out almost every night but I do like my escape on the weekends—I go out to the North Fork in the summer. On weekends I’m pretty country. But the rest of the time I’m town.