Any place where Jackie Kennedy breathed became legendary over time. Her marriage to John F. Kennedy made her the style icon of her country thanks to designer Oleg Cassini, who had experienced Hollywood glamour through his marriage to Gene Tierney. He created the icon of oversized sunglasses, pillbox hats, and unadorned satin evening dresses.
From birth, Jacqueline Bouvier was raised in savoir-faire, distinction, elegance, and luxury. Her maternal grandfather, James T. Lee, was a renowned real estate developer whose most exclusive example remains 740 Park Avenue, the most refined address in New York.
For much of her childhood, while she and her sister Lee studied in Manhattan, they resided in the best duplex in that iconic building. But they also spent long periods, especially summers, at the magnificent estate owned by their paternal grandparents, John Vernou Bouvier Jr. and Maude Frances Sargeant, in East Hampton, the enclave of the wealthiest on the U.S. East Coast.
The property still bears the name Lasata, dating back to 1917, and when the Bouviers bought it, it had 790 square meters on 4.9 hectares of land facing the Atlantic Ocean. It was there that Jackie began horseback riding at the behest of her mother Janet, a demanding woman determined that her daughters marry men of great wealth and influence.
From 1930 to 1950, the future first lady dominated a sport symbol of distinction and exclusivity, winning various awards such as competitions at Madison Square Garden, where recently Taylor Swift married Travis Kelce in grand style.
Today it belongs to designer Tom Ford (64), who in 2023 paid 52 million dollars to ensure that this American dream endures. After selling his brand in 2022 to Estée Lauder for 2.8 billion dollars, Tom Ford began to invest recklessly in real estate, amassing a brick fortune of just over 350 million dollars.
Among his acquisitions is a $38.7 million mansion in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills that belonged to socialite and philanthropist Betsy Bloomingdale - married to the heir of the Bloomingdale's department stores. He spent another $100 million in Palm Beach, over $42 million in his Aspen mountain retreat, and $104 million in U.S. greenbacks for his London residence in Chelsea.
But undoubtedly, Lasata has the most interesting history. Its name means place of peace in one of the Algonquian languages native to Montauk, in Suffolk County, East Hampton. The Texas-born designer acquired it refurbished by its former tenant, film and television producer David Zander.
The two-story mansion with 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms has been restored by Parisian interior designer Pierre Yovanovich, who harmoniously merged Arts and Crafts movement architecture with high-end contemporary design, balancing clean and spacious aesthetics with natural and warm materials.
Yovanovich's style stands out for sculptural furniture whose materials and contrasts create independent artistic spaces. The ground floor living rooms are clad in white oak with a grid design, featuring exposed wooden beams on the ceiling, and large folding windows allowing light to flood all rooms with clarity.
Noteworthy decorative elements include century-old fireplaces, some with handmade colored tiles, framed by artisanal wood moldings integrated into bookshelves.
The living room has a modern design highlighted by a variety of styles and colors, such as curved blue sofas, high-backed chairs, Pierre Chapo coffee tables, and vintage and contemporary European ornamental objects.
Also striking are large French-style glass doors and open arches that fluidly connect these interior areas with adjacent glass galleries and centuries-old landscaped gardens. The kitchen is also modern, with Shaker-style furniture and exclusive petal-shaped lamps.
The vast grounds also feature a two-bedroom guest house, a one-bedroom caretaker's residence, a pool house, and a garage with a workshop for three cars.
The grounds also include a two-bedroom guest house, a caretaker's house, a pool house, and a garage for three cars with a workshop.