Redeeming Features [Hardcover]

"You could find yourself as Nicky Haslam's `plus one' at the swellest parties with his delicious memoir."
--Harpers Bazaar, Naomi West

This is a wonderfully entertaining memoir, gossipy, touching and tender, even if at times it verges on self-parody. --Literary Review

Nicky is featured as a `style hero' --Sunday Times

'Society gossip galore by the gadfly's gadfly' --Daily Mail

`this really rather wonderful book is about a life devoted to "Looking the part"' --Daily Telegraph

`Haslam is an intriguing man...[and] can write wonderfully well' --The Spectator

'the joy of this book comes from Nicky's undying joie de vivre'
--Indemepdent on Sunday

'gloriously entertaining' --Tatler

`Haslam writes evociatively and touchingly'
--TLS

It is... boisterously good company and proof that if Haslam knows one thing, it's that you can only get away with a life like his if you are never, ever boring. --Metro

A terrifically entertaining read! --Daily Mail

Extremely diverting, essentially kind-hearted and well-written. --Evening Standard

Nicky Haslam has known everyone from Greta Garbo to Cole Porter to the Royal Family, with many unforgettable eccentrics in between. But this is not a catalogue of celebrities. It is a truly felt, beautifully crafted , wise consideration of a full life, which paints an unforgettable picture of a vanished England and America. Masterpiece is an overused word, but this Proustian evocation is indeed a masterpiece From the Mitfords to Warhol's Factory to Paris Hilton - Nicky Haslam has been at the centre of every glittering social circle in living memory... Haslam should be declared a National Treasure. While the nation's spirits are grievously low, Haslam brings joy and sprinkles magic dust of one sort or another wherever he goes. The Times Redeeming Features is a tour de force romp through high society and the more glamorous chapters in the counterculture of the 20th century and the 21st...Haslam pops up from decade to decade alongside some of the most fascinating people in our cultural history. Vanity Fair

From the legendary interior designer Nicky Haslam, a dazzling and witty account of his frenetic life—from the ‘50s to the present—in London, the south of France, New York, Arizona and Los Angeles, in a crowd of friends and acquaintances that includes virtually all of the cultural icons of our time.

Nicky Haslam has found himself at the centre of the most interesting circles wherever he is — at parties, opening nights, royal weddings. In London in the late ‘50s he crossed paths — and more —with Cecil Beaton, Francis Bacon, Diana Cooper, Lucian Freud, David Hockney and Noël Coward. In the ‘60s, in New York, he encountered Dorothy Parker, Cole Porter, Andy Warhol, Jack Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe while working at Vogue and Show magazines, before decamping to a ranch in Arizona to raise Arabian horses, when he wasn’t commuting to Los Angeles to decorate for the stars. Back in England in the early ‘80s, he attended the wedding of his cousin Diana Spencer and designed for everyone from James Goldsmith to Bryan Ferry.

Haslam is a gifted and exuberant storyteller with an exacting eye for the telling detail. Redeeming Features is a fascinating look at our culture, a compelling and wholly singular document of our times.

From the legendary interior designer Nicky Haslam, a dazzling and witty account of his frenetic life—from the ‘50s to the present—in London, the south of France, New York, Arizona and Los Angeles, in a crowd of friends and acquaintances that includes virtually all of the cultural icons of our time.

Nicky Haslam has found himself at the centre of the most interesting circles wherever he is — at parties, opening nights, royal weddings. In London in the late ‘50s he crossed paths — and more —with Cecil Beaton, Francis Bacon, Diana Cooper, Lucian Freud, David Hockney and Noël Coward. In the ‘60s, in New York, he encountered Dorothy Parker, Cole Porter, Andy Warhol, Jack Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe while working at Vogue and Show magazines, before decamping to a ranch in Arizona to raise Arabian horses, when he wasn’t commuting to Los Angeles to decorate for the stars. Back in England in the early ‘80s, he attended the wedding of his cousin Diana Spencer and designed for everyone from James Goldsmith to Bryan Ferry.

Haslam is a gifted and exuberant storyteller with an exacting eye for the telling detail. Redeeming Features is a fascinating look at our culture, a compelling and wholly singular document of our times.

'From the Mitfords to Warhol’s Factory to Paris Hilton – Nicky Haslam has been at the centre of every glittering social circle in living memory… Haslam should be declared a National Treasure. While the nation’s spirits are grievously low, Haslam brings joy and sprinkles magic dust of one sort or another wherever he goes' The Times

'Redeeming Features is a tour de force romp through high society and the more glamorous chapters in the counterculture of the 20th century and the 21st…Haslam pops up from decade to decade alongside some of the most fascinating people in our cultural history' Vanity Fair

Nicholas Haslam is the author of Sheer Opulence and has been a contributing editor of Vogue and Tatler for many years. He also writes for The World of Interiors and The Spectator. He lives in London.