Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ Childhood Hamptons Home Has a Fashionable New Owner

Changing Hands: In terms of ownership, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis’ former childhood home has a glittery lineage.

The 10-bedroom, nine-bathroom East Hampton property — which includes a guest cottage, a caretaker’s house and a pool house — is said to have been purchased by the fashion designer and former Council of Fashion Designers of America president Tom Ford. Named “Lasata” for the Native American term meaning “place of peace,” the 7-acre spread was listed in May for $55 million and is said to have sold for $52 million.

Built in 1917, the estate’s first owners were the former first lady’s paternal grandparents, John Vernou Bouvier Jr. and Maude Sergeant Bouvier. The couple owned it from the ’20s until the ’50s. Located two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean at 121 Further Lane, the address is prime real estate in the competitive and high-stakes Hamptons landscape.

The Los Angeles-based film producer David Zander reportedly sold the estate to Ford and swung quite a flip. It was only five years ago that Zander, who heads up the high-powered production company MJZ, bought the manse from fashion designer Reed Krakoff for $38 million, according to an industry source.

Zander then enlisted the talents of interior decorator Pierre Yovanovitch to renovate the manse and tapped Louis Benech to create a new garden. With a heated pool and impeccable grounds, there is plenty of room for Ford, his young son and friends to lounge around.

Bouvier summered in the East Hampton estate as a child. That leafy and salt-aired setting had been where the young Jacqueline Bouvier started riding horses and developed a love for the sea. As a bride-to-be, however, she announced her engagement to then Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy at his family’s Cape Cod summer home — not hers.

Ford will be amid such well-heeled neighbors as Jerry Seinfeld, Carl Icahn and Lorne Michaels.

Ford could not be reached immediately Monday night. Media requests to the Corcoran Group’s Eileen O’Neill, one of the agents on the listing, were not immediately returned Monday night. Sotheby’s International Realty’s Frank Newbold, who reportedly represented the buyer, did not respond immediately to a request for comment. — ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

Designing With Purpose: Awards events can be a dime a dozen depending on which organization is doling them out. But the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s annual design awards carry more might than most.

The Upper East Side museum announced the 2023 roster of recipients, several of whom are using innovative design to try to create societal change. Now in its 24th year, the National Design Awards are meant to highlight how design enriches everyday life.

The winners in 10 categories will be saluted at a gala at the Cooper Hewitt on Oct. 5. In keeping with its commitment to improving accessibility, the museum will offer free admission during its annual National Design week, which is slated for Oct. 2 to 8. As in years past, there will also be special programming, workshops and panel discussions to reel in more visitors. Those who make the trek can check out “A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes,” an exhibition about a textiles designer, whose cross-disciplinary influence can still be seen today.

Twenty years after he launched his signature label, Naeem Khan will be saluted for the Fashion Design award. Born in India, the New York-based designer is committed to craft and tradition as evidenced by his elaborately embroidered eveningwear. He still relies on artisans in the family-owned factory in India that his grandfather first opened decades ago. Khan, who shows during New York Fashion Week, has dressed such notables as former first lady Michelle Obama.

Even with his commitment to age-old techniques, he incorporates an undercurrent of modernism in his designs, a sensibility that stemmed from his first job in the U.S. — a stint at Halston.

This year’s Design Visionary award winner is Seymour Chwast, Push Pin Studios’ founding partner, who has been pushing the boundaries of graphic design since the ’50s and continues to conjure up new frontiers in design and typography.

The Communications award is earmarked for creative director Arem Duplessis, who has done work for Apple, the New York Times Magazine and Condé Nast’s GQ. There, he led the development of the typeface Gotham, which was subsequently used in President Barack Obama’s campaigns, Coca-Cola advertisements and “Saturday Night Live.”

In another sign of the importance of messaging, Clement Mok will be celebrated for Digital Design for his innovative design of digital products, environments, systems, experiences and services. As a designer, software publisher and developer, author and patent holder, Mok has worked for CBS and Apple (including helping to make Macs more user-friendly). He then went on to start Studio Archetype, CMCD and NetObjects.

The museum will honor Beatriz Lozano as the Emerging Designer for her typography that melds the physical and digital world. As an immigrant rights activist, she understands the power of visual communication through graphic design, and strives to use graphic design to create social change and improve access to resources and knowledge.

Social change is also at the foundation of this year’s Architecture honoree nArchitects. In 1999, Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang started the company to address pressing issues through socially engaging work, as in using public spaces and buildings to bring together different communities. The firm created New York City’s first micro-unit apartment building, Carmel Place, in 2016. It also worked on the Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center to attract the next generation of environmental stewards.

As designers and companies in all fields explore new avenues to reduce carbon emissions, the Climate Action award is going to Biocement Tiles by Biomason. The 11-year-old company aims to reduce CO2 emissions generated by global cement manufacturing, which accounts for approximately 8 percent of global CO2 emissions.

In keeping with his field of expertise, Landscape Design winner Kongjian Yu is also all about environmentalism. A farmer’s son who trained at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, he started the Peking University College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Turenscape, a firm that develops landscapes that combat flooding and repair ecological damage

The Cooper Hewitt will hand over the Product Design award to Atlason, a firm that has worked with L’Oréal, the Museum of Modern Art, Ikea, DWR, Heller, Our Place, Microsoft, Stella Artois and Johnson & Johnson. This year’s Interior Design award will go to The Archers, which was founded by Richard Petit and Stephen Hunt. — R.F.

Staying Put: Harvey Kanter will remain at the helm of Destination XL Group for another two years.

The president and chief executive officer of the Canton, Massachusetts-based men’s big and tall retailer on Tuesday entered into an amended employment agreement that will extend his tenure until mid-August of 2026. Kanter has held the position since April 1, 2019, and also serves on the company’s board of directors.

“We are extremely pleased that Harvey has agreed to continue to lead our company into at least mid-August 2026,” said Lionel Conacher, chairman of the board of DXL. “The company has embarked on a long-range growth plan, and we expect that the success which the company has achieved since navigating the pandemic will be just a stepping stone to even greater levels of success. With Harvey’s proven track record of creating shareholder value, we look forward to his continued successful leadership.”

Kanter added that he sees “a lot of ‘blue sky’ ahead and with our efforts to achieve our long-term growth goals, I believe the positive results will be transformative.”

In the first quarter, the company reported its ninth consecutive quarter of comparable-store sales growth. In the period, comps inched up 0.6 percent over the first fiscal quarter of 2022. Net income, however, fell to $7 million from $13.4 million per diluted share and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization dropped to $12.6 million from $17.3 million in the prior year. Total sales were $125.4 million, as compared to $127.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2022. 

At the time of the reporting in May, Kanter attributed the challenging quarter to “broader macro headwinds that have impacted consumer spending.” He added on an earnings call that day that as a result of the first-quarter results, comp sales for the full year are now expected to be closer to the lower end of that range and net income and adjusted EBITDA margin are all projected to come in at the lower end of its previously announced guidance.

Before joining Destination XL, Kanter had been president, CEO and chairman of Blue Nile and over the course of his career was also with Moosejaw Mountaineering, Backcountry Travel, Michaels Stores and Eddie Bauer. — JEAN E. PALMIERI

CanU Exhibition: A new exhibition in Shanghai takes a look at sustainable beauty and the historical value of old clothes.

Titled “Sustainable Mei,” or “Sustainable Beauty,” it is initiated by CanU, a Shanghai-based fashion sustainability platform launched by Dan Cui, an industry veteran and former GQ China fashion director.

In its second iteration, the exhibition expanded in size and scope with more than 100 pieces that explore the emotional multitudes of old clothes by examining archival pieces from prominent figures in China’s fashion and cultural scene.

“This exhibition is about emotions we associate with old clothes,” said Cui. “We realized that the items exhibited here, from writers to economists to governmental officials, is a truthful documentation of China’s socio-economic development in the last 30 years.”

Pieces such as economist Jiamin Zhu’s hat purchased using foreign exchange certificates, acclaimed writer Yucheng Jin’s Versace blouse, artist Honghong Wu’s archival “dynamite” dress that her husband, the artist Cai Guo-qiang designed in collaboration Issey Miyake, offered anecdotal proof of China’s rapid development.

Chinese celebrities, including Fan Bingbing, Zhou Xun, Dong Jie, Chen Kun, Chris Lee, Liu Wen, Wan Baobao also contributed pieces to the show.

More than 20 fashion designers such as Marine Serre, Pronounce, Oude Waag, Sankuanz, Samuel Guì Yang, Caroline Hu and 8on8 created upcycled pieces using deadstock fabric or waste for the exhibition.

Dedicated spaces for Dior, Burberry and Balenciaga, the exhibition’s main fashion sponsor, feature archival pieces that takes a look at the “micro-history” of the luxury maisons.

As a supporting brand partner, Louis Vuitton collaborated with a local artist to repurpose its trunk props used during the CIIE fair as gallery stools for the show.

The exhibition, which runs through Sunday, is located at Modern Art Museum Shanghai and is open to the public. — DENNI HU