Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

faut.”
“Ollie, we’re going to comme-il-faut the hell out of her! Kitty, dry your tears. We need
to give your face one of my emergency hyaluronic acid boosters right now, before it gets
too puffy,” Charlotte commanded.
“And then we’re going to add the subtlest sun-kissed highlights to your hair. You’ll look
like you just came back from a summer in the Seychelles!” Jo proclaimed.
Two hours later, Kitty was posed on a Regency settee in front of The Palace of Eighteen
Perfections, the magnificent Chinese scroll painting she had purchased two years ago for
a record-breaking $195 million. She was dressed in a pale pink Oscar de la Renta off-theshoulder
ball gown, the billowing duchesse satin skirt pooling gloriously around her, and
on her head was a delicate Edwardian pearl headband.
Gisele, in an adorable Mischka Aoki cornflower blue dress with feathers and cascading
ruffles was positioned lying on the settee, one leg dangling and her head resting on her
mother’s lap. Harvard stood on the other side of his mother with his arms around her
neck, looking precious in a white sailor suit with navy blue piping from Bonpoint and
white socks that went up to his knees. At the foot of the settee lay a gleaming pair of Irish
setters.
Nigel had imagined Kitty’s cover shot as a sort of modern-day re-creation of a Watteau
portrait, and to achieve this he had brought all the way from New York the enormous
Polaroid 20 x 24 camera. There were only six of these unique handmade cameras in the
entire world, and so precious were the prints that every frame Nigel shot would cost
$500. But the camera was somehow able to achieve an indescribable alchemy, creating
images that were remarkably crisp and yet otherworldly. To go along with this concept,
Nigel had confected an extraordinary blend of natural light fused with massive studio
lights to create the sort of dappled, late-afternoon northern light straight out of an
eighteenth-century atelier.
“Gisele, you have the prettiest smile,” Nigel remarked as he stared into his viewfinder.
Harvard was distracted by the dogs and kept reaching down to try to pet them. “Harvard,
give your mommy a kiss!” Nigel encouraged, and then at the precise moment, just as
Gisele was relaxing into her smile, Harvard was planting kisses on his mother’s cheek,
and the sunlight was hitting the painting at just the right angle, Nigel asked, “Kitty, what
are you thinking?” Her expression suddenly took on a faraway look, and Nigel clicked the
shutter, knowing he had just captured the defining shot.
Minutes later, the giant Polaroid was ready, and Toby, the first assistant, carefully
placed the print on a special easel at the back of the room for all to see.
“Oh that’s the shot! It looks like a Sir Joshua Reynolds come to life! Isn’t this the most
perfect tableau you’ve ever seen?” Oliver said to Patric.
“If only Nigel could join them in the photo. And take his shirt off. Then it would be
perfect,” Patric whispered back.
“I’m speechless! It’s sooooo gorgeous I can hardly believe it. Nigel, this is going to be
our best cover ever!” gushed Violet Poon, the editor in chief of Singapore Tattle. “Oliver,