Victoria Aitken leaves New York to live it up in The Hamptons and wonders if it would make a good documentary…
My friend Robin Leacock, invited me to spend the weekend with her in The Hamptons. She is a documentary film maker and is married to Robert Leacock. The film credits include Madonna’s Truth or Dare, Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard and Christy Turlington’s Catwalk.
The bus that goes to The Hamptons (on Long Island) is sheer luxury with free magazines (almost all of Conde Nast is represented), movies, music and delicious snacks – and blacked-out windows!
Robin zoomed in to pick me up in her sexy white beach jeep, and as we were on for a fun night of parties at the beach, we decided to prepare with a yoga class. We decided to take the bikes and felt a bit like Madonna…who according to Robin’s husband is easy to like, very polite and easy to work with.
From Watermill where Robin lives we drove past designer stores-Scoop, Ralph Lauren, Alice and Olivia and Theory – and several houses with clay tennis courts and beautiful tree -lined drives.
We drove to Sag Harbour to take the ferry across to Shelter Island, which is where the billionaires go. Shelter Island’s flash image is partly due to Andre Balas, who has been linked to Uma Thurman. The bar had a dance floor and an amazing DJ played relaxed hippie tunes. I chatted to my friend John Jacobs, producer of Blades of Glory, then the crowd from the beach descended as the sun set in the distance and everybody swayed and danced around in the sand. Sun kissed bodies, shirtless men and beautiful women in nothing but bikinis and a sarong joined.
After that, we pulled up to the most amazing house in South Hampton for a cocktail party with valet parking and a very manicured lawn.
The style was old American to the max – an eclectic mix of young sexy men and beautiful models – with waspy old men wearing lime green or bright red trousers, a blue blazer, and loafers with no socks. As for fashion, well… the look was Easter bunny rabbit.
On this whirlwind party weekend we stopped for a fake clam bake with friends, then it was off to bed.
On Sunday we recovered from the partying by taking my friend’s dog to Mecox beach. One guy asked me to go surfing with him at Ditch Plains, but sadly I don’t know how to surf. After walking on sand dunes I needed warming up so we met some friends at Piers restaurant which serves the best brunch!
Last time I was there I had dinner with Anne Hathaway (recently seen in The Devil Wears Prada). She was very glam and at the time was dating some Italian aristo, with none of the fashion cluelessness of her character in the film.
Did I mention the traffic around the Hampton? It’s awful! But maybe America’s rich and famous residents will solve the problem with a little plane to go from party to party to skip the congestion…
Forget relaxing at the beach-the water’s much too cold – the typical Hampton’s summer is all about socializing at the beach, and (hopefully) meeting a sexy millionaire. Hanging out with documentary makers, though, I did feel I was in a documentary surveying the social groups in the Hamptons…
Further reading: The Hamptons: Life Behind the Hedges
