“A Ghost or Two Will Prove Invaluable”: Nancy Mitford’s Fabulously Unhinged Guide to Hosting a Country House Christmas

Never marry a Mitford, as the saying goes, but some of the sisters’ party advice? Golden. In the ’20s and ’30s, long before she published The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford contributed to British Vogue on a number of occasions—hardly surprising, given her close friendship with Cecil Beaton—but never more successfully than at Christmas, when … Read more

How to Throw the Ultimate Christmas Party, According to Lee Miller, Cecil Beaton, and More of Vogue’s Most Glamorous Contributors

Christmas is the season of tradition and nostalgia—so this year, take your entertaining cues from the Vogue archives. The invitees As the most famous event planner of the 20th century, Elsa Maxwell hosted lavish gatherings attended by everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Jackie Kennedy. Her first rule for successful evenings? No obligation guests. “One should … Read more