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Welcome to Classic & Curious! A podcast dedicated to exploring today’s classic-styled life.
Each month, we’ll be sharing conversations with some of our favorite brands and personalities in travel, entertaining, fashion and design.
We’ll discuss their story and how timeless classics elevate their everyday. A podcast perfect for those that are endlessly curious.
So grab a cup of coffee or glass of wine, whatever suits your fancy. We hope to inspire you, make you laugh a little and look forward to every engagement.
Cheers!
Welcome to Classic and Curious. A podcast dedicated to exploring today's classic style of life. I'm your host, Anne Kikosky. And each month, I'll be sharing conversations with some of my favorite personalities in travel, entertaining, fashion, and decor. We will explore how they elevate their everyday with timeless classics reimagined with a modern sensibility.
Anne:So grab a cup of coffee or glass of wine, whatever suits your fancy. We hope to inspire you, make you laugh a little, and look forward to every engagement. This episode is perfect for those that love to collect one of a kind curated and coveted pieces. Our guest, Hilary Ellenson, will share with us the beautiful brand heritage of Hotel Silver. Established in 1988 by Hilary's mother, Ginger Kilbane, Hotel Silver is known for its stylish collection of vintage European silver.
Anne:The collection launched at Bergdorf Goodman in 1990 where it caught the eye of the press, and to this day remains a bestseller on the iconic 7th floor. After a start to her career in finance in New York City and Hong Kong, Hillary transitioned to her true passion, the home. She returned to New York and joined Bergdorf's decorative home team as an assistant buyer. Soon after, her leadership earned her a promotion to head the buying team and home division. Since 2020, Hillary has been running the next era of hotel silver.
Anne:Like her mother, Hillary is known for her innate sense of style. She brings an energy to the brand that is cultivated by her love for travel, culinary appreciation, and design interest. Just as her mother, Ginger, has done, Hillary will create her own personal legacy on the brand's heritage and future. Join me as we hear all about the beautiful ways to make silver part of your everyday expression and learn what's on the horizon for one of my favorite brands. Cheers to Hillary.
Anne:Let's chat. Welcome to this lovely episode. I am thrilled to be hosting Hillary from Hotel Silver. As with most guest intros, I tell a story of how we made a connection. But before I do that, let me share a little backstory.
Anne:As a little girl, one of my fondest memories was preparing the table for special occasion dinners. My mother had a hutch that housed all of her coveted pieces. Not everything matched, and it was a bit of a high low story. Russell Wright with silver flatware and various styles of Waterford glasses. If we didn't have enough, we substituted with our best every day.
Anne:The mix of color and elements remain in my mind. Collected treasures, I would call them. So fast forward, the aspiring tastemaker in me always had a passion for seeking out tableware. Brands that fancy my cupboards today are Match Pewter, RW Guild, MAPRA Flatware, Hudson Grace, and my beautiful Jillian goblets from William Yowered. So how did this lovely brand of hotel silver enter my life, you might ask?
Anne:Well, I blame it on Ina. I would watch her show and adore the backdrop of silver behind her. After finding Hotel Silver through Cassandra's kitchen, I was able to start with a few pieces. When I started to feature collections for my clients focusing on everyday or holiday style, Hillary was gracious enough to share her beautiful brand. A long intro, I know, but here we are today.
Anne:And once again, Hillary is sharing her beautiful brand in yet another extension, and we couldn't be more delighted to have her on this podcast.
Hilary:Oh, thanks so much, Anne.
Anne:I'm so excited. So tell me, how did the brand get started?
Hilary:The brand started by my talented mom, Ginger Kilbane, in the late eighties when she launched it, this idea of hers. But the idea started many years ago, 1959, 1960, when she had graduated from college and was working in fashion and was sent to Italy to cover the collections for the first time. It was her first trip to Europe, and they put her up in the Grand Hotel in Florence. And she tells the story of breakfast, room service arriving on a tray with crisp white linens and this chunky, what she called adorable coffee pot with the insignia of the hotel and the creamer and the sugar, and there was just something about it. She'd never seen it.
Hilary:It was good in the hand, and that stuck with her and that her boss at the time bought her the coffee pot because she kept talking about it. And after a career in fashion and magazine, worked as an assistant at Conde Nast and then getting married and having 2 children, myself and my sister. She went to the New York School of Interior Design and became a designer with a small firm in the town we grew up in and then worked with a really fabulous architect for 10 years as his lead designer with very interesting clients, both residential and commercial. All along, that coffee pot and that love for Hotel Silver was in the back of her mind, and midlife decided I'm gonna do this. If I'm still thinking about it, other people I'm sure will have the same path.
Anne:Oh, that's so amazing. So how did she bring it to life? How did she come up with the idea to go find these beautiful pieces and collections?
Hilary:I mom has this innate sense of style. My dad did as well. They loved travels to Europe and brought a bit of that back home to Connecticut when the trips were over. And I think her presentation, even a simple breakfast, always had fresh cut little flowers from the garden in a little pitcher on the table. And it was just sort of part of her love of styling and wanted to incorporate the Hotel Silver into that.
Hilary:And she really was bold. She made a lot of cold calls and met with the catering managers of some of the finest hotels in Europe at the time in the basement who were happy to sell their cast off to this American woman. And the way she presented it with, again, crisp white linens in a basket to specialty retail stores and designers, they were taken by it. It wasn't the fussy grandmother silver that's put away just to be used on holidays that they were so familiar with. She really was the first to do it with her styling and the scope.
Hilary:Nobody else was doing that in the late eighties. And it caught the attention of Bergdorf Goodman, where we still sell the silver and educated people on what Hotel Silver is. It's not sterling. Sterling would never have held up wear and tear. If a waiter drops it all, you'd end up with a big dent.
Hilary:So Hotel Silver, the old vintage pieces, which we carry from about 1910 to up to the seventies, have a nickel base with other alloys, but it's known for its heft and its durability. Made by some of the finest silversmiths at the time. In England, Mappin and Webb, Walker and Hall, Elkington are some names that were very well known for hotel silver. And the idea was to use it every day. It wasn't meant to be put away, and bringing a bit of that luxury into your own home was doable with the Hotel Silver and keeping it out, encouraging customers to keep it out on the kitchen counter and reach for it and use it.
Hilary:Again, kind of reeducating that silver doesn't have to be formal and fussy. Very streamlined, clean design that goes with anything.
Anne:I totally agree. And I just wanna go back and make a comment about your mom for a minute. What an amazing story of how her personal experiences drove this passion, and she allowed her instincts to take action. I think it's one thing to have an innate sense of style. But when you share it in the way that your mother did, it's such a testimony to who she is.
Anne:So amazing Ginger. There's a couple other mentions you made too that I feel we should double click on. One is there's so much value behind the reeducation process about silver, and I'm happy you mentioned that. It's like removing the stereotype because it doesn't need to be fussy. And the beauty of hotel silver is that very fact.
Anne:It's everyday elegance. It can weave organically into any decor table setting, and it just creates the perfect mix. And the other thing that I think is really cool is the mention you had about the heftiness of the nickel and having some of the pieces in my own home, I know firsthand, you can feel that weight in each piece and perhaps gain a sense of this historic connection because of the importance of nickel during those times, especially during the war time. So I think that's a story too. So all said, how did your role enter into the continuation of Hotel Silver's story?
Hilary:Growing up with a mom with this innate style and love of Europe and my dad as well, I grew up around design and always had an infinite receiving Christmas presents wrapped in wallpaper samples that might have had to have been written to the D and D building in New York, but they were our wrapping paper. I mean, in our elementary school backpacks, we had the pencils from the different showrooms, and I always loved the Clarence House showroom pencil because of the rainbow colors on it. Everything was done with such style. And even in college, I was an economics major, and I would go to the periodical room to study for my economics exams because I knew the latest House Beautiful in Elle Decor would be sitting on the shelves. And more time looking at those than what I should have been studying for the economics exam and had a career in finance that was New York and Hong Kong.
Hilary:And while interesting as can be, it just wasn't feeding my creative soul and what I'd grown up around. And I interviewed a lot of people who were doing jobs and industries I was thinking about. And at the time, mom had just started the business. This is in the eighties, late eighties. I had returned from Hong Kong, and she it's a great story.
Hilary:She loved Corky Pollan was the editor, Best Bets editor of New York Magazine, and she said, oh, I would love the story of my business. I would love that to get out to New York Magazine through Corky Pollan. And Corky said, I love it. I've never heard about this before, but you need to be in New York for me to be able to write about it. And she gave the phone number of the head of the home division at Bergdorf's and said call Corky Tyler, who was a woman of great style, and see if you can get an appointment.
Hilary:So having just returned from Hong Kong, I helped mom on that appointment. We had the baskets and the crisp linens and walked to 57th Street and up to the 7th floor, And Corky absolutely loved it and bought everything we were presenting, and it sold out in 2 weeks and went from a shelf to a table to a baker's rack to our own area. And we continue to be there almost 35 years later as as a best seller. It's an ever evolving collection, and the customers became collectors. But and at the time, I heard that they were looking for an assistant buyer.
Hilary:And I said, okay. I have no retail experience, but I've been around design and home and I have a love for it and a passion for it. And I have some business experience having been in finance. Maybe I could interview for that assistant buyer job. And I did, and I I got it.
Anne:How amazing.
Hilary:And that experience from assistant buyer to buyer to then eventually the divisional running the 7th floor business and buying team was phenomenal. So this transition decades later after raising 3 children of my own and traveling and living cross country, it made sense. Mom was looking for help, and I'd had that experience of traveling and sourcing and being on the other side of the table as a retailer. So when we're presenting now to specialty retail shops, it's extremely helpful to have that perspective of what is a good collection, a good assortment, merchandising out on the floor. Like, what makes sense?
Hilary:So that's a long answer to your question. But from growing up and then my career and then switching over into retail to now being on the vendor side selling to beautiful specialty retail stores around the country and working with interior designers as well. It kind of all fell into place. It was pretty seamless. It's not
Anne:a long answer at all. Our personal stories are not easy to sum up. Like mother, like daughter, your innate sense of style needed an outlet too, and good for you to follow what was right. And I believe it takes a special purveyor with discerning taste to play host to this very special brand. What a love story.
Anne:Not just between you and your mother, but for this brand. I think it's really special, Hillary, everything that you're doing.
Hilary:Oh, thank you. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun.
Anne:It is a lot of work. People don't realize retail is a boots on the ground job. And the other part of retail that I think is important that we sometimes forget about is retail is a lot about storytelling. I know when I would sell your pieces, if we did a pop up and I would sit in front of women, I would story tell about your brand product. I think there's so much richness there.
Anne:It's not just something sitting on a table. There's a story of how that came all the way to where it was in front of them. So let's share a little bit with the listeners around the evolution of the pieces and how they come from London or afar, and what journey do they go on?
Hilary:They go on a journey of restoration because the pieces are not in the condition that one sees when you're either at Bergdorbs or any of the fabulous stores that we sell to. We have our longtime London silversmith, Restore, so tap out any dink, you know, dents or dimples and beautifully re plate them in pure silver. So he really brings them back to their former glory. And we encourage whenever I'm in store or talking to people, you'll see one of our favorite pieces. And Ginger, mom, always said this was sort of the beginning of the collection piece, is an oval divided dish, and it comes in different sizes, 6 inch, 8 inch, 9 inch.
Hilary:But it was you it has a simple rolled rim around it, and it was used to serve vegetables. So steamed spinach on one side and potatoes on the other, and they would bring it to your place at the restaurant at the table. But now the uses are endless. You can have nuts, especially pistachios. Take it out of the shell.
Hilary:On the other side, if you divide a dish, put the shells in there. Two beautiful jams at a brunch, mustards and chutneys at a lunch or dinner. I have it on my desk here with paper clips. In a powder room with beautiful soaps. I mean, the uses are absolutely endless.
Hilary:And I think that's the fun of it is you look at some of these pieces that were so specific designed as a bottle coaster, yet take that bottle coaster and put cashews in it or put lemons and limes on a bar setup. There's so many uses for the pieces. It's fun to share that with the customers, and you see their eyes light up sometimes. Like, I never thought about that.
Anne:I know I use mine a lot for, like, floral, or I mentioned earlier, I've been known to take, like, a water pitcher and use it for a cutlery if I'm having, like, a little my friends over for a luncheon. It's just so fun to not only have it display different things, but it's also so fun to have conversation about it too. And it strikes up so many, you know, perfect conversations at a table. That's why I love it because it's so interesting.
Hilary:Absolutely. If you're serving takeout Chinese food, if you just grab a bowl of hotel silver that happens to be on your kitchen counter, all of a sudden it elevates it. Simplest thing. Or potato chips on a cheese board, put it in one of the silver what was a finger bowl, and it just adds a little glimmer. Again, not fussy.
Hilary:We refer to it as casual elegance. It just ups the game a bit and add some sparkle. And it reflect what we love about it also, it's so reflective and mirror like. Whatever you're serving in it or around it, it's almost like a neutral. It picks up on whatever colors, whether it's the raspberry sherbet in the bowl or tara chips with the different colored potato chips in it.
Hilary:It sets the stage nicely for whatever you're serving.
Anne:Couldn't agree more. So, you know, here we are. Your mom has kind of invented the brand, and you have sourced some beautiful pieces of silver. And as the brand started to grow and to emerge beyond Bergdorf's and you started to get some noteworthy celebrities using it, when was that turning point? Tell us about those stories.
Hilary:When it launched at Bergdorf's, Bergdorf's really was a place that people would pay attention to to see what is on that 7th floor as for sourcing, and it caught the eye of the press because of the way it was presented. And you name it, it was written up in whatever magazine from every you know, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Elle before, House Beautiful. W magazine. It goes on and on. These editors were intrigued and excited about the idea of the collection.
Hilary:And in all of that press, this is before the Internet, before ecommerce, etcetera, we're reading magazines and studying them, and that's how people like fabulous Martha Stewart and Ina Garten got in touch with us. And we developed some for Martha and some others. This is going back into the early nineties to mid nineties. Some collections inspired by some of the vintage pieces in the collection for them, and that business grew very nicely for us. And, again, before the Internet and ecommerce, they were very generous in sharing where they got their silver and were so kind to mention Ginger and where one could find the collection, which really helped as well because of the platform Ron and the people they were speaking to who loved entertaining and gifting and travel.
Hilary:It's tied all those interests together in one product.
Anne:It sure did. And what I think is so meaningful about the celebrity touch, and this is not to dismiss the Bergdorf appeal in any way, shape, or form, But it was another way to introduce silver into the homes across the country. And like I said, I lived in Ohio at the time, my love story with hotel silver started. And, obviously, there's many women like me that the extension of it being featured via a network influenced so many of us to invite this brand into our lifestyle, and it was a way of bringing in an elevated touch without the fuss.
Hilary:When talking with customers, some are nervous about the fact that it's silver and it needs polishing. But the fact that we have it beautifully plated, replated in London, it brings it back to life. Yes. You will occasionally need to polish it, and we recommend very gentle. Twinkle or Wrights are 2 brands we like that you use at the sink.
Hilary:It's very easy and gentle, and you just wipe it and dry it with a soft cloth. But the more you use it, the less you have to polish it to soapy warm water after using it and, again, keeping it out and keeping it in circulation. It's really not that much upkeep.
Anne:Not at all.
Hilary:And something that I I do share when people are asking.
Anne:So let's drill down a little bit on pieces. Let's first start with your favorites. But then I would love to hear some of the clients' favorites. So tell me a little bit about what are your favorite pieces in the collection?
Hilary:I love the vintage and we'll be coming out with for our own private label line a couple of pieces, ice pails. They're not as big as champagne buckets, but ice pails, I reach for to put a little orchid plant in, whether it's from Trader Joe's or your local florist, all of a sudden, like an elegant cash flow. It's beautiful. Or fresh flowers, and it just that's a go to piece of mind when I'm quickly styling a table. I'll look for a little ice pail and put either fresh flowers or a myrtle topiary or an orchid plant, and it looks beautiful.
Hilary:Another one, toast racks, originally made to serve kind of dry toast, but always on a desktop or a dresser for favorite stationery or cards or cocktail time folded linen cocktail napkins out on a coffee table at you're serving appetizers, and someone also recently suggested individual cookies in the serving at or dessert time with the toast rack plopped down on the table with a cookie in each of the slots, which I thought was a great idea. But that's a really versatile piece that just looks really beautiful on a desk, and I have a couple of desks here in the office and at home that have the toast rack on them.
Anne:Love that.
Hilary:Another one is just any bowl. There's some great pedestal bowls with handles about 6 inches in diameter, and it's such a go to for anything and everything from whipped cream, homemade fresh whipped cream at dessert time or strawberries and blueberries at brunch time, crackers on a elevates sort of the crackers or cheese straws on a cheese board for appetizers. It's, again, one of those very versatile pieces. And a tray. A tray corrals everything.
Hilary:We have some great bar trays. And I've even used them, a long rectangular bar tray, as a centerpiece on the dining room table and put a couple of votives on it and a glass vase with some white hydrangeas, and all of a sudden you've got this sort of stage set down the center of the table. There are a lot. Pedestal cake stands also. I was just thinking I'm looking around the office.
Hilary:Pedestal cake stands, which we have made in London. We have vintage, but also our silversmith makes them for us in London, and they are the best. It's an instant centerpiece. It's always on the kitchen counter with a pile of clementines or apples or citrus, lemons and limes, or obviously to serve cookies or a tart or a cake, and an instant centerpiece when you move it over to the kitchen table or the dining room table with those clementines or pears on it.
Anne:Oh, so beautiful.
Hilary:And especially on a buffet, it adds height. It's a great gift item, and that's one of our best sellers. It comes in we have it in 3 sizes.
Anne:I can visualize every idea you just shared, and I will make sure our listeners can reference your ideas on our episode notes in a very easy way, but I also think your Instagram is a wonderful resource for ideas as well. So listeners, make sure you take a peek at Hotel Silver's Instagram. So one thing I do, and I was laughing as I was listening to you, is when I'm entertaining, I will have my menu in my hand, and I'll stand in front of my cupboard, and I will play with ideas in my mind on how to bring that menu to life in a creative way through all my pieces. So I was just delighted with all of your illustrations because I actually think I'm gonna copy many of them. So thanks for that, Hillary.
Anne:So when you go to London, are there pieces you are seeking to add in your collection?
Hilary:Yes. I'm always on the hunt for something that we used to be able to get more frequently, and we have a couple of old pieces. They're vintage fish poachers, and I have one on my kitchen counter. They're oval, and they have a beautiful oval top with a little sculptural fish at the tippy top of it with 2 shell handles on the side, all very clean lined even though it has those details, but it's like a piece of jewelry on the countertop. It's beautiful.
Hilary:And it's been tough, have not come across too many of them. So that's an I'm always on the hunt for those. Again, not easy to find, but we try to get as many as we can. These beautiful watering cans that are circa 1900. And they're brass, and they have dimples from use in history, and they were used for watering plants, but also bringing hot water to bed warmers upstairs back in the day.
Hilary:And we have our silversmith beautifully replate them. Plate they've never been silver before, but we we plate them in pure silver. And it's just the ultimate, not for a shed, but maybe a potting room or a flower room or, again, just out on a counter for its sculptural beauty, the watering cans are a favorite.
Anne:They're gorgeous. They have caught my eye, and in fact, I have often thought I have to get one of those. They are simply perfect.
Hilary:Yeah. They're special. And each one has its own personality again because they are over a 100 years old. So you'll see a little dent not a dent. We call them dimples from love and from use.
Hilary:But wherever you plop it down, it looks really beautiful, and it's a conversation piece. And I think for anyone who loves landscaping or gardening, it's sort of the ultimate gift.
Anne:Are there others?
Hilary:I'm trying to think if there are any other items that we're on the hunt for. Oh, well, on the hunt always for fabulous pieces with the badges of the well known wonderful hotels such as the Savoy and the Connaught and Claridges, Rochester. Years ago, my mother was able to work with the Bristol Hotel in Paris and had such a cash Bristol silver. It was just beautiful. It's harder as the trend collecting hotel silver has accelerated it.
Hilary:It's harder and rarer to find those authentic beautiful pieces. But when we do, we celebrate them and share them with our accounts as well as on our website because they're special. They carry such history. Some of these pieces we had some pieces from the House of Commons from the 19 thirties, and you think Wow. Using those footed sorbets at dessert time.
Hilary:And what was the conversation like at the time?
Anne:Yeah. So that would
Hilary:be historic pieces like that. We're always on the hunt for.
Anne:I love that. And being married to a history major, he's always so intrigued by things like that. Yeah. I wanted to talk a little bit about is your collectors. What have you learned about your collectors in terms of what they purchase?
Anne:What's important to them?
Hilary:Well, we found our customers who are collectors. What appeals to them, we've because of the streamlined design, interior designers and architects are a segment of our population because they're almost some of those fabulous platters are almost architects within themselves, and and they go with traditional for the streamlined design, we architects and designers. For those who love to entertain and to cook, it's a natural, and they're drawn to the pieces, whether they've seen them in the magazine or on TV or our website or Instagram. It's just something they want in their entertaining arsenal to have some fabulous pieces to bring out when they entertain. And interior designers, we work with a lot of them who are styling backsplashes in the kitchen or a bar area in a home or a butler's pantry right off the kitchen with glassed in shelving, and they would love to have back trays in the backs of the shelves and pedestal cake stands.
Hilary:So it's, again, almost like an architecture, sculptural quality to it and eye catching, almost like art installation.
Anne:I totally agree.
Hilary:And, generally, we get phone calls from all over the country. It's people who have seen us through wonderful Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa, and they also know about Cassandra Schultz who has cassandraskitchen.com, which is a wonderful website. We've worked with Cassandra who years who sells all of Barefoot Contessa's favorite things, and we're very happy to be a part of Ina's favorite things list. And that's how people come to us and find the silver.
Anne:I think one of the prettiest ways to display it is in a kitchen cupboard and see the whole silver as an impact. It's a whole story, and it doesn't have to be the same item repeating, although that's beautiful as well. I love little you mentioned earlier your bowls, you know, even brought into a living space, right, on top of books. And it's just a gorgeous way that you can kind of bring this in every room of your home. Even bedside, I think, is just such a beautiful place to have one of your pieces.
Anne:So it's just gorgeous. And I'm glad you mentioned Cassandra's Kitchen because I am a big fan and such a lovely sight to see and to discover, for sure. So as we think a little bit about the future and what's on the horizon this year, is there anything fun? I've been noticing you've been doing some pop ups. And do you have anything planned on the calendar that's new and exciting?
Hilary:We have some we're working on our private label collection, which is it takes about 4 to 6 months to get prototypes and working on expanding pieces into our private label collection. Right now, we have 10 pieces and this sprung out from years of developing collections for some very well known brands. And we thought, you know what? We have this treasure trove of vintage silver. Let's pick some of our very favorite pieces, the pieces that we reach for and use a lot and love.
Hilary:And let's do our own private label collection. So they all have our beautiful hotel logo on the bottom, and they're handcrafted by skilled artisans in India. And they arrive at a relatively friendlier price point than the vintage couture, one of a kind pieces. And the beauty of it also is if somebody wanted 12 of 1 of the bowls, they can get them. We can get it in quantity.
Hilary:If you're having a dinner party and you want 12 identical or close to identical bowls, the reproduction can do that. So that's exciting.
Anne:That's very exciting.
Hilary:And we launched our ecommerce. It was November at the end of last year, so we're building that and expanding to other stores within the country. And we do 1 or 2 pop ups a year, usually around holiday time. And so we'll see. We don't have one.
Hilary:We did a lovely one at the Huntress in Pound Ridge, wonderful in December, and that was a great venue for it. Just a beauty beautiful, beautiful shop and nearby, which made it convenient. So we'll see on the pop up front what's to come in the fall. Well, I
Anne:think what's really exciting for all of the listeners is to really check out your website because it is amazing that you have the e commerce up. And I think that's probably been long awaited from many of your collectors and fans. And I think that's such a great thing to look forward to in and of itself, you building that out. So kudos and thank you for doing that at the same time.
Hilary:Thank you.
Anne:So I must transition our conversation, the end of every podcast, Hillary. We have so much fun talking to our guests around some of their classic curiosities and how they've built it into their life. I'd like to call it the classic soul part of the whole conversation. We have these 5 fun questions that we ask every guest, and I'd love to ask you the same. So the first one's gonna be pretty easy.
Anne:Weir did an I think you mentioned it earlier, and it's okay to repeat. But who's influenced your style the most?
Hilary:I would say for sure, my mother and my father. Again, as I mentioned before, both innate style, the love of Europe, bringing back pea gravel in the seventies that we ended up weaving, putting it over the flagstone. And also my grandmother, she had a great eye and was great with the sewing machine. And it's just a really short story. When mom was working in Conde Nast, my grandmother had extra yardage of Fortuny fabric and had made a swing coat with 3 quarter sleeves, black and white, small swing coat for my mother.
Anne:God. Fabulous.
Hilary:And she tells the story that she was wearing a black linen sheath dress with this little swing coat that grandma had made. And it was, like, finishing up from lunch in the elevator going back to work, and she felt someone poking her shoulder. And she looked back, and it was a red fingernail. And it was Diana Vreeland, the editor of Vogue, poking my mother's jacket and said, whose is that? I I obviously was interested and didn't recognize which designer this could be from, And my mom was terrified.
Hilary:I think she was 21 years old, and she just turned back as the elevator doors were closing as my mother stepped out and just said, a remnant. But grandma my grandmother had such style to the fact that Diana Rieland was asking where is that coat from? Oh, I love it. So I would say my parents and for sure my grandmother as well for for both fashion and home and entertaining.
Anne:Oh, that's amazing. And what's your favorite item in your closet then?
Hilary:I thought about this. I tried and true a cashmere crewneck sweater that can be worn every month of the year with white jeans. It can be dark jeans. It can be dressed up, dressed down. I have it in 4 different colors, and it's always something I'm reaching for.
Hilary:I'm wearing one right now in navy blue. It's just a go to comfy classic that I've had for years, and it's part of my uniform.
Anne:I love it. I you know what? I love that, and I love that you said it's part of your uniform. I can't think of anybody that wouldn't have a cashmere sweater in their closet. I know I have a range myself.
Anne:It's like my favorite go to too. Tell me a little bit about what's your favorite classic cocktail.
Hilary:It's funny. I'm we lived in the Bay Area, and I love California Chardonnay, particularly Rambauer for a glass of Rambauer. Or in the warm weather Provence is a favorite destination. So a wonderful Rose from Provence. And I associate cocktails with sort of fun vacations or going out to dinner at a restaurant I love, like Gramercy Tavern in the front room.
Hilary:You know that whatever they're offering the mixologist, it's some interesting herby concoction, so I'll go for that. Or a rum punch years ago, I will never forget on Shoal Bay and Anguilla with fresh nutmeg. I love those kinds of cocktails, but my go to would be a good chardonnay or a glass of rose.
Anne:Oh my gosh. What's your favorite rose?
Hilary:I love x, a I x, is a favorite.
Anne:Yes. I yeah. Mine is at.
Hilary:Oh, and the shape of that bottle is so beautiful too.
Anne:Yeah. I'm a big Rose fan. And I can drink it all year round, but I love Ott and Chateau Persil. So those are probably my two favorites. So I could talk about wine a whole recording.
Anne:But, yes, I lived in the Bay Area as well. So how could you not love a California Chardonnay?
Hilary:I know.
Anne:And back to your memory thing. I think memories are created, you know, cocktails or food. Right? Take you back to places where you had them. And on that note, what is your favorite dining experience?
Hilary:I go back to this what it was when I was working for Bergdorf's in the winter on a buying trip. We'd finished up the show in Florence Saturday and had Sunday open. And a very well known winemaking family, very, very well known in Tuscany. The younger generation wanted to introduce their jams and honeys to launch at our in our gourmet department in New York and invited us for lunch at their home. Oh, wow.
Hilary:And I will just never forget that blue sky cold day in Tuscany in February with the alley of cypress trees to the house. And I think it was their grandmother was in the kitchen making homemade gnocchi and the fire was crackling by this table in the kitchen with the sun pouring in. I'm there at that table every time I think about it. So I would have to say that homemade gnocchi with the fire crackling on a winter Sunday late morning in Tuscany was pretty memorable. It has stayed
Anne:Oh my god. And talk about a sensory experience for not even just culinary because it's really everything around you, and that sounds amazing. I could picture it too. Yeah. And, you know, when you talk about crackling fire and all that, like, don't you like, my senses always go to, I wanna smell that.
Anne:Like, I can relate to that, you know? So it's, like, so beautiful. So tell me a little bit about your favorite destination for travel. Yes.
Hilary:And lived in Hong Kong, and my work took me to Europe. My husband's took him all over including Asia. So we've been really fortunate through work and fun, traveled the world. I always gravitate back to the Loubourn Provence, and I think part of it was my orientation for my year in Paris. I live with the French family and for that academic year.
Hilary:And the orientation was in Aix for 6 weeks, and that was my first introduction to the Provence. And I don't know. It's a happy place. I love it. The rosemary bushes, 3 feet tall.
Hilary:The wine style. Provence, I was favorite. Go to. But I also love Southeast Asia as well traveling around there.
Anne:Well, it's so funny. I have to share with the listeners. When I first met Hillary through email, she just has an incredible sense of adventure within herself, but also recommendations. And it just came so natural for her to always say, if you're going here, you must go here. And I'll never forget your recommendation to go to the Whitby Hotel for tea in New York.
Anne:And certainly I did that. And that was such a memorable experience for myself and my daughter. And at one time, I had an intern working for me, and we took her there, and that has become a very fond memory. So I always feel like if I'm going to go someplace, you would be the person I emailed to say, I'm going here. Have you been?
Anne:Where should I go?
Hilary:Oh, thank you.
Anne:It's just lovely because everything you've shared has been a favorite. So thank you for that. And most importantly, thank you, Hillary, for giving us your time. For all of the tastemakers listening to this episode, go to Hotel Siver. If you don't already know the brand and just make it part of your everyday I know it's part of my everyday.
Anne:And there's so many people, and I have to say this, it is my number one gift that I love to give, especially a young bride. If I go to a shower or a luncheon celebrating her, I wanna give her a piece of hotel silver because it really is such a special and unique gift. But I do have to say thank you to your mom, Ginger, too, because what you have created, you've created an opportunity for all of us to add that something special to our home with a very, very beautiful story behind it. So thank you.
Hilary:Oh, thanks, Anne. Thank you so much.
Anne:It's great. So until we meet again, ta ta for now, Hillary. Thank you.
Hilary:Thanks, Anne.
Anne:Thank you for listening to this episode of Classic and Curious. You can find Hotel Silver on Instagram at hotelsilver_ ltd. Be sure to check out their new shop page at hotelsilver.com. Take a peek at the classic and curious podcast page on styled by ark.com to find a listing of the episodes show notes. You will be delighted to see a list of Hillary's favorite ways to use hotel silver along with care instructions and a list of stockist.
Anne:Of course, we always would love for you to hit the subscribe button and share your feedback. Looking forward to our next time together. Tata for now.