Tatler UK - 09.2019

[Diana Vreeland and introduced the then-

unknown Andy Warhol to New York Society, fell

in love with the handsome Jimmy Davidson and

moved with him to Arizona to be a cowboy.

Back in England, he became a decorator and

has done houses for Sir Rod Stewart, Bryan

Ferry, Roman Abramovic and myriad more, in-

cluding the philanthropist, art collector and

bridge international Dame Janet de Botton,

who met him at a dinner on Valentine’s Day in

1990, and ‘sort of fell in love with him at first

sight. We became friends immediately and

when I needed advice on decorating, I would

call him and he would come around, look for a

bit, and give me a solution that was both genius

and obvious. I have a few NH rooms that even

now, some over 25 years old, are utter magic.’

Nicky also goes to parties, lots and lots of

them. And gives them. And the ones he gives

are magic, too. Take his 40th, held at his ravishing

Hampshire house, The Hunting Lodge, with

its lake, gardens and pavilion: 500 invitations

were sent out, Tenue de Chasse (hunting costume)

Tatler September 2019 tatler.com

was the theme, wondrous the interpretations:

Lady Lambton came in a rubber diving suit,

complete with flippers, snorkel and spear gun,

‘though Mary Soames, as a Victorian butterfly

catcher, was easier to dance with,’ says Nicky in

his beautifully written memoir, Redeeming Features

• ‘better than Proust,’ said AN Wilson. A 20-
  year-old Rupert Everett appeared as a Masai
  warrior, painted with Max Factor, in a ‘ruched,
  rust-coloured suede pouch’. ‘You look wonderful,

darling,’ said Nicky, according to Everett. ‘Who

are you? Gandhi?’ Silver and violet fireworks went

up at midnight and breakfast was served at dawn.

Cool, eh? Just like his 69th, a Black, Silver

and Violet Ball given for Janet de Botton at

Parkstead, an old Ponsonby house in Roehampton

(now a college), approached that night up a

stunning candlelit avenue. Daphne Guinness

was the belle of the 900-strong ball, while Paris

Hilton and Tracey Emin were the only two

guests to send him something handmade after-

wards – Paris conjured up a collage of pictures

from the party – trumping the Hanburys,

Thyssens and Cilla Blacks who pullulated on the

revolving dance floor. Swish indeed, but less

revolutionary than the 1965 ‘Mod Ball’ Nicky

and Baby Jane Holzer threw to introduce the

Stones to New York. Tom Wolfe wrote it up and

Nicky arranged for a gang of leather-clad gay

bikers to ‘crash’ the party. The guests loved it.

As they did Nicky’s 60th, thrown shortly

after he’d adopted his ‘homage to Liam

Gallagher’ look – one old friend said that she

As a decorator, he’s done

houses for Sir Rod

Stewart, Byran Ferry,

Roman Abramovic

and myriad more

With Lee Radziwill,

2008

With Rosamund Pike &

Cilla Black, 2008 With Florence

Welch, 2010

With Grayson

Perry, 2010

With Naomi Campbell, 2012

With Edie

With Princess Beatrice, 2009 Campbell, 2012

With Natalia

Vodianova,

2011

With Dame Vivienne Westwood, 2012

With the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, 2013

With Sir Bob

Geldolf, 2013

PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES; SHUTTERSTOCK; RICHARD YOUNG

09-19WELL-NickyHaslam.indd 82 11/07/2019 18:40

82