Why did he do it? Perhaps Truman Capote didn’t realise divulging the most scandalous secrets of his Swans, the coterie of beautiful society women the celebrated author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood “collected” and kept close in gossipy confidence in the drawing rooms of Manhattan’s most glittering addresses, would turn most of them so thoroughly against him.
But that is what happened when the Lilliputian author revealed the sordid tales of Park Avenue’s best hostesses in , an article first published in magazine. These women included Lee Radziwill, celebrated decorator and sister to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the patrician CZ Guest, a fabulous gardener and a long-time favourite of Slim Aarons. (After all, Aarons specialised in photographing “attractive people as “the ultimate in elegance” and said to be one of the few muses to Cristóbal Balenciaga.
