Williams wasn't just the reigning Miss America, she was also the first Black Miss America. Bagging on it, though, was like bagging on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Making the participants strut across the stage in itsy-bitsy-teeny-weenies and high heels was different from a bikini contest exactly how?) And it was mostly boring and more than a little dumb, plus deeply, profoundly, uncool. And, yeah, OK, sure, those second-wave feminists, the ones who called it a "degrading Mindless-Boob-Girlie Symbol," did kind of have a point. The pageant then was compulsory viewing for much of the public, and winning it was atop many a little girl's to-do list. Miss America isn't a big thing now, is barely a thing at all, but it certainly was when Williams, 20 at the time, a junior at Syracuse University, took the title on September 17, 1983. In 1984, Vanessa Williams was the reigning Miss America. Vanessa Williams being crowned as Miss America 1984. A porn star-an underage one at that-was born because of the issue. A queen was dethroned because of the issue. And then, two years later, the FBI came to the offices and took away all the issues. When it hit stands, I was fielding over a hundred calls a day. Leslie Jay-Gould, Penthouse's then-vice president and director of public relations: "The issue was beyond huge, was beyond anything. Which meant you had to see the fucking magazine." But the media couldn't really cover the Penthouse story because the pictures we had were just too scandalous. You'd read about them in newspapers, or watch them covered on TV. But the media could report on those stories. Bloch again: "I mean, People magazine would do stories on Jackie Kennedy or whoever, and it would be a big story and the issue would sell. There were guys paying-a dollar for a peek. The most important news in the history of our country, having a woman vice presidential nominee, was overshadowed by the fact that we had…well, that we had what we had." The front page of that paper was our story. Somebody in the press got an advance copy, and released it to the New York Post or the Daily News, one of those, the same exact day that Walter Mondale announced he was picking Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. Richard Bleiweiss, Penthouse's then-art director: "The thing about this issue is, it became the biggest news story in the world. So there were guys paying-and this is something I saw with my own eyes-a dollar for a peek. Peter Bloch, Penthouse's then-executive editor: "It was the best-selling issue of Penthouse of all time. How to convey the magnitude of the frenzy? Her website, goop, describes the penthouse as an “artisanal” space that “floats above the cobblestone streets like a pale, dreamy cloud.” Some other choice details: the all-white aerie has a swing in the living room made of an antique Indian door “topped with silk pillows,” a master bed “so enormous that sheets had to be custom-made” and “ fuzzy nap zones” throughout.Because my mind is in the past (the mid-eighties) and in the gutter (the porn biz) for reasons that will become clear, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the September 1984 issue of Penthouse. (The family has since decamped to Los Angeles.) But it’s only now that we’re getting a peek inside the 4,000 square feet of designed-to-the-nines space - with accompanying commentary from the designers themselves. It was first listed for a hefty $14.25 million, but has been reduced to $12.85 million. Her loft penthouse in Manhattan’s exclusive TriBeCa neighborhood, co-owned with consciously uncoupled ex-husband Chris Martin, has been on the market since March. (Remember the $200 fruit smoothie?) So it follows that her real estate and interior design sensibilities are of a similar ilk: painstakingly sourced, exceedingly “artisanal” and full of glamorous (or needless - your call) touches. Gwyneth Paltrow has long ago surpassed her career as actress, instead morphing into a lifestyle mastermind with taste that runs toward the minimalist, expensive and super-health-conscious.
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