8.9.10: People and their dogs | New York Social Diary

People and their dogs

Sunset in between the vents. 7:40 PM. Photo: JH.

August 9, 2010. Sunny, very warm weekend in New York.

People and their dogs. I had lunch last week at Swifty’s with Priscilla Rattazzi, who has just published a memoir about her family’s dogs called Luna and Lola (Callaway, Publishers). Priscilla is a fairly new friend. Actually I have not known her long enough or well enough to call a “friend,” but she is one of those people who is so there that I feel I know her the way we know our friends.

She’s Italian. Italian Italian. She’s even a member of that famous Italian family, the Agnellis, the Fiat people. Her great-grandfather was the founder. Her uncle was the famous Gianni Agnelli. Her mother, Susanna Agnelli, always known as Suni, was one of his sisters. Priscilla’s book is dedicated to her mother who died at 87 a year ago last May.

Priscilla Rattazzi with her mother, Suni Agnelli, at the American Academy Gala honoring her a few years ago in New York.

Priscilla grew up in Italy in a family of six children. Italians, she told me, have large families. Her mother came from a large family (seven children), and her mother’s siblings had large families. Italians at their best are very family family. They congregate. Or, at least they have that tendency. A holiday dinner or a summer picnic for the Italians is energetic, to put it politely. Or a festival of brass and strings, to put it succinctly. And of course, the food.

I don’t know that Priscilla Rattazzi’s childhood had that kind of activity but I’m willing to bet it did at least sometimes. When she was a teenager she went off to Wales to study at Atlantic College and then came here to attend Sarah Lawrence and then make her home in New York.


	Luna and Lola.

	Click to order Luna & Lola.

After college she apprenticed with the great Japanese fashion photographer Hiro. And she’s been working ever since.

She also married once, twice, then thrice -- now for more than twenty years to businessman/entrepreneur Chris Whittle, father of her two daughters. (She has an older son, Maxi Moehlmann, by her first marriage.) The Rattazzi/Whittles live on the Upper East Side and in East Hampton.

Dogs came into Priscilla’s life because of her children. Maxi started asking for a dog when he was six. It was a frequent suggestion in the form of a plea. Priscilla was not impressed. She already had a list of objections in her head.

Outwardly her manner is placid and unruffled, although very present. But to read her explanations and thoughts about these things, you see that she’s probably a closet worrier. About just about everything. Although maybe it’s out in the open when you live with her.

A few years later her son asked again. “’We need to get a dog,’” said Maxi, looking me straight in the eye. ‘For real.’”

Somehow – it’s in the book - they ended up with a Golden Retriever puppy. And this book is half-about her. She was named Luna (Italian for moon). Priscilla’s anxieties about the “work” (feeding, walking, training) required by the dog were soon overwhelmed by everyone’s adoration/passion/affection for Luna.

In reading this book, which is mainly Priscilla’s photographs of her dogs, you too will soon be overwhelmed by this sweet creature and her adventures and personality.

A few years after Luna came to live with the Rattazzi/Whittles, Priscilla’s daughters started asking for a dog too, but they wanted a “small” one. Mama’s reaction mirrored her first responses to Maxi’s request for what turned out to be Luna. She was also certain she did not like “small dogs.” As an owner of dogs and a lot of them small, I had to laugh at hearing Priscilla’s objections specifically to small dogs (yapping, training, whatever).

These are some of Priscilla's favorite photographs from Luna & Lola ...

Then came Lola. A miniature dachsie. Delivered by air freight (ugh). Luna wasn’t crazy about Lola right up front, although Goldens are patient no matter. Lola also quickly developed into a dog with a mind of her own. She never left Luna alone. Time wore on and Luna wore down. Eventually the two became the canine Mutt & Jeff of the Whittle residences.

Although I am an “animal” person, and right now specifically a “dog” person, I’m not an inveterate reader of books about people’s pets. I read Priscilla’s because she gave me a copy and the opportunity to add to the consciousness of animal care and treatment. However, I'm so glad I did because the story, told in her photographs and with her commentary which is sparse and, like her, to the point, had me laughing all the way through this book. The kind of quiet laughing where you’re so happy/delighted you kinda lose it.

Wanna go for a ride??

No matter what, everything changes. Because “Luna and Lola” is a story about love and canines, it’s a happy story that has a sad ending. Yes. Then Mr. Whittle writes briefly about life of Luna and her majesty. I closed the book thinking of all the people I’d like to share this book with knowing, even visualizing their delight and pleasure in seeing it and reading it.

At the end of the book is a note that a portion of the author’s proceeds would be donated to the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons in Wainscott. There are other Lola types at ARF awaiting a loving home, as there are at the ASPCA, at the Humane Society, the North Shore Animal League and many other places. They are waiting for us and they bring love with them. If that’s what you’re looking for. It’s good for what ails ya, and you’ll learn something about life too.

Meanwhile, last Saturday afternoon at the Ralph Lauren store in East Hampton, Pamela Fiori, Kerry Washington, Mary and Richard Stengel, Nicholas Calloway and Chris Whittle hosted a book signing for Priscilla and Luna & Lola. A portion of the sales from that evening went to ARF also. Luna & Lola will be on sale at the store through the month of August.

Priscilla Rattazzi and her children Maximilian, Sasha, and Andrea.

Muriel Brandolini.

Kathy Rayner and Virginia Coleman.

Rick Stengel and Priscilla Rattazzi.

Mary Stengel, Priscilla Rattazzi and Lola, and Kerry Washington.

Nicky Vreeland and Jennifer Maguire Isham

Lauren Bush and David Lauren.

Jerry Lauren, Pamela Fiori, and Lenny Lauren.

Bob Colacello with a photograph of Luna and Lola.

Charlotte Moss.

Louise Grunwald and Priscilla Rattazzi.

Bettina Von Hase, Joe Perella, and Priscilla Rattazzi.

After the book signing, the celebrating continued at the author’s family home, Briar Patch, on Georgica Pond where she along with her husband and Maxi, Andrea and Sasha, plus Lola and new family member Leo, welcomed guests. Nick Callaway, the publisher, and Priscilla toasted the evening, with more than 200 friends and dog lovers attending.