At 90 Years Young, Lynn Wyatt Celebrated Her New Book With an Uptown Cocktail Party

Wyatt is cementing her legacy in a new tome, out now from Susan Schadt Press and written by Ronda Carman. Its cover is, naturally a portrait of Wyatt by Andy Warhol (mmhmm) in his signature technicolor hues, a reprint of the original that hangs in her home. It also includes a foreword by Elton John. Recalling a trip to Kruger National Park in South Africa, the performer recalls, “Our group dressed in safari gear, only Lynn was in head-to-toe vintage Saint Laurent. A surreal and wonderful vision.”

The book’s release was celebrated in Upper Manhattan on Tuesday evening with a small group of admirers including Sofia Coppola, fellow Texan Alison Sarofim, and longtime confidantes Bob Colacello and Amy Fine Collins, who also consulted on the project. “Working on the book was a joy because just when you think you knew everything about Lynn, more and more pops up,” Fine Collins told Vogue. “The depth and the breadth of where and how she lives and with whom defies the imagination. I don’t think there’s anyone else that could put that much richness of friendship, of beauty, of love between two covers.”

Guests gathered in a private salon owned by the jewelry house Verdura, perched high above Fifth Avenue and filled to the hilt with rare treasures. Wyatt held court on a sofa in the room’s center, fielding congratulatory kisses. Her four sons all joined for a toast, and regaled the crowd with some of their favorite memories, some of which can be found in the book’s pages.

“One day, I crossed over the border from Texas to a small town called Nuevo Progreso,” Trey Wyatt mused. “It was almost my mother’s birthday, and she was in the South of France, so I wrote a nice little postcard for her birthday and mailed it from the Correos Mexicano. It got to her in the South of France, and amazingly she kept it for all these decades, and you’ll see it in the book.” Indeed on page 28, a tattered postcard sent to the family’s villa in St. Jean-Cap Ferrat reads, “Enjoy yourself! Don’t party too hard!!”