Escape - by Hermes Mallea (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A nostalgic celebration of the glamour of warm-weather destinations in the Caribbean and Florida, from the great estates of ambitious patrons to the most exclusive resorts of the mid-twentieth century. Through iconic photography capturing the cultural mood at the moment when social codes relaxed from the formality of the Gilded Age to the spontaneity of the jet-set era, Escape: The Heyday of Caribbean Glamour takes the reader inside a world of beach parties and costume balls set in lush tropical landscapes, of rarefied resorts and fairy-tale private estates. Escape presents the visual history of the region's outstanding getaways, chronicling their transformations from pristine idyllic settings to personalized retreats where responsibilities could be left behind. Joseph Urban, Oliver Messel, Paul Rudolph, and other talented designers made these dreams reality, relying on regional design traditions to express the spirit of places like Antigua, Barbados, Cuba, and Jamaica, and sometimes inventing a new vernacular using fantasy imagery to emphasize the notion of escape from the pressures of urban living. Among these idealized settings blossomed the resort lifestyle of international celebrities, from Marjorie Merriweather Post to Babe Paley, Princess Margaret to David Bowie, whose escapades are spectacularly captured in these pages to make the region's bygone glamour come alive.

Review Quotes

"A treasure trove of great Caribbean design from the past 75 years..." -New York Cottages & Gardens

"A new tome by designer and architect Hermes Mallea explores the origins and heyday of the Caribbean fantasy vacation...a treasure trove of gorgeous archival images in his latest book, Escape: The Heyday of Caribbean Glamour, it was early-20th-century tourism in the Caribbean in particular that inspired our collective travel poster vision of palm trees, tropical drinks, white sand, blue-green water and outrageous jungle/castle/pirate-themed resort architecture. Mallea shows in the most delightful way how our idyllic conception of the region as a fantastical tropical paradise was created by the media...The book also charts the region's progress through the jet-set era and beyond, the changing notions of resort glamour in the '50s, '60s and '70s, and the migration of the upper crust to new islands and enclaves as travel opened to the middle class." -Departures

"This 256-page read is chock-full of historic vacation homes from the '20s to the '80s, and we're busy planning our next getaway while flipping through Escape's dreamy features." -Southern Living

"Hermes Mallea takes the reader inside a world of beach parties and costume balls set in lush tropical landscapes: rarefied resorts and fairy-tale private estates..." -Society Diaries

About the Author

Hermes Mallea is an architect and a partner in M(Group), a design firm based in New York. He studied at the University of Miami's School of Architecture and Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and is a member of the American Institute of Architects. He is the author of Great Houses of Havana.