Prestige Launch 2009 : Page 44
INTERVIEW INTERVIEW Rebel Heiress FROM NONCONFORMIST BLUEBLOOD TO SAVVY ENTREPRENEUR, EIGHTH-GENERATION HEIRESS CONSUELO VANDERBILT COSTIN HAS CHANGED TRACKS. BY FARRAH WEINSTEIN T here is something incredibly sweet and yet eerily symbolic about the vintage photograph that heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin has brought along with her on this windy day at the Suff olk County Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport, Long Island. It has an ancient look to it, as if it has been hanging on a faded yellow Victorian-style wall for nearly half a century. T e picture is of her great grandmother and namesake, Consuelo Vanderbilt Earl, in her prime, when she was the grand dame of New York society in the early 1900s. Wearing a lace bodice gown, a set of pearls, and a diamond and pearl ring on her leſt hand, she sits perfectly poised in a rounded chair. The younger Consuelo, now 28, has never seen this 43-acre “Gold Coast” Spanish Revival estate, also known as “Eagle’s Nest,” created by her great-great grandfather, William K. Vanderbilt II. Known as “Willie K.” to the townspeople, he was the grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius (“The Commodore”) Vanderbilt, founder of the Vanderbilt dynasty and a tycoon who built the New York Central Railroad and the original Grand Central Terminal. On weekends, the Vanderbilt family would vacation in Centerport, Long Island, a refuge from the PR ES TIGE NEW YORK 44 LAUNCH ISSUE 2009 madness ofManhattan. In his will, Vanderbilt dedicated the estate to the “education and enjoyment of the public.” To step onto such hallowed family ground with an actual living legacy is surreal. Consuelo is greeted by Stephanie Gress, the curator of the museum, and once inside, she is shown a room full of historic artifacts. Paintings of Vanderbilt descendants hang on the walls, and a spiral staircase leads up to the Juliet e balcony, where family members would look upon guests as they arrived. Upstairs in a mirrored dressing room, a secret door leads to a glass-encased wardrobe with extravagant clothing and vintage hats. When shown the Windsor guest room, Consuelo gasps. “My grandmother had that exact same desk. T at is so freaky.” Consuelo is speaking of Iris Vanderbilt Christ’s estate in Mill Neck, New York, where she spent her childhood. It was sold two and a half years ago but will always have a place in Consuelo’s heart. Like “T e Commodore,” who dropped out of school at age 11, Consuelo, who was born in New York and raised in London, says she “could not for the life of me stay in school.” Instead of becoming a debutante and living a privileged life, she pursued the life of an artist—a PHOTOGRAPH, THIS PAGE, COURTESY CONSUELO VANDERBILT COSTIN
THE REBEL HEIRESS
FARRAH WEINSTEIN
FROM NONCONFORMIST BLUEBLOOD TO SAVVY ENTREPRENEUR, EIGHTH-GENERATION HEIRESS CONSUELO VANDERBILT COSTIN HAS CHANGED TRACKS.
There is something incredibly sweet and yet eerily symbolic about the vintage photograph that heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin has brought along with her on this windy day at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport, Long Island.
It has an ancient look to it, as if it has been hanging on a faded yellow Victorian-style wall for nearly half a century. The picture is of her great grandmother and namesake, Consuelo Vanderbilt Earl, in her prime, when she was the grand dame of New York society in the early 1900s. Wearing a lace bodice gown, a set of pearls, and a diamond and pearl ring on her left hand, she sits perfectly poised in a rounded chair.
The younger Consuelo, now 28, has never seen this 43-acre “Gold Coast” Spanish Revival estate, also known as “Eagle’s Nest,” created by her great-great grandfather, William K. Vanderbilt II. Known as “Willie K.” to the townspeople, he was the grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius (“The Commodore”) Vanderbilt, founder of the Vanderbilt dynasty and a tycoon who built the New York Central Railroad and the original Grand Central Terminal. On weekends, the Vanderbilt family would vacation in Centerport, Long Island, a refuge from the madness of Manhattan. In his will, Vanderbilt dedicated the estate to the “education and enjoyment of the public.”
To step onto such hallowed family ground with an actual living legacy is surreal. Consuelo is greeted by Stephanie Gress, the curator of the museum, and once inside, she is shown a room full of historic artifacts. Paintings of Vanderbilt descendants hang on the walls, and a spiral staircase leads up to the Julie e balcony, where family members would look upon guests as they arrived. Upstairs in a mirrored dressing room, a secret door leads to a glass-encased wardrobe with extravagant clothing and vintage hats.
When shown the Windsor guest room, Consuelo gasps. “My grandmother had that exact same desk. That is so freaky.” Consuelo is speaking of Iris Vanderbilt Christ’s estate in Mill Neck, New York, where she spent her childhood. It was sold two and a half years ago but will always have a place in Consuelo’s heart.
Like “The Commodore,” who dropped out of school at age 11, Consuelo, who was born in New York and raised in London, says she “could not for the life of me stay in school.” Instead of becoming a debutante and living a privileged life, she pursued the life of an artist--a big taboo in old-world society. “I was quite the rebel,” admits Consuelo. “All I ever wanted to do was be a performer, to act and sing. Being reformed and in school was very hard for me. I didn’t really understand structure.”
At the Queen’s Gate School in London, the alma mater of some of the U.K. royal family, she was expelled. At the Purnell School in Pottersville, New Jersey, she lasted eight months until her “roommates ran away and stole the school van.” At the Queen’s Business and Secretarial College in London, the headmistress told Consuelo that she was “the worst secretary in 100 years.” Along the way, Consuelo started wearing super-high platform shoes.
“I was a total embarrassment,” says Consuelo. “My mother loved to watch me sing and she was proud of me for that, but she was not proud of my platform shoes. She begged me to wear my sneakers. She felt like my platforms were pretentious, when they are just about getting as much height as I could.” Not much has changed. As Consuelo walks down a cobblestone pathway at the museum, it’s necessary for two people to hold on to her for fear of her twisting an ankle in her sky-high heels.
One thing’s for sure: Consuelo definitely has the “look-at-me” blood of a Vanderbilt, notorious for building statues of themselves, like the one still standing of the Commodore in front of Grand Central Terminal. “It is said that the gold railings on the staircases doubled as handrails and a place to sit, for people-watching,” says Justin Ferate, a New York City tour guide. “Little devices and tricks were designed to make you feel important.”
After an unfulfilling spell with boarding schools, Consuelo moved to Florence and studied at the British Institute of Florence, performing Sting cover songs at concert venues. By the age of 21, she was shooting music videos, touring with a German rock band, recording her first album, called Costin, and performing onstage with Joe Cocker at the legendary Royal Albert Hall.
Just when everything was looking up, Consuelo had a car accident. Her driver lost control, and Consuelo crashed through the windshield and wound up underneath the car. “The whole right side of my face was smashed,” she says. "I thought that was it for me.”
For two weeks in the hospital, Consuelo’s mother stood by her bedside while she healed, physically and emotionally. “My mom was my pillar of strength,” says Consuelo. “It really helped me grow. As an adult, I long for her strength and courage and her capacity for forgiveness. She is quite simply the greatest person I have ever known.” Luckily, Consuelo’s only evident scar is a dimple on her right cheek, which actually enhances her beauty.
The car accident gave Consuelo more drive--not to rebel, but to succeed. In 2005, she released a pop album called Mo Costin, and her song “Numb” topped AOL’s charts and was featured in the TV show “Beach Girls,” with Rob Lowe. Last year she wrote a satirical memoir and an animated series called “Vanderbroke,” which is currently on YouTube. She just completed her first album with the rock band Costin, of which she is the lead singer. And Consuelo has signed on to do a reality show on her day-to-day life as a rebel heiress--though she’s still waiting for it to be picked up.
“I chose my own path,” says Consuelo, who, like her distant cousin Anderson Cooper, has never used the Vanderbilt name to advance her career unless it was for philanthropic reasons. “I’ve made my life on my own, I’ve had to fend for myself. It’s been an amazing journey, and I don’t regret it for a second.”
Surprisingly, Consuelo and Anderson Cooper have never met. “I admire him greatly,” says Consuelo. “He has truly made something of himself without the help of the family name, and I totally respect that.”
Ironically, Hollywood producer Joel Silver (of The Matri x trilogies) just bought the rights to do a dramatic series with HBO based on the book Fortune’s Children: .. e Fall of the House of Vanderbilt. But this is one child of fortune who is far from falling.
After years of getting mixed advice from managers and image-makers in the music industry, Consuelo conceived SohoMuse, a 3-D Web site for artists--including directors, producers, animators, actors, photographers, agents and all creative types--who wish to have greater control in how they are marketed. I kept having this vision of a ballerina watching a writer watching a musician,” she says. “And I thought, ‘What would this world Look like if we combined it all together?’”
The members-only Website, designed by graphic artist Ryan Church (of the Star Wars trilogies), is like “LinkedIn.com-meets- SmallWorld.com, but in this visually beautiful environment,” explains Consuelo. “You can go into a virtual room and watch a band, and if you like the photographer who shot them, you can then go into his or her room. You are getting access where you wouldn’t necessarily ever see it. It’s like a matrix for the artistic community.” In April 2008, Consuelo’s mother, Serena Vanderbilt Van Igen McCallum, passed away from a three-year battle with ovarian cancer.
Consuelo continues to honor her mother’s legacy by working with the Ovarian Cancer Coalition. She is also a legislative ambassador for the American Cancer Society. Her mother’s passing prompted her decision to use the Vanderbilt name to help raise money for this cause--and others. She recently signed an agreement with the Legacy Group in New York to create and sell products under the name “Consuelo Vanderbilt,” strictly for charitable causes. For the American Cancer Society, Consuelo wrote a song called “Better Days,” which raised thousands of dollars. She sings it in five different languages.
“My mother was one of the greatest women that I have ever known,” says Consuelo.
“She’d walk into a room, and it would light up in two seconds. She had this funny, witty, dirty sense of humor. She was a character. And she was so beautiful.”
Consuelo currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the writer/actor Rafael Feldman, but occasionally comes to New York to visit the Vanderbilt/Pratt property in the Adirondacks, a part of which she inherited. The Vanderbilt family still owns the largest privately owned home in America, called Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina, and will always be remembered for their palatial properties.
“They built wonderful estates,” says Robert McGraw, an adviser for the Vanderbilt genealogy forum online. “I know of about 145 of them. For ships and yachts, I know of 83. Then there’s the Vanderbilt Cup, Vanderbilt University, the Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga, the Vanderbilt Raceway, their philanthropy, it doesn’t end. There is always more to learn about them. Thank God for the Vanderbilts!”
Consuelo certainly has an impressive legacy, but for now, she is content with the faded, yet precious photo of her great grandmother...and maybe, just maybe, one day she’ll get to wear that diamond and pearl ring on her left hand, too.
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