Designer Vicky Tiel, author of It’s All About the Dress, tells The Sheet’s Joan Jedell what she’s learned about men, women, sex, and fashion in her four decades as a dress maker and couturier.
Joan Jedell: In your book, you divide men into three categories. What are they?
Vicky Tiel: Rabbits, Non-Rabbits, and Snake Rabbits. Men rarely change categories even with many years of therapy.
What are the differences between the different Rabbits?
The Rabbit is a serial cheater. The Non-Rabbit never or rarely cheats, and if he does, it’s a “slip.” The Snake Rabbit is such a clever and wonderful actor, he has a permanent mistress with a full second life. He will sit for hours in my couture salon approving all your dress selections and buying all your heart’s desires?while at the same time hoping you don’t purchase the same corseted Vicky Tiel gown his mistress bought on the last business trip in Miami. He smiles with pride as you kiss him in front of the sales staff and exclaim, “I have the world’s best husband.” Not every Oscar performance comes out of Hollywood.
How can you tell if your husband is a Rabbit?
There’s the Rabbit Test: Take your husband to the hot bistro in town where the most gorgeous young things walk in. Place him in a chair opposite the front door. When a hottie passes by your man, watch where his head goes. If his head swings around completely, he is a big Rabbit. If his head swings a little or he shyly glances, he is your basic Rabbit. If he never notices her and continues the conversation, he is (if not gay) a keeper: the Non-Rabbit!
Ms. Tiel, have you had personal experience with a Rabbit?
Yes, three of them. My first husband, “Hollywood Ron,” was the makeup man for Elvis, Marilyn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Burton. He was born in Hollywood and lived on movie sets, not in reality. I met him when I was only 21 and he was 35 and so handsome. The rich lover I left my husband for 23 years later had a full-time mistress in addition to me! He also cheated with “walk-by’s.” My second (much younger) husband was a Non-Rabbit. In a restaurant, he is only interested in the origin of the fish he orders, as he was a chef in a seafood restaurant in Key West. This type of man is a keeper.
"In my time, I've been thrown off movie sets by Mike Nichols and John Frankenheimer, snubbed (and then approved) by Coco Chanel ... sucked out of a helicopter and pulled back in by Elizabeth Taylor, and had my nude body printed on matchbook covers..."
-Vicky Tiel, from It's All About the Dress
You have lived in France most of your life. Is it true what they say about the French having a different attitude toward fidelity?
As Diane Johnson pointed out in her book and film
Le Divorce, the French value old furniture, heirlooms, and saving the family chateau, and they try to stay married and avoid losing such heirlooms. They have arrangements whereby both husband and wife have a license to cheat, often renting rooms called “5 a 7 chambres” where they meet their lovers.
What should you do if you find out your husband is a Rabbit?
Go French. Introduce him to an au pair. Tiger’s wife was an au pair (she must have known before marrying him he was a Snake Rabbit). Bo Derek was Linda Evans’ au pair. But if you can’t go French and Rabbit yourself, realize your man will not change, and move on. Then, find that perfect bistro and take all your dates there until you find a Non-Rabbit. They make perfect second husbands.
Who are some of the Rabbit men you have known?
Warren Beatty tops the list, followed by Alain Delon, who on a film in Mexico also did the maids. Then, the infamous Frank Sinatra, who was super-endowed. Of the singers, Tom Jones was the tops. Miles Davis was irresistible, as was Marlon Brando-women ripped their clothes off. Elvis was a homebody, as was Paul Newman. I’m lucky to have had a flirt with him, nothing physical, a Non-Rabbit. Clint Eastwood, Richard Burton, and Jean-Paul Belmondo were Non-Rabbits with many ladies, although when Burton married Elizabeth, he became a target, like Brad Pitt today-who could break up the world’s hot couple...?
Vicky Tiel has been married for the past 16 years to her second husband, and splits time between Paris, New York, and her Florida farm. She will be signing books at Bergdorf Goodman for Fashion's Night Out on Thursday, September 8, 2011, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Stay tuned for the next juicy interview with Vicky.
