Taavo Somer Can Make Anything Cool, Even Golf
The New York Times
The creator of Freemans Sporting Club, who helped define the ye olde aesthetic of the early aughts, opens a country club in the Hudson Valley.
Without Taavo Somer, the high priest of heritage chic in early 2000s New York, the Strokes generation may never have adopted Paul Bunyan as a style muse, decorated their apartments with cabinets of curiosities, or decided en masse that unkempt beards were suddenly cool for the first time since “Hotel California.”
In the shadow of a city recovering from the World Trade Center attacks, all the way through his Bloomberg-era heyday, Mr. Somer lorded over a tiny yet influential style empire in the Lower East Side.
At the back of Freemans Alley was his nouveau-retro restaurant, which became a clubhouse for downtown scenesters and fueled a craze for taxidermy.
