Inside Lee Radziwill's homes

I'm obsessed with the fact Lee Radziwill's chic Paris apartment is on the market right now. The light-filled space, once decorated in Le Menach fabric throughout, couldn't be more elegant. Positioned on the sixth floor of a historic building dating back to 1890, the stately three-bedroom apartment located on Avenue Montaigne, boasts views of the most famous Parisian landmarks with a price tag of around AU$5.2 Million. It's a a rare offering from the remarkable younger sister of Jackie Onassis, a style icon in her own right, known for her sharp wit and exacting standards – just imagine if Radziwill had use of a social media network back in the day: holidays with Warhol! Parties with Nureyev! Truman's Black & White ball! Like, like, like. I was fortunate to observe her up close at a number of runway shows staged by the Australian designer, Martin Grant, during Paris Fashion Week over the years. Naturally, Radziwill always arrived on time and looked impeccable, frail certainly yet she was always unaided, and always smoking. I love her spirit.

For fun, here's a few Radziwill facts:

1. 1). The socialite was born in 1933, a Pisces.
2. 2). She married three times, most notably in 1959 to Prince Stanislas “Stas” Radziwill; she had two children, Anthony and Christina “Tina”. Radziwill later had liaisons with Peter Beard, Aristotle Onassis, possibly Mick Jagger.
3. 3). According to an interview by Nicky Haslam in T Magazine, Lee's "great friend Truman Capote, [insisted] Lee should act, adapts Laura as a vehicle for her, but stage fright prevents her from pursuing a theatrical career".
4. 4). It was Radziwill's idea to create a documentary on her family, focusing on the famously reclusive mother-daughter duo, Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale "Little Edie". Grey Gardens was released in 1976, and later became a standout television movie.
5. 5). In addition to acting, Radziwill was an interior decorator and a public relations executive for Giorgio Armani.

Back to the Paris apartment, and this is the city where Radziwill supposedly felt most at home, despite the fact she owns the chicest spaces around the world – from a London townhouse draped in Turkish textiles and chintz to her airy Hamptons abode and a modern New York penthouse. Of her Paris home, Radziwill told Hamish Bowles, "[It's] totally zen, totally peaceful. In what other city do you find doves outside your window?" I can't think of one that looks like this.

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Spring Is In The Air: above, the main bedroom and canopied bed inside Radziwill's Fifth Avenue apartment in New York, with its leafy 19th-century botanical prints and chintz fabric, as seen in a 1975 edition of Architectural Digest photographed by Richard Champion; below, Radziwill in an interview with T Magazine captured in 2013 by François Halard; below right, her terrace overlooking the Eiffel Tower.

Home Sweet Home: above and below, the Avenue Montaigne property is for sale via agent Emile Garcin.

Scene Setter: above, clockwise from top left, Radziwill's Paris library featuring a Peter Beard photograph, as seen in Elle Decor; Radziwill with her daughter Tina; a vignette from her Parisian apartment captured by François Halard for T Magazine; Radziwill at home in the Hamptons. Below, a guest room, and a tableau photographed by François Halard.