Martha Stewart Out & About at the East Hampton Antique Fair

The East Hampton Historical Society’s eighth annual antique show on the historic grounds of Mulford Farm opened with a benefit cocktail party on Friday night. Guests strolled the grounds and perused the wares of 53 vendors.

Upon arriving, guests walked past a vintage truck spray painted white and a retail booth selling t-shirts emblazoned with “East Hampton 1921,” that, not surprisingly, don’t look like the usual touristy sweatshirts and t-shirts one finds at resort towns across America. That’s because the clothing is part of a capsule line designed and manufactured by the East Hampton Historical Society’s benefactor, Ralph Lauren. Lauren, with whom they have been in partnership since 2008, donates 50 percent of the revenue from the East Hampton line to the historical society.

Guests wore festive attire—equal parts preppy and bohemian—that was as chic and appealing as the collection of antiques, textiles, garden furniture and accessories for sale beneath the tents. The merchandise is flawless, good enough in fact to pass muster with Martha Stewart who was seen admiring items in the booth belonging to Tim Brennan and David Mouilleseaux.

Brennan & Mouilleseaux, dealers from Northfield, Connecticut, said they had returned to the fair last year after a few year’s hiatus and found that garden furniture and accessories were hot items. This year the fair seemed to be filled with lichen covered garden statues and benches, wicker upholstered in tufted stripes, imaginative planters filled with deep blue hydrangeas and even early 20th century gardening implements.

The dealers at the fair were selected by Richard Barons, the executive director of the East Hampton Historical Society and Brian Ferguson and Ken D’Arruda, antique store owners from Providence, Rhode Island. “It’s the perfect time,” D’Arruda said, “to buy garden things. They’re so unique and it’s that time of year.”