Dames | Lynn Wyatt | Harper's Bazaar

Harper’s Bazaar examines the legendary life of Lynn Wyatt, in an interview properly wowed by the endless tales of a globetrotting Texas oil heiress with friends like Elton John, Nan Kempner, Liza Minnelli, Valentino and Princess Grace.

The interview is substantative: 1/3 glamour name dropping | 1/3 Wyatt’s support of her husband Oscar’s indictment in the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal, public friendship with Sadam Hussein and guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire frayd, nine months in prison and subsequent debilitating stroke | 1/3 reasons why Lynn Wyatt is a fabulous woman, old-school socialite and front-row fundraiser.

Years ago, the Star of Hope Mission, an organization that aids the homeless in Houston, asked her to help them with an annual benefit. Not huge advocates of alcohol at fundraisers, they balked at Wyatt’s insistence that they throw a supper with whiskey and wine. It’s a true story. “They said, ‘Oh, my goodness, well, we don’t do that.’ I said, ‘I understand that; that’s fine,’” Wyatt recalls. “‘Everybody has their way of doing things, but then I’m not your girl. I have to do it the way I know to raise money. There are a lot of other people that you can get. I wouldn’t have my feelings hurt at all. I’m gonna support you no matter what, but you need another girl to do your gala.’” Naturally, they capitulated and she’s now the gala’s honorary board member. This is yet another example of Wyatt’s unique spirit and outsize personality. Her cool-as-a-cucumber Southern-belle exterior may mask a steely resolve to survive, yet Wyatt relies on another coat of armor altogether. As she so gamely puts it, “Powder and paint make a girl what she ain’t. That’s Lynn Wyatt.”