Manpersand Darrell Hartman on Travel, Writing, and Dancing Near Mick Jagger

March 13, 2014

Surprise! Just to mix things up, this week’s Ampersand Woman is… our first official Manpersand! And what a Manpersand he is. A native of Whitefield, Maine, writer and editor Darrell Hartman has made a name for himself in New York as a reporter for Style.com and as a ubiquitous presence at fashion parties, film premieres, and the like. But his latest endeavor—his own travel website, Jungles in Paris—promises to be his most exciting project to date.

We recently caught up with Darrell at home in Carroll Gardens to talk travel, style, and the truth about geishas.

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You’ve had a pretty glamorous career so far. How did you end up being a fashion/style/travel reporter?
I’d known since I was a teenager that I wanted to be a journalist. It was this ‘passport’ element of writing and journalism—the doors it opened to interesting people and places, and the sense that you could take your own route—that sealed the deal. I traveled and worked abroad for a couple years after college, then came to New York in 2005 and got a job as a fact-checker at a travel magazine. I left after two years to become a freelance writer.

What I didn’t anticipate was staying in New York this long and covering the fashion world. I’d always been interested in style, but I never really expected to write much about it, or to find myself at celebrity-filled parties, movie premieres, and black-tie galas three nights a week. For someone who grew up in rural Maine, it was pretty surreal. I’ve collected some good stories throughout it all… most of which involve shameless name-dropping.

What’s the craziest thing you ever witnessed at a fashion party? Feel free to shamelessly name-drop.
Just Mick Jagger dancing with his girlfriend a few feet away from me. Simple, sublime.

So, Jungles in Paris. What’s this all about?
This is the website my brother and I launched last spring. I wanted to do it because I love good travel writing. It contains so much: culture, style, geography, wilderness, arts, sports, language, history—the diversity of the planet, the way people live in other places. I wanted to learn more about indigenous cultures and natural environments, what the adventurer-anthropologist Wade Davis calls the “polychromatic world.” This is what we cover on Jungles—this magical (and in many cases endangered) side of our amazing planet—with beautiful videos and photography that take you there.

What are some of the more interesting things you’ve learned from stories you’ve done for Jungles?
I didn’t realize that in Romania there are still women who do extremely detailed egg-painting by hand, or that there’s a lake in Micronesia that’s filled with harmless golden jellyfish. Also, I’d always thought that being a geisha was mostly about hosting, only to learn that there’s quite a bit of musical performance involved as well.

You work with your brother. What’s it like to have two Hartmans under one professional roof?
Very efficient! We don’t spend time on the niceties you might with another, less familiar business partner. The trust factor is nice. And then it’s just extremely gratifying to embark on something with someone you feel close to.

What’s the scariest / coolest thing about starting your own venture?
Scariest: The fear that it will not work. The nice thing about that, of course, is that it’s actually a strong motivator. Coolest: new business cards.

You’ve spent a lot of time as a writer for Style.com. What’s your personal style motto?
Get the pants right and you’re most of the way there!

Favorite brands for men?
Paul Stuart, Miller’s Oath, and (speaking of great pants) Incotex. Boglioli jackets. I really like what Alexandre Mattiussi has been doing at Ami. And I have a total weak spot for vintage Patagonia and L.L. Bean.

Have you ever had a mentor?
I don’t have a mentor, per se, but my mother has been hugely influential as a person and writer. She’s a writer herself, a wonderful one, and extremely thoughtful and patient. She basically taught me how to read—great literature, I mean, not just words.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve gotten?
A fashion-designer friend once told me, “Don’t cruise through.” If your work is easy, you’re doing something wrong. By the same token, I think that if you’re making it look hard, you’re also doing something wrong.

Darrell’s “Man Box.”

What’s something you wish you’d known when you started working?
That the writing career I’d always dreamed of—cushy magazine contracts, travel budgets, and all the rest—would barely exist anymore by the time I got there! On second thought, having to make that adjustment is probably a character-builder.