Most honeymoons blend relaxation and romance. For American heiress Doris Duke, however, a 1935 globe-trotting trip with groom James H.R. Cromwell made a strong impression not only on her heart but also on her tastes. Brought face-to-face with the Islamic world, she began collecting everything from Persian tiles to Moorish furniture. That glittering haul forms the nucleus of Shangri La, her Moghul-meets-modern Honolulu estate, which was designed in 1937 by architect Marion Sims Wyeth (a terrace is shown). The oceanfront retreat, opened to the public in 2002, is now the subject of “Doris Duke’s Shangri La,” a traveling exhibition debuting at Manhattan’s Museum of Arts and Design on September 7. As the show’s companion book ( Skira Rizzoli , $55) proves, though the Duke-Cromwell match eventually fizzled, their travels led to a decorative match made in heaven. madmuseumrg
