Trad and True - NYTimes.com T gave the set designer and art director Mary Howard carte blanche on the travel issue's T. What she made of the magazine's signature initial? A rich and most elaborate installation modeled after the works of Old Master painters like Jan Weenix, Jan van Eyck and Johannes Vermeer. Howard, whose work has appeared in magazines like Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ - her sets are the backdrops for some of fashion's most compelling pictures - has worked with many of the industry's most illustrious photographers (Annie Leibovitz, Bruce Weber and Steven Klein), stylists (Edward Enninful, Camilla Nickerson and Tonne Goodman), models and celebrities. Here, she talks about the way she works and how she travels (light, spontaneously and without her iPad). What was your inspiration for this T? I thought about this T a lot and let the ideas for it roll around in my head for at least a month. Then I started to gather images of things that I love and ways that they could form the T logo. This is how I usually work when designing sets, by casting a wide net and then seeing what keeps coming back to me that feels right. Since I was allowed to pretty much do anything I wanted, I pulled images of things that I was loving, and the 17th-century painter Jan Weenix's work kept popping up in my research. Then other painters like Johannes Vermeer and Jan van Eyck fed in to this T set. How big is the T? A: Life-sized, meaning that it has a real-sized peacock and a real dog. The overall size was approximately 10 feet high by 8 feet wide. How long did it take you to complete, start to finish? I had the luxury of time to work on this, three months - at least a month to think about it, and another several weeks to prep and we installed and shot it on one day. I kept Stas Komarovski, our photographer, in the loop on what I was planning, so he came in prepared and lit the set beautifully. The only element that really changed was Frodo, the dog, since she had several ideas on what her position should be. Here is a fun little gif I made of my dog on set: I involved everyone in my studio. Each person brings something special to the final work, and that was especially the case here. I also worked closely with Martin Izquierdo who has an amazing costume and prop studio in New York. I have known him forever and he was so helpful in refining the look of the final T. I wondered how to make sense of the fabric forming the top of the T, and he suggested to make it as if it was caught in wintry branches. Where is the T now? Like all sets, it only had a short life span. As soon as the final shot was taken the whole thing got broken down. The peacock is hanging on the wall in my studio. The backdrop painting is back in my husband's studio. The little dog is back at home running around the yard or napping on my bed. I think all of the other elements just got carefully taken apart and recycled for future sets. Please list all of the materials you used: The backdrop is a beautiful interpretation of a Jan Weenix painting, created by my husband. The peacock was purchased on Ebay, and Martin Izquierdo was able to shape the tail in to the curved part of T by adding feathers. Also in the T: Leafless tree branches Red silk velvet fabric A shattered glass window with a wood frame inspired by a Vermeer window A wood framed round convex mirror inspired by Jan van Eyck's "The Arnolfini Portrait" Ivy, green sheet moss, Spanish moss, leaves, acorns, fruit, small fake birds, a bird's nest, a brass vase, a wicker basket and a small 5 pound malti-poo named Frodo. Romance! Since this is our travel Issue, let's talk about travel. Have you gone anywhere exciting recently? This summer my daughter and I went to Sweden and then in August we took a trip to Paris with my husband, where we did a nighttime bicycle tour of the city, which was perhaps the most fun I have ever had. I also go to my hometown of New Orleans at least five times a year. It holds my heart. How do you travel? Light? Heavy? In a manner that's scheduled and organized? Or in a way that's more spontaneous? I can decide to go somewhere in the morning and be on a plane that evening. I love spontaneity; planning makes me nervous. I travel as light as possible. Where do you love to go? New Orleans, where I grew up. And Portland, Ore., where my daughter is a sophomore at Reed College. Portland is my new favorite place. The food, the people, the music, the coffee! Like they say in the show "Portlandia," Portland is "where young people go to retire." It has that laid-back but festive feeling, like New Orleans. As I am writing this, I am on a plane in Los Angeles, ready to take off for Portland. I was thrilled when my daughter chose a college that is in a town with good coffee. What do you recommend doing in Portland? I will give advice about New Orleans since I am still new to Portland. In New Orleans, get off your plane and walk outside, soak up the humidity but don't be alarmed by it. Breathe it all in and head straight to Domilise's Po-Boy in Uptown New Orleans. While at Domilise's for lunch, make your dinner reservation at Commander's Palace. Dash around in the afternoon rain and take another whiff of all the great smells. Go to Royal Antiques in the French Quarter and meet the Shapiros, who run the business. As you ride around town, see how beautiful the light is and enjoy the colors of the houses and the lush vegetation, the Spanish Moss dripping off of the old oak trees. Go to McGehee School in the Garden District and look up at the beautiful spiral staircase inside the Bradish Johnson House, which was built in the mid-1800s. That is where I went to school, kindergarten through senior year. No wonder I am a set designer. After dinner at Commander's go to Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait, and then sit by the Mississippi and breathe in again. What a smell! Think good thoughts about the Saints and L.S.U. football teams. And if you are there this fall you must do a day trip to Baton Rouge and go see the No. 2 college football team in the country play in the loudest football stadium in the country with the most zealous L.S.U. tiger fans. What do you never leave town without? What do you always leave town without? I never leave without my airplane pillow. You can only get it at Target, it is round and folds any way you want. I always leave without my iPad. I have my computer and phone so I can't figure out where the iPad fits in. I took a much needed vacation with my daughter to Thailand a few summers ago and forgot my iPhone. I was panic stricken at first, but it turned out to be the best vacation because I had no phone.