little augury

Moving Pictures: Written On The Wind

2012-01-29T00:15:00.000-05:00

"But you don't have to take my word for anything. Just try keeping your head clear and your eyes open."

Film critic Roger Ebert, said of Written on the Wind, "To appreciate a film like Written on the Wind probably takes more sophistication than to understand one of Ingmar Bergman's masterpieces, because Bergman's themes are visible and underlined, while with Douglas Sirk the style conceals the message."

above-the film in full-if you have a hour and thirty nine minutes & forty six seconds

image from the Spring Couture Collection of Valentino

moving pictures: Midnight in Paris

2012-01-28T12:40:00.000-05:00

making appearances

"The  best of America drifts to Paris. The American in Paris is the best  American. It is more fun for an intelligent person to live in an  intelligent country. France has the only two things toward which we  drift as we grow older—intelligence and good manners."

Zelda & Scott

"If  you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then  wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris  is a moveable feast."

Hemingway,far left

 "Paris loves lovers, for lovers it's heaven above

Paris tells lovers, love is supreme, wake up your dream and make love

Only in Paris one discovers the urge to merge with the splurge of the spring

Paris loves lovers for lovers know that love is everything"

 Cole

Juan Belmonte

J’ai deux amours…..Mon pays et Paris.

(I have two loves…..my country and Paris.)

Josephine Baker

"America is my country and Paris is my hometown."

Gertrude & Alice

Pablo

Djuna

Dali,2nd from l.seated. Buñuel,top far r.Man Ray, top far l.

T.S. Eliot

Matisse, seated

Leo Stein

Lautrec

Gauguin

Degas,at left

a must see-

Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris

Who’s going to come to this movie?”  “Nobody even knows Gertrude Stein anymore.” 

“Woody felt that you didn’t really have to know those people to appreciate the film,

Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director & Best Screenplay

tea & Valentino

2012-01-27T00:33:00.001-05:00

this week's VALENTINO COUTURE COLLECTION was one of the prettiest collection's of dresses I've seen-
So very pretty.

“We want to do something which is about fragility and beauty,” said Maria Grazia Chiuri of the Valentino design duo.

When I read Hamish Bowles prose on the collection: Four-leaf clovers or posies of violets were printed over airy organza and shadowed with layers of tulle and lace, like Belle Époque tea gowns- my thoughts immediately went to the William Paxton's painting Tea Leaves.

the Freshness, delicate Embroidery, elegant slippers, ruffled high collars of VALENTINO COUTURE

& a favorite girlhood movie My Fair Lady- a favorite period the Belle Epoque-& darling Eliza Dolittle dresses were designed by Cecil Beaton.

& of Audrey Hepburn herself.

& the women captured by the brush of Jacques Emile Blanche-& the pages of Fantasio & the Gazette du Bon Ton.

Or the photographs of Baron de Meyer de Meyer photographed many notables of the day and his most beautiful subject- his wife- Olga, Maria Beatrice Olga Alberta Caracciolo.

photo by Maria Robledo Darcey’- Valentino- portrait of Comte Beaumont by Baron de Meyer

The Valentino designers cite Belgian painter Paul Delvaux, the portraits of Marie Antoinette, along with stills from the film Marie Antoinette starring Norma Shearer & the photographs of Deborah Turbeville.
I'll take Tea.

See the full collection and Hamish Bowles review at VOGUE.com here
read Sarah Mower's Preview here & see more photographs of the collection.

What they wore: Yves ,Olivier, Jean Baptiste

2012-01-26T16:52:00.000-05:00

We mustn't confuse Elegance for being a Snob. - Yves Saint Laurent

Olivier Journu

portrait by

Jean Baptiste Perronneau

the NEW New Look

2012-01-24T21:02:00.000-05:00

Last week Sarah Burton unveiled her Pre-Fall Collection for ALEXANDER MCQUEEN. The details are pure Couture. As in the startling New Look from Christian Dior's first ever collection. Dior cinched the waist, softened shoulders and gave the ladies full skirts-very full skirts. Feminine. Romantic. Pretty.

Remember this was a war weary sartorial world.

Along with this New Look, women were ready to embrace the same femininity and softness in their interiors. Dior's New Look would hold sway through the decade and some of the most beautifully photographed women like Babe Paley became Swans. She would dress so well she was inducted into the Fashion Hall of Fame in 1958. The patrician Marella Agnelli was Truman Capote's youngest & only European swan. Agnelli was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1963.These two Swans were referred to by Capote as "Numero Uno"-Babe Paley and "European Numero Uno"- Marella Agnelli.

“a gathering of swans, an aloof armada . . . their feathers floating away over the water like the trailing hems of snowy ball-gowns” from the 19th century journal of Patrick Conway- that prompted Capote's naming of the Swans.

Capote would elaborate in detail on his swans in photographer Richard Avedon’s book Observations.
The most elegant and memorable interiors of the decade were not Of the decade- No, No-but of another era defined by elegance and romance- the Watteau painting, the curves of a Louis XV fauteuil. When they did up their rooms however they looked for comfort and light-in this they differed from these more formal Versailles interiors.

Today- Lifestyles don't adapt nearly so well to Dior's New Look. What can we take away from Its idea? Certainly how we live as much as how we dress is important.
Suggestion-Pare down some of the wacky 50's decor in rooms-add the comfortable fauteuil in an oversize check, a Indiennes print. Take cues from Billy Baldwin's decoration of the Paley apartments at the St. Regis. Refine.

Enter Bill Gaytten with his Spring Couture Collection for CHRISTIAN DIOR that is pure DIOR, & isn't that Appropriate? The beauty of the workroom as seem in The Day Before Dior- by Stephanie LaCava with photographs by Greg Kessler from T Magazine here

Voilà

Beautiful. Feminine. Is there something in the air besides Spring? Women are ready for the breezy prettiness of full skirts. Sheer sleeves and gloves- Yes please to gloves. No collection exhibits that femininity more than Christian Dior's Couture Collection for Spring & Summer in 1957 & no photograph captures that collection more than Cecil Beaton's ladder of preening mannequins in an elegant ballroom of gilded chairs- and Yes, the uber- sophisticated freshness of a lacquered Louis XV settee in Soigné grey.

& the SWANS- were still gliding over the ice skimmed lake of Narcissism.

Read the Met's Costume Institute Christian Dior Fashion Bio here
more Marella Agnelli here STYLE.com
more Babe Paley here VOGUE.com

photographs: the New Look silhouette 1947, Babe Paley photograph by Erwin Blumenfeld from Vogue.com (sited above), Dior fashion in the French Room, & from the collection of images- from the pages of Vogue- Dior ads and drawings from Rene Gruau, Alexander McQueen's Pre-Fall Collection from Vogue.com here, & the interiors of P Gaye Tapp, Vere Grenney, Billy Baldwin and Jansen and Sister Parish, the bedroom of Marella Agnelli, Turin Italy. portraits of Babe Paley and Marella Agnelli by Richard Avedon.
& 1,2-photographs by Greg Kessler. 3 -photograph by Pascal Le Segreta
photographs: The Spring 2012 Colletion of DIOR, Cecil Beaton's photograph of Christian Dior 1957 Spring Collection, CZ Guest New Year's Eve 1956. image collection 2-Cecil Beaton's photograph of Christian Dior 1957 Spring Collection, Vogue.com Christian Dior Spring 2012 Couture

Lady Diana Manners' Coterie & War

2012-01-23T01:43:00.003-05:00

Lady Diana Manners was the Beauty of her day-her pale skin tracing the faint blue blood that ran just under it. She stood in the center of the golden Corrupt Coterie. Of the men that adored her- Edward Horner, Patrick Shaw Stewart, Hugo Charteris & Raymond Asquith- only Duff Cooper returned from the first World War. The pair would marry as the war to end all wars waned. Her beautifully written memoirs of the period The Rainbow Comes & Goes record her triumphs and losses-there were many. Upon reading all of Diana Cooper's memoirs it is this one that explains much of her life choices. No wonder she would cling to Duff Cooper after the dance of death raced over the landscapes of Europe and the rest of the world that war claimed. She wrote if death will only spare him we will live our lives together. But before they wed, the Coterie would dance a tarantella frenziedly to combat any pause that would let death conquer their morale. If one of them fell with pain, he was tenderly lifted and treated, but strangling tears must not stop the salutary delirium.

The self-styled Corrupt Coterie believed the British Empire was invincible. Their future glittered over the island only to be decimated by the flames of war.

The day war was declared we were playing the war game, then very much the fashion,, elaborated by Winston Churchill into a pastime for strategists and involving hundreds of tin soldiers. As my brother, Bunt Goschen and our adored Ego Charteris lay on their stomachs in a stone courtyard lining up their army corps...From the day of declaration my fearful vision saw it all as it was to be, but a lot of older people thought of it as another Boer War. DMC

That-It was not to be.

Early on-Lady Diana was determined to play her part in the War effort. Many-in fact all the young men mentioned in her memoirs would eventually soldier off to War. After pleading to serve as a nurse with her mother-Diana won & she started nursing at Guy's Hospital. Her friend Patrick Shaw Stewart wrote: I'm thrilled to hear of your resolution; it will be simply bloody but I think it's well worth while.

Patrick

A member of the Coterie, he was devoted to Diana Manners. Patrick Shaw Stewart was considered the most brilliant of the Corrupt Coterie. An Eton College and Oxford scholar, the youngest managing director ever named at Baring's Bank-when the war broke out- he joined Britain's Royal Navy.

Ego & Letty

Hugo,"Ego", Charteris was the son of Lord and Lady Elcho , the Lady Mary Elcho, of Sargent's 'The Wyndham Sisters'. Lady Cynthia Charteris Asquith was sister to Ego . Ego had married Diana's sister, "Letty"-Lady Violet Manners. Hugo was the eldest son to Lord Elcho & was to succeed his father in that title.

In her memoir Diana recalled attending a memorial service with her sister in Saint Paul's Cathedral. Kneeling beside me Letty whispered To think we might be at Ego's requiem. And all the while Ego was dead He had been killed in a flash near the Sinai desert. DMC

Edward

Lady Diana Manners wrote: Edward darling, I think it's up to the Coterie to stop this war. Edward Horner was rumoured to be engaged to Diana Manners. He was the heir to his family's estate in Somerset- Mells. Horner, another of the generation's golden boys, died during the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, having already survived a potentially fatal injury two years earlier – a bullet had passed through a kidney, which had to be removed, an operation of phenomenal risk in the days of per-antibiotic medicine.(read an article about Downton Abbey & Horner here)

It was overwhelmingly dreadful...everyone... had found Edward irresistible. He had a lot of real melancholy woven into his joie de vivre... He thought life could do more than it can & it had not given him much except a loving family & friends...I was to see him but once again. I felt my spirit too low to recover. Only a few months before we had had to bear the worst of all our losses. DMC

'He hath outsoared the shadow of our night.' Shelley

The Memorial to Edward Horner, St Andrew's Church, Mells, Somerset.

The base of the memorial is by Sir Edwin Lutyens and the equestrian statue is by Sir Alfred Munnings.

Raymond & K

Edward's sister ,"K",Katharine Frances Horner had married the much admired Raymond Asquith in 1907. Diana saw Raymond & Katherine as the perfect couple. Asquith was the oldest member of the Coterie & the eldest son & heir of British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith.

By his death everything changed, except the war that ground its blind murderous treadmill round & round without retreat or advance, with no sign of the beginning of the end. DMC

Diana with Lily Elsie posing in Hearts of the World- a war propaganda film

In one of Patrick Shaw Stewart's letters to Diana he closes: Darling Diana, just in case I should be killed I do want to impress it on you that you have practically the burden of this generation on your shoulders. Be fruitful & multiply & replenish the earth and salt it, & encourage the good & cause the undesirable to writhe, & never say that you forgive little moral obliquities only because their perpetrator comes straight from the trenches.

Be careful & lucky darling Patrick. I feel a straw will finish my back now-let alone a fair pillar of my house breaking on it. DMC

Achilles In the Trench- Patrick Shaw Stewart

I saw a man this morning
Who did not wish to die;
I ask, and cannot answer,
if otherwise wish I.

Fair broke the day this morning
Upon the Dardanelles:
The breeze blew soft, the morn's cheeks
Were cold as cold sea-shells.

But other shells are waitind
Across the Aegean Sea;
Shrapnel and high explosives,
Shells and hells for me.

Oh Hell of ships and cities,
Hell of men like me,
Fatal second Helen,
Why must I follow thee?

Achilles came to Troyland
And I to Chersonese;
He turned from wrath to battle,
And I from three days' peace.

Was it so hard, Achilles,
So very hard to die?
Thou knowest, and I know not;
So much the happier am I.

I will go back this morning
From Imbros o'er the sea.
Stand in the trench, Achilles,
Flame-capped, and shout for me.

Patrick Shaw Stewart was killed on 30 December 1917. A bullet in his head brought him instantaneous death-and an end to his brave heart & his mind teeming with methodical designs for a life of fine aims, fortune, fulfillment. DMC

Text taken from Diana Cooper's memoir is in navy-
I have a related Post about Otto and Encounters with the Coterie at my sister blog OTTOLINE DIVINE here

Once Upon A Time-when a Letter of Praise to a child was enough

2012-01-21T22:44:00.000-05:00

Lady Margaret Cavendish Holles Harley & her father Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford by Zinke 1727, at about age 12, from the Harley Gallery here

A Letter to Lady Margaret Cavendish Holles-Harley, when a Child~ by Matthew Prior

MY noble, lovely, little Peggy,
Let this my First Epistle beg ye,
At dawn of morn, and close of even,
To lift your heart and hands to Heaven.
In double duty say your prayer:
Our Father first, then Notre Pere.

And, dearest child, along the day,
In every thing you do and say,
Obey and please my lord and lady,
So God shall love and angels aid ye.

If to these precepts you attend,
No second letter need I send,
And so I rest your constant friend.

Today it must be a hospital suite-a rap song- a movie role-a runway -a magazine cover.

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What they Wore: an Apfel & a Queen

2012-01-20T18:04:00.000-05:00

'I live in the Dark Ages, the 17th century. Actually, I would have loved to be in Paris in the early 20th century when the Ballets Russes were there and Chanel was designing.' Iris Apfel

Maria Luisa de Orleans, Queen of Spain by Jose Garcia Hidalgo,1679.

a daughter's Grief

2012-01-19T21:25:00.000-05:00

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"I can't put in words how it helped me with the grieving process, I was keeping him alive in a metaphorical sense – he was there the whole time I was making it." Jane McAdam Freud said of the 3ft x 3ft x 1ft terracotta triptych sculpture of her late father, Lucian Freud.

Freud's EarthStone Triptych will be unveiled at the exhibit Lucian Freud, My Father in Sigmund Freud's former dining room at the Freud Museum this month. Sigmund Freud was Jane McAdam Freud's great-grandfather. Genius is runs deep in the Freud family to be sure. The dining room was the place Sigmund Freud would introduce his new acquisitions of ancient sculpture as the "guest of honour".
Of her father's death the sculptress said, "I had to face the fact he was dying. In the end, I made it into a triptych because I think he had many sides."

"Dad has one eye open and one eye closed.
When you are drawing it is a way of measuring – so this portrait could be him working, close to death, dreaming or asleep, or all of these things."

the quotes & the photographs on this post are from The Independent here
read more from Jane McAdam Freud and her process here
“Lucian Freud, My Father,” at London’s Freud Museum, January 25 through March 4 of this year.

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very

2012-01-19T04:20:00.000-05:00

wearable.

maison martin margiela, pre-fall 2012

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same as it ever was 18 January

2012-01-18T14:13:00.000-05:00

"The Old Testament is responsible for more atheism, agnosticism, disbelief—call it what you will—than all of the counterattractions of cinema, motor bicycle, and golf course." -A A Milne

A.A. Milne's son, the original Christopher Robin & pooh.

Born Today, Alan Alexander Milne

18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956

Inspiration: Charlotte Moss & Nancy Lancaster

2012-01-17T00:16:00.001-05:00

I just love this Charlotte Moss patchwork pattern! It's Amelia from her collection for Fabricut. When I wrote about the collection earlier, (here) I envisioned Amelia in a room with starched linens that rumble, & some yellows with this Bluebell colorway.

My thought was a truly classic room without the staid stately trappings some Classic Rooms carry with it.
What had prompted the vision?

Sifting back through files over the holidays I revisited my roots- the rooms of Nancy Lancaster. I still find Nancy Lancaster's design LIFE to be one of the most fascinating in design history. From her grandparents home of Mirador in Virginia to Kelmarsh Hall and Ditchley as a married Nancy Tree-then to Haseley Court-by way of a second marriage to a Colonel Lancaster-then there was the most beautiful & famous Yellow Room at Avery Row, Mayfair designed with her business partner John Fowler. Lastly- to the Coach House at Haseley Court where she lived for the rest of her life. The changes in her life never defined her- but decorating did! She adapted with equal grace and style from the simply grand to the grandly simple, as witnessed in her Coach House rooms of Haseley.

Nancy Lancaster, left & a painting by Leon de Smet

in the mood, Oscar de la Renta, 2008

Belgian painter,Leon de Smet's Two Children in an Interior

other patterns in the collection to add to a Nancy Lancaster Classic-

top left, & right- matelasse Agatha in Fresh Cream, embroidery Charlotte in Mist, below left & right- floral Lucie in Celadon & versatile solid Aphra in Capri

I love the little border that runs all along the Walls of Nancy's bedroom- above the skirting and replacing a molding along the ceiling line. Rambling print Isabella in Camellia above has a border that would add just the right heft of any room's walls-especially those with some angles and quirky corners.

I selected different colors from Charlotte's collection to insure a true classic English mix. One of the secrets to Lancaster decorating is making it uncontrived- Mix, Mix- & Do Not Match. Pairing Celadon with Blue gives instant English fade to your room. Don't make it too bright & don't translate Lancaster literally- She wouldn't like it- nor will it resonate. Amelia, Lucie and Isabella should be cut into squares and patched together to make Amelia-more patched. As Charlotte might say Be Inspired-

& lastly----don't forget the Cornflowers.

everything about Nancy Lancaster at little augury here
more of Charlotte Moss' Collection here
the Leon de Smet paintings were spied at Barbara's It's About Time- explore it here

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as CECIL saw it

2012-01-16T09:38:00.000-05:00

"Suzanne Farrell.., a poetical granddaughter of Pauline Rothschild,
with her head bent so low on one side that she appeared like a bird with its head tucked under one wing." Cecil Beaton

happy belated Cecil !

2012-01-15T16:08:00.000-05:00

Let them have their cake!

“All I want is the best of everything and there's very little of that left” CB

January 14,1904- January 18, 1980

He took the Cake!

Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton

That's LIFE: the women He loved, Augustus John

2012-01-14T11:45:00.001-05:00

the handsome John in 1899, painting by Sir William Orfen

Ida Nettleship with Gwen John, an artist in her own right, Augustus' sister.

at far left of drawing is a friend- drawing by Augustus John 1897.

1st wife Ida, with the couple's baby (they had five sons)

Ida with Dorelia & Augustus, & their 1st child (at the time Ida & John were married)

Dorelia at r. painted by John

after Ida died giving birth- Dorelia & John married

Dorelia (at right) painted by Gwen John-(Gwen-Self Portrait, at left )

the pair had an affair in defiance of Augustus, & Ida

Lyric Fantasy

a gathering of John's women, 1909 here, even the late, Ida, at far right

Dorelia & John had two daughters-

Vivien & Poppet

artist Vivien alongside a John painting of her mother Dorelia, at left & Poppet painted by her father

Gwyneth Johnstone, daughter of John & Nora Brownsword,

painted by John, she became a painter like her father

John's daughter, Amaryllis Fleming- from John's liaison with Evelyn St. Croix Fleming,

Eve- a painting by Augustus John here

& the many Women he painted and loved-likely too numerous to name, or to know-

Luisa Casati

Elizabeth Bibesco, nee Asquith

Princess Bibesco

Tallulah Bankhead

Lady Cynthia Asquith

Lady Ottoline Morrell, & at right with Dorelia

the menage years later-

Iris Tree

& standing in for all the others-

John's The Sphinx

more?

the Augustus John Sphinx is owned by singer Bryan Ferry-just married to Amanda Sheppard, age 29. Ferry is 66, though like the Sphinx-ageless, timeless & like John- a Slave to Love.

for more John paintings see artvalue here

more about John here

what they wore: a Mitford & a Mistress

2012-01-13T08:26:00.000-05:00

Good Clothes are a matter of Good Health. Nancy Mitford

Madame de Pompadour by Boucher

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first Look, first Love

2012-01-12T00:26:00.001-05:00

As our eyes age-returning again and again to the things we were captivated by in Youth is necessary.
Do we remain so? Or do we move on?

Never should we feel less than by finding our loves less than.

Catherine wearing the Preobrazhenskii regimentals, 1762.

portrait by Vigilius Eriksen

Rarely am I disappointed in the Face in a Portrait-
or a the story of a Life.

Grand Princess Catherine Alexeievna by George Christoph Grooth-1745

Now reading- this biography. I remember reading about Catherine the Great in elementary school. The biography has always been my favorite genre.
It has never disappointed.

“I am one of the people who love the why of things”-

Catherine the Great

thank you A CRAVAN for the inspiration- here

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LANVIN...

2012-01-11T00:52:00.000-05:00

If I had the need and the funds-it would be:

LANVIN

more of LANVIN'S Pre Fall 2012 images from VOGUE here

Ideal, a ladylike uniform-in black and white a cameo, gloves, a sturdy pair of shoes, trousers- sans booties.
Alber Elbaz knows women like to look feminine, smart- smart, feminine, smart. This Pre Fall collection is all that. Remember it was MADAME JEANNE LANVIN that gave us this marker-with a little help from her friend Paul Iribe.

& this-

LANVIN, 1924 & 1927

images from the MET

& below-

her own very of the moment Art Deco bathroom

& the thoroughly smart- and modern, as in 21st century modern, Lee Miller wearing LANVIN in 1931.

photograph by Hoyningen Huene

MORE?
Hold your breath and go to the Selby to see this- ( LANVIN here)

Vogue's review here

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Going to Carolina: Richard Jenrette & Ayr Mount

2012-01-09T22:03:00.000-05:00

One of the prettiest and most pristine historic homes in North Carolina is just a hop skip and jump away from me in Hillsborough and from there just a short trip to Chapel Hill- the University of North Carolina.

1815, Ayr Mount

The beautiful Ayr Mount is the home of native North Carolinian Richard Jenrette. Jenrette is owner of a number of perfectly restored homes - read about them all in the New York Social Diary here

Come visit Ayr Mount, and I'll meet you there!

I recommend both of Jenrette's books Adventures with Old Houses and More Adventures with Old Houses.
Ayr Mount here

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What makes YOU tick?

2012-01-09T00:55:00.001-05:00

& What ticks YOU OFF?

No-

no 1 has made me Mad----Just wondering?

this wonderful photograph by Angus McBean, 1983.

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It's WAR as Downton begins

2012-01-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

When Downton Abbey resumes for viewers in the States on Sunday pause to remember: the series ended on August 4th, 1914 , with the announcement that Britain was at War with Germany. Germany invaded a neutral Belgium at 8:02 am (local time), violating Belgian's neutrality and setting off the chain of events throughout Europe that would change lives forever.

Romaine Brooks La France Croisee 1914

DAILY MIRROR, 4 August, 1914

Great Britain is in a state of war with Germany. It was officially  stated at the Foreign Office last night that Great Britain declared war  against Germany at 7pm. The British Ambassador in Berlin has been handed  his passport.

War was Germany's reply to our request that she should respect the  neutrality of Belgium, whose territories we were bound in honour and by  treaty obligations to maintain inviolate.

Speaking in a crowded and hushed House the Premier yesterday  afternoon made the following statement: 'We have made a request to the  German Government that we shall have a satisfactory assurance as to the  Belgian neutrality before midnight tonight.'

The German reply to our request, officially stated last night, was unsatisfactory.

Just prior to the War in 1913, Gabrielle Chanel had opened a boutique in Deauville, France; liberating women from their corsets with tailored suits & chain-belted jerseys.

1914

Charlie Chaplin makes his film debut in the comedy short Making a Living.
Suffragette Mary Richardson damages Velázquez' painting Rokeby Venus in London's National Gallery with a meat chopper.
Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinates Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Duchess Sophie, in Sarajevo.

 de Chirico's Love Song

Cubist Artists Picasso and Braque continue to challenge the Art World with their work and Italian painter de Chirico emerges with the first canvas of the Surrealist Movement.
A new Pope is named-Pope Benedict XV.
The Kennedy Dynasty begins- Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. marries Rose Fitzgerald in Boston.

British and German soldiers interrupt World War I to celebrate Christmas, beginning the Christmas Truce of 1914.

& in the Second Season of Downton, Christmas is celebrated too- such are the pitfalls of being a rebellious little settlement of colonies-
& it's a bit late for US to celebrate- as we are racing already to the next holiday-
but still...

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ALI: LOVE story

2012-01-06T15:50:00.000-05:00

1 of my IDOLS when I was growing up- ALI MacGRAW.
SO great to see her on the cover of Town & Country's February issue. No reveals- or pictures, but she still is beautiful-& still with such a unique look.

photographed for VOGUE August 1969

& Surprise!
ALI was 30 when she filmed Good-bye Columbus in 1969.
Never a starlet-always a STAR- better yet- the Anti-Star.

Here I am age- 10, in 1969- The Eyebrow-Is it NO wonder I LOVED ALI?

Who was your IDOL at the age of 10?

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Audrey Hepburn's La Paisible

2012-01-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

Pure & Simple-
Peaceful-that's what Audrey was looking for and found in La Paisible.

I searched for what was loved & found to be real- Audrey Hepburn

Hepburn photographed with her son Luca Dotti

Audrey Hepburn met and fell in love with Andrea Dotti in 1969. She had established a home near Lac Leman Switzerland with first husband Mel Ferrer in 1963. The Swiss villa in Tolochenaz was a retreat for the Hollywood couple.
Hepburn said "it was a place where there would never be a war."

The simplest white wicker filled the Master Bedroom & fresh sprig blue Porthault linens covered the bed. The painting over the desk of the villa in the bedroom was painted by Dr. Dotti-an Italian psychiatrist.

HEPBURN

BEAUTIFUL IN BLUE

image from Gardens of the World here

Audrey's Library at La Paisible took its colors from the painting of watermelon slices by Rufino Tamayo over a pink sofa. A modern Parsons table and desk are paired with a Spanish rug in pinks , woven stools and a Windsor chair.

Audrey-later in life- relaxing in the Library of her beloved villa with her dogs.

image from Audrey Hepburn here

HEPBURN

PRETTY IN PINK

photograph by Bert Stern, 1960.

I remember the freedom being able to pick fruit from a tree (as a child)- Audrey Hepburn

pictured below harvesting fruit in her orchard

HEPBURN

RAVISHING IN RED

photograph by Avedon, 1961

In the Villa's Garden-roses & lavender, with a tablecloth scattered in daises. The orchard and established rose garden yielded to masses of wildflowers beyond.

I've always had a passion for the outdoors, for trees, for birds, for flowers.-Audrey Hepburn

The article and photographs were published in VOGUE UK 1971, and much of the text was written by Hepburn, She wrote:

The same year Henry Clarke photographed Audrey Hepburn wearing her great friend Hubert Givenchy's newest collection for Vogue UK.

Though the relationship with Dotti did not last-they were married thirteen years, the house remained true to Audrey's ideals. Audrey Hepburn died at La Paisible January 20th 1993. After her death Gregory Peck read this-her favorite poem, Unending Love.

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times...
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it's age old pain,
It's ancient tale of being apart or together.
As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,
Clad in the light of a pole-star, piercing the darkness of time.
You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.
At the heart of time, love of one for another.
We have played along side millions of lovers,
Shared in the same shy sweetness of meeting,
the distressful tears of farewell,
Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you
The love of all man's days both past and forever:
Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.
The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours -
And the songs of every poet past and forever.

~Rabindranath Tagore

Audrey Hepburn here

Gardens of the World.org here

in LIFE here

Life with Audrey, from the men in her life in People magazine 1994, here

a few of my favorite things: Givenchy & Hepburn

2012-01-04T01:06:00.002-05:00

Raindrops on roses

and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles

and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses

with blue satin sashes

Snowflakes

that stay on

my nose and eyelashes

Silver white winters that melt into springs

These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites

When the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so bad

Here- Givenchy's LE JONCHET, a favorite thing.

the Salon

Giacometti cast bronze octagonal table- and stools. The Giacometti collection owned by Givenchy includes some 60 pieces.

Harmony, it's simplicity, line, balance- Givenchy.

Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy (born February 20, 1927) is a French aristocrat and fashion designer who founded the The House of Givenchy in 1952.

Suggested books & reading: The Givenchy Style-Francoise Mohrt

a New Year, new Leaf?

2012-01-03T07:51:00.000-05:00

When Marilyn Storey-of the blog MS Design Maven- asked me to help her celebrate the New Year, I had to say Yes.
It would help Me think.
What about Colors? Drinks? Resolutions?

Cristóbal Balenciaga, 1953.

photograph by Baron de Meyer

the library at Mouton

See what I came up with at MS Design Maven here
&
I suggest exploring Marilyn's blog. here is a recent post that I loved-in fact-I went nuts over it.

.