My Initial Thought

Some people have the best initials. Take Wallis Windsor, for example. Double W's look fantastic when engraved on flatware or embroidered on linen. Heck, just one W looks terrific. M is good, as is T. I think I'm taken with these letters because they're symmetrical. You can flip them on their vertical axis, and they still look the same. J is asymmetrical, something which I admit drives me a tad crazy. Same with a B. But if you have one initial that is symmetrical, like an H, then you can use that letter as the starting point for an interesting monogram. That one symmetrical letter can be the foundation upon which you build your cypher. On my stationery, seen above, I tried to achieve balance with one long B to the right and a smaller J and E to the left. And if you throw a box around anything, it's like instant symmetry.


See what I mean? Old Wallis had great initials. Those interlocking W's were perfect for this appliqued bed linen.


Edward's E was pretty nifty too. Of course, being able to add a crown to your monogram always helps.


Givenchy has monogrammed cotton slipcovers in his dining room at Clos Fiorentina. If you didn't know that this was Givenchy's monogram, it might be a little tough to decipher the letters. Still, it's rather striking, don't you think?


Also at Clos Fiorentina- the "Walter" guest bedroom named after friend Walter Lees. See, there's that W again. Looks fabulous.


And yet again, W rears it's pretty little head in this room decorated by Jonathan Adler.



Todd Romano's monogram is quite clever (seen here on a matchbook). The T bisects a wide R, resulting in a cypher that is tight and symmetrical.


But, after seeing these chairs that were auctioned off by Christies last week, I take back everything I said about B's. According to An Aesthete's Lament, these beauties belonged to Bunny Mellon.

(Windsor photos from The Duke & Duchess Of Windsor: Public Collections; Private Collections (2 volume set).; Givenchy images from Le Style Givenchy; Adler photo from Rooms to Inspire in the City: Stylish Interiors for Urban Living by Annie Kelly, Tim Street-Porter photographer, Rizzoli 2010.)