The Good, The Bad, and the Definitely Not Ugly

My obsession with deep, dark purples and raspberry pinks has reached a feverish pitch as of late. These are the colors that are on my mind, and when I see them on the pages of books and magazines, those colors just seem to leap from the page.

Take flowers, for example. Back in my former life as a married gal, I had the most gorgeous wedding bouquet. It was very simple- chocolate cosmos and really dark purple calla lilies. The bouquet almost looked black, but rather than coming off as Goth, it seemed sophisticated, a bit stark, and dramatic. (If like me you love Porthault linen, Mario Buatta, Tiffany china, and Rigaud candles, then Goth is an adjective that will never be used to describe you.) I can't take full credit for that choice in flowers; I believe that I saw something similar in a very early issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

Last week, I hosted an event at my apartment, and I threw together a really pretty arrangement of dark, dark dahlias and pink tulips. (That's it, at top. Trust me, it looked a lot better before the tulips grew.) The tulips lightened the look and kept the dahlias from looking too femme fatale. The dark is smoldering; the pink is sweet. It's good girl/bad girl. And let's face it- we all have two sides to our personalities. This color combo kind of encompasses that.



Let's move on to Hamish Bowles' Manhattan dwelling. This chair, above, just killed me. A Louis XV chair upholstered in purple tweed. The color is so rich and luscious. I just have to find something in my home that I can cover in a similar fabric. And then there's Hamish, below, amongst deep raspberry, green, and animal print pillows. Rather decadent looking, don't you think?





There's the Framboise Rose china that I wrote about last week. I'm still convinced that it would look terrific against an aubergine colored cloth or, better yet, in a lacquered aubergine dining room. The aubergine would help to tone down all of that pink in the china.


And then I'm sure you remember this garden party layout from Domino. (It was no ordinary party; it was hosted by Miles Redd.) I always liked how Nick Olsen's hot pink polo looked next to that gorgeous raspberry Oscar de la Renta dress. What a statement, and a most stylish one at that!

(Photos of Bowles' apartment from Vogue Living Australia, June 2010 ; Domino image, Paul Costello photographer)