Clothes Make the Room

Yesterday I was on the phone for an hour and a half trying to get my AT&T land line disconnected. Of that call, an hour and twenty-five minutes were spent on hold listening to that obsequious music. Needless to say, I thought I was going to blow a gasket and was trying to figure out something- anything- to do to keep calm. (If you're wondering why that Warhol photo of Diana Vreeland is at top, it's because I believe she was saying "Listen, all I want is to have my phone line disconnected. What part of that do you not understand?" At least, it looks that way to me.)

A drink wasn't going to do; after all, it was only 3:00 in the afternoon and that just didn't seem fitting. So, I came up with a game. I was flipping through an old Sotheby's auction catalogue from their 1997 haute couture sale "Paris a la Mode", and I found the dresses so beautiful that I decided to match some of them to specific rooms. But, I didn't think too hard about the rooms. I simply went with the first room to come to mind. Here's what I came up with:




A late 1950s Jacques Fath evening dress reminded me of:


Geoffrey Beene's dining room swathed in "Les Touches".




The blooming flowers of this Yves Saint Laurent gown (c. 1987) made me think of these flowers:


All over the walls and sofas in the London flat of Michael Szell.





That green and blue color combination in this Lanvin couture gown? Awfully close to:


Those green walls and blue sofa in Rose Cumming's drawing room.




The ruffles of this late 1960s Lanvin evening dress made me think not of a room so much, but rather...


...Miles Redd's couture-like curtains.



(Warhol photo and dress images from Paris a la Mode, Haute Couture: Auction October 29, 1997 - Sale 7036; Beene photo from House Beautiful Entertaining. Szell photo from Architectural Digest International Interiors, Derry Moore photographer. Cumming image from The Great Lady Decorators: The Women Who Defined Interior Design, 1870-1955 by Adam Lewis. Redd photo from W, Martyn Thompson.)

Why Don't You?

Don't you just want to get your mind off of our troubles? For a few moments, don't you want a little fun and frivolity? And who better to turn to for this than Diana Vreeland and her "Why Don't You?" columns for Harper's Bazaar. After all, this monthly column was written during the Great Depression to help readers escape the uncertainty and drudgery of the times . While some of the nuggets of wisdom (or perhaps they should be called flights of fancy?) are a bit outlandish, some are actually quite doable.

As DV once said, these suggestions "were all very tried and true ideas, mind you." If that's true, then why don't you...


Tie black tulle bows on your wrists?


Black tulle ribbon from Bags and Bows Online


Pick up in Florida the prettiest shells you can find and make them into a mirror frame of a baroque scroll design?



Shells from Seashells.com, Sanibel, FL

Have a yellow satin bed entirely quilted in butterflies?


I couldn't find a comparable photo, but aren't these butterfly garlands from Pearl River charming?


Serve individual Pfirsch Bowle which is a peeled peach in a chilled glass with ice-cold Moselle or Rhine wine poured in? Marvelous at tea time.


Weingut Gottelmann Riesling

Go to Dazian, the theatrical-material shop, and get fake leopard skin for your bathroom floor and fake beige fur for your slipper chair?


Faux leopard, still available at Dazian

Design monograms with circles around them for the pockets of your children's cardigans and the sleeves of their dressing-gowns?


Nicholas monogram from Leontine Linens

Cover a big cork bulletin board in bright pink felt, banded with bamboo, and pin with colored thumb-tacks all your various enthusiasms as your life varies from week to week?



Pink felt from Hancock Fabric Store and Bamboo custom made frame from Pictureframes.com.

Palatable Florals

For months now, many magazines have touted the return of the floral print. Now, for some people, florals never went anywhere; they remained alive and well on sofas, bedspreads, and walls in many a cheery home. You floral fiends may now find yourself a little more in vogue than you were last year, and that's great! Stick with what you love. It's like me and my Chinoiserie- some years I'm the belle of the ball, while at other times I'm yesterday's news.

Personally, I'm very picky about floral prints. They can't be too sweet nor they can be too "floral-y". The prints almost need to be toned down by some other addition to the print. I do think, though, that there is a floral print for everyone. If you're like me, maybe some of these florals might be just the thing to get you on the floral bandwagon. But, if you have a strong dislike of these prints, then you too should just stick with what you love.

Despite being a floral-challenged person, I adore these Braquenie prints. See, they're not "pure" floral prints. Image at top: "Bordure Cheverny"; Image at bottom: "Rivière Enchantée & Pércale"


Now this is a unique floral print- "Paradise Lost" by Scalamandre.


Does this count as a floral? I do like "Elsie de Wolfe" by Scalamandre


Not too sweet nor saccharine. "Margot" by Clarence House


Now we're talking; this print is gorgeous! "Menars" by Brunschwig & Fils

Image at top: "Garden in Hell" living room of Diana Vreeland. She was the one person who could make florals look downright decadent.

Finally... the Vreeland Apartment

When we discuss iconic rooms and homes of the 20th century, a few seem to come up time and time again: Cole Porter's Waldorf Towers apartment, Brooke Astor's library, and Diana Vreeland's apartment. It's the Vreeland apartment that has both fascinated and frustrated me- the frustration part due to the lack of Vreeland images in my library.

Well, that issue has been remedied thanks to a few readers who know a great deal about this legendary home. Not only did they give me details about the decor, but they also told me where I could find additional images. And this is what led me to purchase a copy of Architectural Digest Celebrity Homes. I know most of us have seen photos of the Billy Baldwin designed "Garden in Hell" living room, and I remember seeing a photo of the dining room in one of DV's biographies, but have you seen the bedroom before? I hadn't, so that's why I'm showing the images here.

Now, I like Vreeland's living room as much as the next person, and there are certain elements in the room that I love. But could I live in this room? Probably not. The dining room, however, is a different story- j'adore. And the blue bedroom is a respite from the intense red of the other rooms. The twist is that the fabric on the walls and curtains is the same print as the Garden in Hell but in a different colorway. (I believe a reader said it was a Gastón y Daniela print).

So, what do you think???


The Garden in Hell living room


Another view of the living room with a red screen that separated it from the dining room


The striped dining room


A detail shot of the living room


The blue bedroom with a Syrie Maugham designed bed. Wondering what the scarf is doing placed on the coverlet? Why that was where her shoes and handbag were laid out in the evening. What? You don't do that too?