seeking Sargent

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Maison Martin Margiela-Spring 2013

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The Great American House

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I often write: So many books-So little time and as connoisseurs of the best design and art books you know what that means. Other than the onset of Fall-importantly, there are Fall books to be perused, purchased, appreciated-and savored. The Great American House is going to be all that. Architect Gil Schafer has been perfecting his craft and it all comes together in a beautifully designed book of his work.The Classic house in America has a fine history and Schafer walks through his journey with these houses in the book.  Along with his home in the Hudson Valley, three of his projects are featured in the book-a new estate, a renovation and a restoration, taking the reader from Nashville to Charleston.

Schafer has laid out a treatise for embracing tradition and it resonates. He has been steeped in architecture and design through family of architects and designers and from living in old houses. Whether his projects are renovations or he is designing a new house- he focuses on three areas-

Architecture, Landscape, and Decoration. 

I have always loved an old house. When working on a new house= I'm always looking for ways to make it old. In most cases the clients "get it" and even if their tastes have a bent to the modern-the bones of a house are at their best when grounded in Classicism. Schafer quotes Gio Ponti:

 "For life to be great and full, we have to combine the past with the future."

& from Antoine de Saint-Exupery:

"The marvel of a Home... comes from those layers of sweetness which gradually stores up in us..."

Anyone that has loved a house- or wants to fall in love all over again with their old one should get this book.
Better yet-if your don't believe in Love- get the book, Schafer will convince you it can be found at Home.

images © The Great American House: Tradition for the Way We Live Now, Rizzoli New York, 2012.

used with permission

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Ciao Veranda!

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The September-October issue of Veranda is full of all things MADE IN ITALY. As editor in chief, Dara Caponigro says- that phrase embodies "artistry, quality and style," much as Veranda has over the last 25 years. I was lucky enough to put some questions to Dara about the magazine's Special Report on Italian Style. I was especially caught up in their story Gold Standard-all about statement jewelry in gold and how Italian women wear it best.

Dara wearing her favorite gold bracelet

Veranda photograph

Here's what Dara told me:

I love gold jewelry. 
You know the 80's were all about gold jewelry;everyone wore it. Then it seems silver was In. Some women shy away from gold, but your Gold Standard piece will have them digging out the gold.
Does Veranda set fashion trends as well as design trends?
  

DC: Our stories typically come from the heart, from a place of real excitement and passion. The Italian jewelry story came from admiring Italian women at the Basel watch and jewelry show this past spring. Our jewelry editor, Catherine Davis, and I were enchanted by the glamorous Italian we met and the jewelry they wore. We became really excited about capturing their certain something. We really work from our gut and by doing what we innately feel, we actually have become trendsetters. Veranda is very of the moment and we take a fashion-forward approach. Our recent feature on Rachel Roy got a great response, and we are doing more and more coverage of style and fashion – as well as travel, culture, beauty, entertaining and the arts. I always say that if you love beautiful things and places, you’re going to love our magazine. We’re about livable luxury and give readers access to the most beautiful interiors and objects in the world.

Do you wear jewelry every day? What is your favorite piece of jewelry?   

DC: Yes. I have a classic chain link bracelet from the 80s that I wear at least five days a week.




Your Gold Standard story describes the Italian woman as glamorous with effortless composure-and seductive. Still there is something illusive about their style. 
Can you put your finger on their secret?

DC: They know when to pull back so that they’re just short of being tacky. There is a certain sex appeal married with a certain restraint, and that tension between the two is completely seductive.



What Italian actress-past or present- personifies Italian style?

DC:The young Sophie Loren. It sounds so obvious, but she was the epitome of Italian style. And it relates back to that idea of tension. 

 There was something almost demure about her clothes and jewelry, but with that face and incredible figure…the combination and resulting tension created enormous sex appeal.

 
You are on the move so much; do you have a travel uniform? 
DC:I love to travel with dresses. They are easy to pack and take up less room in your suitcase. All you need are great shoes and accessories and you have an instant look.

 (when I meet Dara in LA in the Spring she was wearing a wonderful looking leather shirtwaist style dress.)



Which of the pieces from your Italian Style/Well Made will you purchase-or want to purchase?

DC: All of them! There is not a single item that I wouldn’t purchase. We spend a tremendous amount of time vetting everything that we feature and if we don’t absolutely love it, we don’t run it.
 But if I had to pick the first couple of items that would be on my shopping list, it would be the Vespa and the Marni boots.

There are some terrific stories in the issue as usual and Veranda is celebrating its 25th year as one of my favorite magazines and yours. This month's cover offers this unarguable advice:

Live With What You Love

Dara's letter from the Veranda revealed the magazine's Archive's Project. The magazine is culling the design libraries of wallpaper-fabric-and furniture companies to select pieces for reissue in their anniversary year- there first with Cowtan and Tout! I hope to share more details about this project in future posts with Veranda.

See the best of  The Most Beautiful Products Made in Italy in the current Veranda here 
Veranda.com here
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a Blumenfeld Box

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“Day and night I try, in my studio with its six two-thousand watt suns, balancing between the extremes of the impossible, to shake loose the real from the unreal, to give visions body, to penetrate into unknown transparencies.” Erwin Blumenfeld

when you look through his oeuvre you will see why Erwim Blumenfeld is one of the masters of fashion photography-he was taking photographs as a child in Berlin- I've no doubt he was coloring with crayons too.
When he fled to the States in 1941 from war torn Europe, his eye was ready to See that unknown.
He has to inspired artists today, saying Brilliant-or why didn't I think of that?

Don't you agree? His work will have you saying the same & Yes-It is a Blumenfeld.

His work here

&

here

Now go get you Crayolas out.

crayola.com
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Meadham Kirchoff IV, newest member of the Sharpe family

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"What’s past is prologue."

 

William Shakespeare

John Zoffany 

Meadham Kirchoff




a series of imaginings about design team Meadham Kirchoff and their Spring 2013 collection.
 see them all here
 
 

Meadham Kirchoff III: at Ashcombe

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"What’s past is prologue."

  

William Shakespeare

Cecil Beaton and friends as Ashcombe

Meadham Kirchoff







a series of imaginings about design team Meadham Kirchoff and their Spring 2013 collection.
 see them all here

Meadham Kirchoff II, meditating on Newton

"What’s past is prologue."

quotation William Shakespeare
"Mlle Ferrand Meditating on Newton,"by Maurice Quentin de La Tour
& Meadham Kirchoff






in the interest of clarity-reading the last post entitled Madame Pompadour will help with this one-and as we go along!

Picture Collage by PGT 

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Meadham Kirchoff I, "trois amies"

"What’s past is prologue."

 William Shakespeare

Meadham Kerchoff

Marie Antionette & Princess de Lambelle



in the interest of clarity-reading the last post entitled Madame Pompadour will help with this one-and as we go along!

Picture Collage by PGT

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"Madame Pompadour,"

actresses painted by Gainsborough, nymphs by Boucher-" Sarah Mower, of Vogue

 Yes, it's all True- I wasn't there-but I saw the Sun King too- 

 louis xiv, habillé en soleil

“I just wanted to concentrate on this idea of beauty,”Meadham Kirchhoff

Mower quote linked here-and in text, with the review and the collection of Meadham Kirchhoff

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seen & heard... London catwalk

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 Lily's Man at Christopher Kane

 tunes from "The Wrecking Ball"and Emmy Lou, Acne

 

dog on catwalk,girl's best friend, Mulberrry

re the Vanderbilt Effect

PaTchWork@CAM

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patchwork xi

in London at Jasper Conran

 image from New York Magazine here

for more of my patchwork obsessions




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a little Spry

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dahlia,hydrangea, lobelia

I'm a little

TEASet.

an elegant Old Paris tea set- my own- now available at One King's Lane Vintage & Market Finds, HERE

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why not?

.bring back the chatelaine-

they did It in 1938-

a selection-

Antique 14k Gold Watch Fob Citrine Chatelaine

from an etsy shop here-

last of Summer: Le déjeuner des canotiers

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this post is inspired by Renoir's Le Dejeuner des canotiers- all about Renoir here & by the book- House and Garden's Complete Guide to Entertaining by the editors of House and Garden (Menu from the book)


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