what FLEUR wore

BALENCIAGA Organdi plissé -fil de fer -robe de jour automne-hiver 1952-1953

Fleur Cowles editor of Flair magazine 2003, photograph by Robert Trachtenberg

de la Tour & Balenciaga

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The Penitent Magdalen by Georges de La Tour, 1640,at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

 &

Balenciaga, 1963.

Jayne Wrightsman, in front "The Penitent Magdalen" by Georges de la Tour from the Wrightsman art collection, wearing a pink Balenciaga deshabille with white sleeves and white jeweled buttons.

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Screening Room I

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  from L Officiel, 1961.

 right now I'm thinking-what a perfect piece to use in a new project-the Coromandel Screen. I've written about the beauty of pieces done in lacquer with Chinese decoration often -and with good reason. There is nothing more powerful in a room than a Coromandel Screen-as attested to by Chanel in her classically beautiful Rue Cambon rooms.

CHANEL
Photograph by Lipnitzki. 1937.

HE had 1 too-
of course. 
...adding it to the required must haves for rooms with Baldwinesque Chic-

Billy Baldwin

She had 1 -in variation.

 Brooke Astor

Designers know when to employ them-whether the power piece in a room- Rose Tarlow,

 Or as an equal partner-Michael Taylor's rooms for Dodie Rosekrans,

 & never sell 1 short-
a screen loves to show off  in any room-Eliza Bolen's bedroom,

& in a second incarnation in her living room.

for Forever & a day-they've been appearing in fashion photographs- and portraits.

Balenciaga gown from 1954

photographer unknown

you often hear of the mannequins in these fashion photographs taking off with the clothes? the jewels? the shoes?

 Me? 

I'd be making off with the screen.

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Balenciaga Crackleure

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artistic finishes on the classic silhouette-at Alexander Wang's debut collection for Balenciaga

why don't you?

join me here

 so what if we're 18 months late!

 

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René Gruau-in Paris

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We don't always know what we'll get with an artist. Is his home the embodiment of his art?

the artist at work in his Paris apartment, 1951.

In the case of René Gruau there are no Surprises. His women would be quite at home.
Elegant, Soignee, Refined-All come to mind. Gruau was perhaps the illustrator of his times-and became inexorably linked to Christian Dior's 1947 debut collection of full skirts and cinched waists known as "The New Look." An exhibition at Somerset House in London a few years ago bears witness to the long partnering of Dior and Gruau.

A star emboldens his signature and his women mostly insinuate themselves across a white veneer of paper. That graphic white-black- red punctuate Gruau's drawings. A slash of Gruau's ink could represent Soignee, Mystery, Sex-or all three. That is the gift of Gruau's art. In a period where there were no Helen Gurley Brown's, Rene Gruau was selling-signaling that women were sensual and seductive.

The Paris apartment Gruau painted in was an ideal backdrop to his work. Can you imagine Gruau's women anywhere else?

the artist's atelier

his drawings- paintings hang amongst Classical objects, at far right, a masked bust, a recurring theme in his art

below, a Jean Desses, masked sphinx label, 1952.

The Salon and the Atelier flow into one another-French chairs, English tables, fresh flowers-blood red walls underlined by that all important Gruau white in fabrics, white moldings and statuary. True to his approach in Art-Gruau believed the Classic form, the elegant line. His home while quite beautiful- is the backdrop to his more alluring women. A Gruau women is confidently-nonchalantly on the edge-should we say? Why not?

Is it just a little reminiscent of Beaton's Reddish House?

Taking a line from the most elegant of all artists -René Gruau translates Lucien Lelong's Drapé a la Boldini evening gown, 1946.

A quintessentially English Dining Room with Chippendale chairs and couture colors-Shocking Pink & Malachite.

René Gruau illustration of Cristóbal Balenciaga & Marcel Rochas Evening Gowns, 1942.

The bedroom lined with paintings and dominated by a lady in black along with bookcases, comfortable chairs and a fur bed cover. Another masked lady-this time in a portrait.

the Gruau woman of Mystery

another view of the bedroom with its wall to wall paintings

the artist in 1986

René Gruau, son of an Italian count-and the aristocratic French Maria Gruau-Renato Zavagli Ricciardelli delle Caminate began drawing at the age of 14 to support himself and his mother & worked well into the 1990's. He died in 2004 at the age of 95.




footnotes-

all images of the Gruau apartment are from PLAISIR de FRANCE, Septembre 1951.

Gruau illustrations 1 for Dior. 2 for Dior,1949 & 3 Maggie Rouff, from 1947. Gruau Sphinx-4 Jean Desses, 1951 & 5 for Dior, 1950. 6 illustration for Lucien Lelong,1946. 7 &  8 Evening gowns, from the 1940's. 9 & 10,11,12, illustrations by Gruau.

original pieces from the artist are offered here

a la Mode

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Cristóbal Balenciaga and Rei Kawakubo share an Exhibition in Paris, Galliera Museum at the moment- both designers reaching back to the past-transforming shapes to suit them-& devotees of their fashions.

"What both Cristóbal Balenciaga and Rei Kawakubo have in common is their radical position, and their lack of interest in the latest trends; they have always pursued their own intuitions, thus creating their unique style" says historian Olivier Saillard director of the Galliera Museum.


See it. Read it- all HERE.




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REPRISE: LaVande

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last May,  We were talking about Lavender & its Kith & Kin-this year this vaporous  color is appearing on the Fashion Runways-especially in Paris with great substance &  soul.
Dusted Lavender.
Drenched Lilac.

at   ROCHAS                                                                                  

at NINA RICCI

BOLDINI.

at DEACON- Giles,

at  ETRO

such divine Mongiardino.

Giorgione Barbarelli

at CELINE

& at GALLIANO-

His VENUS.

there was  HASLAM'S "charred Violet" at NINA RICCI- 

&  again at ROCHAS.

& at
BALENCIAGA-

there was PENN.

Shades of  DEGAS, WHISTLER,

&  MENIL.

Whether Lavender, Lilac or- Violet I've long Adored this COLOR  in its moods
& past tenses.

Michael Pacher's Mary of Burgundy, image 1.
fashion images from DAZED, and from VOGUE.
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