full circle: Charlotte Moss Entertains

Last May I was beautifully entertained in New York to celebrate How They Decorated!
Madeline Weinrib held a wonderful book signing for me in her atelier, and Charlotte Moss had a supper buffet at her townhouse.
I was able to share the evening with great friends, colleagues, my brother, and my niece.

Charlotte's new book Charlotte Moss Entertains is just out and as I said to her—I think it's her best yet. Her entertaining style appears effortless—meaning it requires planning. Each and every party or event she shares in the book is unique, yet singularly Charlotte Moss.

The elegant buffet she had for me is included in the book and I will treasure that evening all the more by having it to revisit every time I pick up Charlotte Moss Entertains.

THE TABLE

THE MENU

Another fantastic party included in the book is Charlotte's Caftan Caucus. Nothing is more comfortable than a caftan—I live in them in the summer. Charlotte's inspiration for the weekend was sparked by a friend at one of Charlotte's 'girls weekend' at her house in East Hampton, hence—forever afterward the Caftan Caucus. These are some of my favorite parties in the entire book.

A CAFTAN CAUCUS

THE CAFTANED HOSTESS

Charlotte devotes one chapter to "Entertaining Ladies." Amongst others, Charlotte profiles the entertaining characters of Pauline de Rothschild, Lesley Blanch, and Bunny Mellon, all women I profile in my book, a book Charlotte wrote the foreword to. In addition to these ladies, Marjorie Merriweather Post is profiled. This spring Charlotte and I have participated in the Artistic Table at Mrs. Post's Hillwood. It's a heavenly place, and the Exhibition continues through May into early June. I am speaking at the museum on May 18th and the topic is none other than—the women of How They Decorated and their tables, the flowers they favored—all about how they entertained. Timely I think.

Another woman Charlotte takes a look at is Elsa Maxwell who said "Etiquette—a fancy word for simple kindness."

In the whirlwind world of decorating, social media, and the constant needs a multifaceted business requires, there is no other person I can name as kind, generous, and inspiring as Charlotte. Like entertaining, it's effortless with Charlotte—

Elsie de Wolfe, in the book as well, said: "be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you."
 Charlotte Moss Entertains—is all that, pretty, witty, and gracious.

The book is available on Charlotte's website here.

& Ladies of the Club: Marilyn

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 top picture Edith Sitwell, bottom, Elsa Maxwell- both pictured with Marilyn Monroe.
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it's War and Pakistan- Beverley Nichols

...until I complete some research on another in depth post about the natty Nichols- I will leave you with this last look at the other introspective complex Nichols.



Facing reality is hard. At times in Nichols life, he refused to really look at it. With the outbreak of the second World War imminent, he motored to Lourdes with the aside to friends that he was "seeking a renewal of Faith." As always with Beverley a touch of the dramatics was more expected than the simple truth that he was off to an assignment.

From Lourdes , He sped to Cannes ."Cannes was a lunatic asylum" and a place he knew well. The fact that he was able to turn from one fix to the next , Beverley said, from " the sublime to the second rate" could be considered "damning proof of his superficiality." Nichols might have been fooling a few but not many-He was in no way fooling himself.

In Cannes, the streets were jammed but his favored old haunt- the Carlton Hotel was practically empty. Charles, the bartender, insisted "Monsieur Beverley" have drink on the house. Beverley wandered out to the terrace and who did he find-but the original party animal- Elsa Maxwell.

Maxwell
(from wikipedia photograph by Karl van Vechten)

La Maxwell: "Come up to the villa and dine. It may be the last time that I can ever ask you." Presumably, referring to the home of Dorothy better known as Dickie Fellowes-Gordon, her life long companion.

Seven souls dined that night in the open air of the villa's terrace. Suddenly the lights of the bay went dark. An omen? Maxwell wondered how long it would be before the lights would come back on.

Beverley Nichols remembered years later that moment signified the dimming of the Mediterranean's allure for many of his generation.

Nichols' notes survived on the night's conversation up at the villa- reading like a "hymn to the past."

Aly Kahn, EM, BN

Here- some of the conversation.

What will happen to that lovely city (Salzburg)? Shall we have to bomb it?

D o you think they've moved all the pictures from the Louvre?

Where is Cecil Beaton? Will he photograph the war? Will he draw it?

Do you remember Ludwig's fairy castles? Will they be bombed?

Will we use gas?

Do you remember Le Touquet and Syrie Maugham's Villa?...the Dolly Sisters?

Suppose the Germans get the Channel Ports? Can the French be trusted? What about Laval?

Much of what they talked about that night-manifest itself through the war years. They lost friends, some, like Maxwell, returned to America. Nichols for one-returned and stuck it out in England for the most part.

Nichols and India 1943

A trip to India during the war years by Nichols resulted in the book Verdict on India-a far cry from his jaunty garden tales. The book was a best seller and sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. The book followed the British propaganda line throughout- except for the last 70 pages. Here, Beverley asserted the need for the creation of Pakistan. The idea was radical- new. Nichols' open airing of the idea of partition was the first widely read of its kind. For Nichols- it was simple- Opposition to a nation for 100 million Muslims was a denial of self determination for 100 million Muslims. Verdict on India was published in 1944.

Pakistan's Independence Day is observed TODAY, Aug. 14, the day on which Pakistan became independent from British rule in 1947.





use of all the photographs in the BEVERLEY NICHOLS stories has been graciously granted by Timber Press.
source for this story from the Bryan Connon's biography Beverley Nichols A Life.

Elsa Maxwell the original party animal

Elsa Maxwell by Hoyningen Huene

"not rich, not beautiful, Elsa Maxwell... is perhaps the most widely discussed figure in international society. Original, at once charming and ruthless, with a genius for riding the social merry-go-round, this purposeful, if massive, butterfly has become a social arbiter de luxe. Her fame... rests on her original parties; on her friendship with the great and near great in the world of art, musician royalty and her authentic talents as a pianist and composer." from Vanity Fair 30's & vogue '75

what MAKES or BREAKS a PARTY?

(all written by Elsa LA Maxwell except where italicized)

a party is like a SOUFFLE the ingredients...must be weighed and measured by the hand of an artist...taken out of the oven at exactly the psychological moment- and served HOT.

the JOY of the hostess in her own party must be the first element encountered by the guest. NEVER show the slightest anxiety about the ulitmate success of your own PARTY.

one should never HAVE to ask people to a party just because they are on one's LIST. No, the gravest menace to a good party is the dangerous emotional kindness of most hostesses in the extension of their invitations.

RUTHLESSNESS is the first attribute towards the achievement of a PERFECT party. WEALTH does not play a large role toward the giving of a good party. SNOBS are incapable of gaiety, so CUT THEM OFF RUTHLESSLY.

always endeavor to incur the opposition of one or two of the so-called "social- powers- that-be." guests will take sides, feelings will run high, excitement will ensue.

a great MISTAKE is letting guests do as they want. No guests want to do what they want- everything must be done for them at a successful party.

guests should be selected for their HUMAN attributes. a Maxwell fantasy includes preparing a sumptuous dinner for all well known bores... turn on the deadly laughing gas, and they would all die painlessly, laughing gaily for the first time in their lives.

a good party should occur in one room only, and that room should always be too small for the number invited.

WHAT makes or BREAKS a party? a NEW IDEA, plus a sense of HUMOR, makes a party- AND THE BORES BREAK IT.