calm

&
VUITTON

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Daphne 101

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Christie's is selling off 100 pieces of Daphne Guinness's frocks today- after looking at them online, I'm struck by the fact that many of them could be worn by any-one.
Of course according to notes, Guinness's tiny stature lends itself best to the fashionistas of Japan and China, but-the styling of many of her pieces any-one of Us could wear.
For the most part, the collection is steeped in the most Classic of designs.The garments -simply presented in the Christie's catalogue- edit for Us- relieve Us from the wearer.

Looking through the catalog-viewed online- it is easy to conjure, Josephine Bonaparte in dampened gowns of the Empire,

Josephine by Prud'hon.

Jackie Kennedy -just add a pillbox

or
La Windsor-with her severe silhouette.

 DIOR at l. Daphne Guinness's Purple, at r. Wallis Windsor's Purple Dior

It is only when Guinness herself slides into each piece-embodies IT- if you will-does it take on the Wild, the Exotic, the Ethereal.
If ever there was ever a doubt that Guinness is Living ART- this Sale-if you care to look- convinces.

Guinness channeling the powerful-charismatic, Admiral Viscount Lord Nelson

Proceeds from the auction will go to The Isabella Blow Foundation.

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HHH

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HHH  house model photograph by John Rawlings-

Together, Spaces make a pattern. It is the pattern of a person's interests, feelings,activities. It is as though those interests, feelings,activities had expressed themselves on some now forgotten occasion, leaving tracks-and this building has grown up around those tracks. With its form the building satisfies the user's wants-conscious and unconscious. It anticipates, it invites, it implements those wants. So, whatever the indweller now does- he does effortlessly, harmoniously, pleasurably. Accomplishing this calls for great art,- doing what great art does in music, in literature, in mathematics, in painting, in sculpture: creating a great unity. Doing this is what makes architecture worthwhile.-HARWELL HAMILTON HARRIS, 1977.

the Harwell Harris House in Raleigh was named to the National Register of Historic places in late 2010.


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a Rose in the Hamptons

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Unexpected surprises often arise in books-agreed? A recent purchase Small Houses of Distinction edited by Horace Coon-held a Rose of note-Rose Cumming- and her 1660 built baker's house in Southhampton. Rose summered there-and this wonderful book includes her digs in its pages. Coon, writing in 1938, noted Miss Cumming had not altered one of the town's Originals exterior a wit -but inside it was a different story-as one could guess. Of  note-however-the interiors are the antithesis of her much admired glamourous lair in the city. Rose remained true to the "Summer in the Hampton's Style" we think of today, in fact with a little dusting off-living well would be as sweet-

"The New house, the house Simons lives in, 

and ye Bake house & cellar’." from Hamtpons History

Miss Cumming revamped two small rooms to create a large Living Room with sun giving windows on three sides. A "cupboard" became four bathrooms-four?  The house deceives. Along with the modern baths, a living room, dining room, a large kitchen, butler's room and pantry, there are two double bedrooms, one upstairs and one down, two small guest rooms and a double room for servants. Maintained and cherished- the hand-hewn wall and ceiling beams are original as are the very wide floor boards.


In the Living Room, Rose lacquered the walls with an apple-green paper and filled the space with comfortable chintz chairs, a Samarkand rug and period furniture. Conjure up colors of gosling, violet and tobacco brown in the rug and chintz chairs for a unique palette that must have been exciting in its day-and a welcome respite from the neutrals that I tire of so in today's magazine interiors. English antiques-Jacobean and Queen Anne add heft to Rose's quirky sophisticated signature colors. The curtains are piped in green and made of a stiff English lining chintz in a gosling color.

A broad fireplace dominates the Living Room. The Queen Anne mirror over the mantel and an old English milking stool create atmospherics- imagine Rose playing milk maid? The andirons are slender reeds made of brass, highly polished no doubt. Rose's porcelain cat licks it paw whilst Rose is a milking.

Canary yellow walls with starched chintz curtains of roses and sweet peas greeted weekend guests in the Dining Room. Windsor chairs surround a simple table and a Jacobean cupboard holds Rose's patterned Staffordshire china in colors of mauve and plum.

In the bedroom an English needlework carpet dominates with its bouquets of blue, apricot and orange in blocks of a peach background. Mellow hewn beams set the color palette here-with curtains and headboard in a yellow chintz Quall pattern. True to form, Rose mixed Queen Anne pieces with sturdy Windsor and Tudor ones.

Seems the perfect vacation spot, citrusy colors, spriggy chintz-and a distinctly unique Rose.

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patchwork at the moment X

erdem

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the many stories of Patchwork from little augury are all here

the soul of a collection: Madeline Weinrib

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Last fall I had the pleasure of sitting down with Madeline Weinrib for Lunch and conversation in her Atelier. At the time, her beautiful  new Showroom was still in the completion stages-though I saw very little that needed more attention to detail-however restraint in publishing these photographs prevailed until Madeline officially opened in the Spring.

Madeline's brand is unique- perhaps even a bit elusive, maybe like the glamorous lady herself.  There is a cool modern vibe steeped in tradition & dappled around the edges with the exotic.

Recently Madeline was quoted in the New York Observer as saying:

"I believe in endurance and timelessness. Things that are here today & gone tomorrow have no soul."

Dominating one of the walls in this space is a René Ricard painting that seems to speak the same language.

The Showroom is a stash of Madeline's entire collection- fabrics, pillows and rugs, along with things she has found in her travels.

 a sitting area, used for consultations

 the chairs are by Gio Ponti and Arne Jacobsen upholstered in Weinrib’s fabrics 

the rug called Tulu - is made of angora

within this intimate seating area Madeline's special clutches are encased in a dainty French cabinet- It is this mix that makes her collection unique-and utterly charming. I can not think of anything more desirous than having a pillow- or a chair that delights &  having a special silk ikat clutch to carry a few things in on a night out-or for that matter a kimono made in Madeline's fabrics to wear.
It is the perfect marriage of design aesthetics.

 there are rows and rows of hanging samples in every color lining the walls & more of Madeline's textiles grouped by color than one can imagine...

 

 along with the most gorgeous stacks of rugs & pillows piled on day beds.

Whether Madeline is designing textiles- or carpets- or taking those designs and down sizing them for stationery in a limited edition collection with Dempsey & Carroll- or envisioning them on endless walls in bold rhythmic movements like her paper Allemande- her work is like a dance through time-keeping pace-interlacing the modern & weaving in the threads of old.

Madeline Weinrib's Showroom is made available to the public, by appointment—unlike traditional design showrooms, which are accessible only to the trade. See it all on her website HERE.
there are more stories about Madeline Weinrib's work and travels at little augury HERE.

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Scenes from Monk's House, July 2012

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lovely to see the home of Virginia Woolf in the newest World of Interiors issue. Monk's House still carries the marks of the writer's presence. Caroline Zoob lives in house and it's photographed in June issue by Caroline Arber.
I get many magazines- let me say rather-too many-and they often go unopened, however -never World of Interiors.
Like a billet doux, it promises sweet sweet words, caressing images:

O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou!
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soever,
But falls into abatement and low price
Even in a minute! so full of shapes is fancy,
That it alone is high-fantastical.- William Shakespeare Twelfth Night, Act I Scene I

I am "rebinding all my Shakespeares-29 vols-in coulored paper"

 Virginia Woolf to EM Forester

Photograph by Caroline Arbor, World of Interiors, July 2012

"I told you in the course of this paper that Shakespeare had a sister; but do not look for her in Sir Sidney Lee's life of the poet. She died young--alas, she never wrote a word. She lies buried where the omnibuses now stop, opposite the Elephant and Castle. Now my belief is that this poet who never wrote a word and was buried at the crossroads still lives. She lives in you and in me, and in many other women who are not here tonight, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed. But she lives; for great poets do not die; they are continuing presences; they need only the opportunity to walk among us in the flesh." Virginia Woolf- A Room of One's Own

I've been staring at page 163, Vanessa Bell's portrait of her sister Virginia, probably painted in 1911 or 1912.

She loved the colour green, music, collecting china, the garden-and the light that pervaded her bedroom at Monk's House. She was much like Us.
As I leaf through the pages of beautiful photographs-there is no doubt Virginia was happy at Monk's House. There- she could be that "creature of laughter and movement," as friend and writer Elizabeth Bowen described her.

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annabelle

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tuesday morning I opened up the house-one of my favorite times of day.
 a beautiful morning.

what I found just outside the front door was a big bucket-not bouquet- of Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle.
The beautiful marvelous magical Annabelle, named for its origin- Anna Illinois-
& all I had to do was open the door.

I immediately knew how I came by these darlings.

Though it has been a few years since this friend & gardener past away- I said, thank you BB.
A gift from heaven by way of your beautiful granddaughter Anne-appropriate wouldn't you say?
This young woman lives in her grandmother's house and inherited an allée of Annabelles.
 

Anne explained her gift by saying she must have a clear path to her mother's house-and the Annabelles had to make the sacrifice. Her mother, I grew up with her-first grade onward, lives just down the garden path from Anne. An extraordinary family-they are rare these days-though in the South-they still exist.

Roots are planted-they remain-
and
they renew.

My mother and I often remark how much this clan reminds us of her own family-4 sisters both -with growing young versions of themselves and bound by Love & Devotion-Family.

Though the matriarch-affectionately known as BB- is gone-she is with Us, certainly with her daughter and four granddaughters.

The last time I had Annabelle's in the house we were celebrating BB's soon to be born great granddaughter -It was a joyous occasion and BB was there.

Her Annabelles are here-a reminder for Us all-and for the young women-her great granddaughters-Aurora & Ausley growing up amongst them on her garden path.
&
for now- She is here again.

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late for a very important date

the loss of my computer for more than  a week created havoc.

mostly-
I missed getting you to the Coronation of Elizabeth II.

I think it's true what they say about-better late than never-in this case,
1953.

Vogue's 1953 April issue prepared the young Queen's subjects for turning out in appropriate fashion for the ceremony. The cover background featured Oliver Messel's coronation scarf.  Messel's scarf  for the label Cresta was embellished with gold leaf  fit for a queen-but perfect for any commoner lining the streets of Westminster.

Messel's creative talents were also applied to textiles for Sekers Silks-commissioned for the Queen's 1953 Coronation. In the April Vogue Messel's fabrics were featured in one of his whimsical vignettes-Singes dressed as court tailors- designed & made especially by him for the issue.

 A dress from John Cavanagh's Coronation Collection made in one of Messel's silks-

photograph by Seeberger

Now then, for the big day
You'll need this-

at Westminster, Norman Hartnell was the designer of choice for all the Ladies.

Governed by protocol -robes for peers and peeresses, in the latest style drawn by ERIC-

ERIC envisions Hartnell , white satin embroidered with gold and pearls, worn by a marchioness with a kirtle, a train of crimson velvet and a cape of miniver pure.(Middle English meniver, from Old French menu vair, small vair-white belly fur with no grey fur)

ERIC's sketches of the Abbey-for Ladies seated in prominent positions Go Long. 

first sketch, at l., Victor Stiebel's pale grey romaine with pearl collar and at r., Worth- all white brocade with a matching jacket embellished with pastel mink.

For the other Ladies-short is fine, Hardy Amies & Peter Russell worn with lace mantillas (which I love)

& the young Queen? daunting for a 27 year old wanting to look her best-Elizabeth approved every aspect of the gown, & after 8 revisions,
Voila!,
 resplendent in Hartnell.

 tudor rose, thistle, leek, shamrock, protea, maple leaf, wattle flower, fern & the Lotus flower of India-all deeply embroidered on the gown-symbols of Elizabeth's empire.

the Coronation in detail here
read every detail about the dress here
a story in the Guardian about creating Messel's Coronation scarf here
Oliver Messel, edited by his nephew, Thomas Messel at Rizzoli here