Favorite posts of 2010 Part i What is James Wearing?

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I follow this blog. What is James Wearing? Since I am always discussing interior design and fashion and all that links them- it should be no surprise.

This is a photograph of JA in the David Hicks boutique- France & It has to be the best photograph of the year on all the blogs I peruse.
Great- No?

 "imagination = reality – well here we are."

 James Andrew

oh! & he has paper dolls too, and you know how I love paper dolls!  here & here

WIJW? here  &  this post linked throughout, & here
David Hicks here

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decorating on the dark side

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 design by David Hicks

there are rooms- and then there are dark rooms- not of the photographer's sort- but the living, dining, bedroom kind.
Dark colors do work- a coffee, a plum, a black, Yes, black has its place. No matter the naysayers. I wrote in a post about some of the rooms Lady Diana Cooper decorated- her first as a young girl was black.

Portrait of a young Diana by James Jebusa Shannon

The first room she decorated on her own was her bedroom at the family's ancestral Belvoir Castle. She must have been very much as she( at left) is drawn in this National Portrait Gallery work by her mother Violet-(on the right, a self portrait)  Duchess of Ruthland - an accomplished artist.

Here- she describes the room:   

He gave me a narrow four-poster bed. for my now room at Belvoir, which was to be painted black. The bed was upholstered in red damask. An alcove was scooped out of the wall for my jug and basin and painted by me with stylised sea waves...The black walls were hung with swags of everlasting flowers a la Crivelli. The table and chair were Savonarola-esque and the window, granite fireplace and coalbox solid Victorian. There were four coloured reproductions of Madonnas in gold Italian frames and the candlesticks from Florence, regilded... I thought it was beyond compare, but greatly feared criticism. My mother never damped our taste-she who had so influenced it.


My money collected for months, went on church candlesticks (cheap because the gilt had come off, which I could later home-gild-myself with gesso, size, gold leaf and a burnisher), tassels and braids, anything to make my new room at Belvoir more like Carpacccio's idea of St Ursula's. 

Carpaccio's The Dream of Saint Ursula, 1495

Carlo Crivell's Renaissance Saints with intricate fabric details

So- now you have adjusted  to darkly painted rooms, and read with the details the 14 year old Diana lavished on her first interior decoration- She referenced Art, shopped well & took on diy.

a Sister Parish- deep Prussian Blue Living Room

a Miles Redd room

an incredible bedroom at Blake's Hotel in London

Created by Anouska Hempel

I wonder if Anouska Hempel was inspired by Crivelli as well?

                                                        

Now-what do you do when you find your own young ones wanting to decorate on the dark side? My experiences with most children & teenagers in decorating rooms has been exceptional. Two clients called me in specifically to work with their children directly- No input from the parent- Perfect projects resulted. In most cases a parent works through the details of a room with me for smaller children and then later imput comes from the parent and teen. One teen Lady  wanted to channel an Anne Boleyn room. I was willing- I was even into it. Unfortunately, she had Anne's temperament too-and we all know how Anne's story ended-same story with the room.

A recent trip to a plumbing & fixture showroom with a client and her  Lady 5 year old-proves the point- Children can be taste makers at an early age. So just know. Lady She asked to show me the sink and fixtures she favored -
I follow her to the most perfect in the showroom. Inside a special display- in black I might add - I found Lady 5 standing at a  Czech and Speake vanity with fixtures. I had to agree. We've also discussed tubs, tile, paint colors and fashion. She has good taste &  at some point her Mother will cut her loose to decorate her own room I have no doubt.

What happens when IT happens?
think of Purple? as PLUM.
Brown? as COFFEE.
Black? as MIDNIGHT.

Sit them down your Aesthete with ART- give them research to do before they paint or decorate.
Have them ask why?
How will  their DREAM ROOM look ? Have them find their inspiration.
Not a literal translation. No copying- it's not creative or cost effective-
But It will Inspire & that's what you want to do- Remember Diana's words:

My mother never damped our taste-she who had so influenced it.

more of Carpaccio's work here
more of Crivelli's work here
Mile's Redd here
David Hicks here

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Keep Calm & Carry On

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the inspiring calm of a David Hicks room

Some people- some rooms- Exude a spirit of CALM. Nobody does it better than the Brits. Whether it be their glossies, their artful dodger or tweedy fashion sense or their approach to comfortable, yet luxurious living- the Empire can turn out- COOL, CALM, LOW KEY STYLE with aplomb.

This now "everywhere" image has its roots in the Second World War-Britain. When in spring of 1939 war with Germany was all but declared- the British Government planned its strategy to maintain morale, inspire courage and provide reassurance to its people.

fashion Empire style

The KEEP CALM story begins with three posters created under the crown of King George V during WWII.The first two were widely released, appearing on billboards, train stations and shops in England.Production commenced in August 1939, with a print budget of £20,600 for five million posters. The first poster phrased by a civil servant named Waterfield- was simply the following-the crown of George VI, the bold red and white poster & the words‘Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution will Bring us Victory’. The second poster read ‘Freedom is in Peril’.

an original

the cool Vivien Leigh,1936

photograph by Madame Yevonde

The third design, read ‘Keep Calm and Carry On'- reserved for the ultimate crisis feared- Invasion. The poster remained uncirculated-

image from here 

The poster  resurfaced after about 60 years later in a box of books purchased at auction in 2000 by Stuart and Mary Manley of Barter Books in Northumberland.

The KEEP CALM poster was hung in the shop and the pair started to research their find. Requests to purchase led to the reproduction of the poster and the rest in HISTORY- as they say.

 A message that continues to resonate. Perhaps-we take ourselves a little to seriously, when reflecting on the original creation of the mantra. The clean crisp look of the words with the iconic image of the crown designwise could not be more current. In a time when making the message clear was ALL- it is a refreshing, nostalgic- but ultimately a powerful presentation our world today.

Think about this simple,powerful design when the blowouts and blow-ups of the Holiday Season blow in. Repeat-
Keep Calm & Carry ON. & Again- if necessary.

 cuff links with a white shirt

a rubber stamp would be great

oh wait-
they have that too, 
available here.

Perhaps an addition to my design proposals.

David Hicks lit a polonaise 

CARRYing ON

& in today's modern world-the ultimate Cool approach by Brit0Anya Hindmarch, handbag design darling, posing in her Living Room,as seen in VANITY FAIR 2009 here

 inspired-

image from here

all fashion images from Style.com here, Vivenne Westwood Red Label, Graeme Black, Aquascutum, Ossie Clark.

all things are available at the KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON website here 
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Fleur's Flower Game, Want to play?

In 1983 FLEUR COWLES published The Flower Game. This book shares nearly 200 of FLEUR'S "friends" answers to her question:




NAME TEN FLOWERS YOU WOULD WANT TO TAKE WITH YOU IF BANISHED TO A DESERT ISLAND-NOT JUST ANY ISLAND BUT ONE WHERE ANY AND EVERY FLOWER WOULD GROW, REGARDLESS OF SEASON OR SOIL.

Fleur's 10

Fleur decided to choose specimens evoking Proust's ' Remembrances from things past' so she could choose from an "etagere" of memories- assuaging some of her loneliness.

the pink clover, hoping to "spend time in happy search" for the lucky four leafed kind.


& the snowdrop, a sentimental choice since her husband of 27 years had found the first of spring's offering and presented it to Fleur.



the Tulip-for Fleur they conjured up the "drama of profusion" in one flower, trips to Holland, London's own and her sixteenth century home with pinkish red tiles.

Rembrandt's Flora

the pansy- evocative of the famous French primitive painter, Andre Beauchant and also one of the Queen mother's favourites.

Andre Beauchant

& Tuberose would always say Spain and her home there.

the humble field daisy for answering questions-the counting of petals, for its simplicity and memories of childhood in the States.

June Sira
"he loves me he loves me not"

& White Jasmine would fill the shells and coconuts made into vases on the island and remind her once again of her Spanish home where jasmine climbed the walls.

Fleur Cowles

the rose and its ability to allow Fleur to recall Shakespeare, Katherine Mansfield, Katherine Anne Porter, Andre Maurois and "every painter I love, if worth his salt, has painted the rose."

Fantin- Latour

Fleur wanted another wild flower besides the clover- a wild orchid, a cowslip,a buttercup. Perhaps the pimula, the dandelion, or even cow parsley.

(How could she have selected just one or would she have slipped a few of all these in the soil of her picks? Likely.)

Givenchy gown Muguet

& Finally lily-of -the-valley , its whiteness, fragrance, size and it holds a special place-the flower her husband sends when available.

Botticelli

FROM FLEUR'S LIST I WOULD TAKE :

lily of the valley, the lily Regale , snowdrop and the rose would pack well.

To this I would add the gardenia, lilac, peony, hydrangea,violet and lastly- the beautiful Queen Anne's Lace.

Some lists that are standouts- Cary Grant, Cecil Beaton, Beverly Nichols, Evangeline Bruce, Lady Diana Cooper, Norman Parkinson, Terence Stamp, Pauline Trigere, Eleanor Lambert, Clare Booth Luce.

- Princess Caroline of Monaco, Princess Grace of Monaco, Lord Olivier, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Jane Goodall, David Hicks...

What would you take along?

Andre Beauchant