piqué for a Duchess

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she wore white piqué.

etymology : from the French, literally 'backstitched', past participle of piquer

a ribbed  fabric where two fabrics stitched together to make a pattern, or a single fabric imitating this effect

 

 

 the weave can be seen in this photograph

 

 

Piqué, or Marcella, refers to a weaving style, normally used with cotton yarn, which is characterized by raised parallel cords or fine ribbing. The weave is part of white tie, and some accounts even say the fabric was invented specifically for this use. It holds more starch than plain fabric, so produces a stiffer shirt front. Marcella shirts then replaced earlier plain fronts, which remain a valid alternative. Marcella's use then spread to other parts of the dress code and it is now the only fabric used in the tie and waistcoat of white tie.
Marcella weaving was developed by the Lancashire cotton industry in the late 18th century as a mechanised technique of weaving double cloth with an enclosed heavy cording weft. It was originally used to make imitations of the corded Provençal quilts made in Marseille-

the manufacture of which became an important industry for Lancashire from the late 18th to the early 20th century. 

The Duchess of Cambridge's dress-reminiscent of a Georgian riding habit.

The Sharpe Family by Johann Zoffany, 1779-1781

 ^{a close up of the Sharp family with ladies wearing their riding habits}

^{there is No doubt, She has style, and this fitted riding habit jacket style is one she obviously favors-}

^.

thinking Shibui

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A return to  ancient Japanese aesthetics  in our modern lives is an honorable path for any Aesthete-the practiced or the novice- to pursue. Thanks to Philip Bewley of  THERIEN & COMPANY,  right now I am looking at images from the August 1960 House Beautiful -" Discover Shibui: The Word for the Highest Level in Beauty. " I was privileged to  add some comments to Philip's recent essay and have persuaded him to share its content with my readers.

DISCOVER SHIBUI-Philip Bewley

“One of the most influential issues ever by a design magazine” is how the August 1960 issue by House Beautiful magazine titled, “ Discover Shibui: The Word for the Highest Level in Beauty” is described in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution (The Elizabeth Gordon Papers. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives). The August “Shibui” issue was followed by the September 1960 issue “How to be Shibui with American Things”. These two landmark magazine issues introduced the American public to Japanese aesthetic of shibui (or shibusa). Elizabeth Gordon, House Beautiful editor (1941-1964) wrote in the August issue “Shibui describes a profound, unassuming, quiet feeling. It is unobtrusive and unostentatious. It may have hidden attainments, but they are not paraded or displayed. The form is simple and must have been arrived at with an economy of means. Shibui is never complicated or contrived.”

photograph by Philip Bewley

THE SEVEN QUALIFIERS

Shibui has seven qualifiers: simplicity, implicitness, modesty, silence, naturalness, everydayness, and imperfection.

Gelatin silver print. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Ishimoto Yasuhiro

 

AN EDITOR'S RESEARCH

When she covered a topic, she did it in staggering depth,” said Louis Oliver Gropp (Editor House Beautiful magazine, 1991-2000). In Postwar America of the 1950’s, Elizabeth Gordon began noticing Japanese objects being displayed in the homes of Americans who had spent time in Japan during the Occupation. As Editor in Chief of House Beautiful magazine, Gordon read everything she could on Japan before making a visit to that country with a few members of her staff in the spring of 1959. Her extensive library on Japanese history, social mores, art history is now in the collection of the University of Maryland. It was in Kyoto where she became introduced to the aesthetic concept of shibui. In the course of discussions on Japanese aesthetics the theme for a “shibui” issue took hold. Returning home to the U.S., Gordon found virtually nothing written in English on the concept. Two more trips to Japan were taken in preparation, research and photography for the shibui issues. Gordon was in Japan in Mid-August 1960 as the "shibui issue" was causing a sensation. Altogether she spent sixteen months in Japan.

Photograph: Ishimoto Yasuhiro

EAST MEETS WEST

While Western art had certainly been influenced by the decorative arts of Japan before these issues, nothing in English had been written on the Japanese aesthetic of shibui before Elizabeth Gordon introduced shibui to the American public. “These issues were published just as I was finishing high school and preparing to go into design so they were incredibly timely in my development,” Says Bob Garcia (Therien & Co.). “Fortunately I went to The Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design soon thereafter and given the Asian bent to the school's curriculum. The colors and compositions of Shibui were engrained in my own aesthetic.”

“It seems quite obvious that the intensely close relationship between the Japanese culture and nature should manifest itself in Shibui. 

The colors and combination of tones and textures are so reflective of those one sees in landscapes and forests; 

so different from our western concepts of man's "mastery" over nature with our brilliant colors and sharp contrasts.

Somehow it all seems related to the different concepts in gardens.... 

the European "taming" of elements and the Japanese "abstract re-interpretation" of them.” 

Robert Roy Garcia, Therien & Co.

Photograph by Ezra Stoller; schemes assembled by John Hill; 1960, for House Beautiful magazine, Elizabeth Gordon, Editor

Ginkaku-ji by Kiichi Asano/Elizabeth Gordon Assoc.Kiichi Asano (1914-1993) - Japanese photographer,

by way of the estate of Elizabeth Gordon (Norcross), editor-in-chief of House Beautiful Magazine from 1941 to 1964.

 photograph by Philip Bewley

BORN IN A TRUNK

I first discovered the House Beautiful shibui issues in a trunk of old magazines when I was a boy. It must have been about 1973 or so. The declaration on the cover that “The Highest level of Beauty” was to be found within must have caught my eye, but I think it was the combination with the second issue, “How to be Shibui with American Things” that opened my mind to the notion that there were considerations behind beauty, and that these ideas were not necessarily Japanese, but were in fact all around me.

 photograph by Philip Bewley

Ryoan-ji Temple Garden /Kiichi Asano/Elizabeth Gordon. Kiichi Asano (1914-1993) - Japanese photographer, 

by way of the estate of Elizabeth Gordon (Norcross), editor-in-chief of House Beautiful Magazine from 1941 to 1964.

SHIBUI SENSATION

Elizabeth Gordon’s August 1960 "Shibui" issue sold out quickly. Copies of the magazine, which originally sold for fifty cents, were being sold privately by 1961 for ten dollars. Immediately following the publication, House Beautiful offices received an unprecedented avalanche of fan mail. Writing in with praise for the issue were department heads in colleges and universities, including the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, even a letter from the famed couturier, Mainbocher.

Photograph by Ezra Stoller; schemes assembled by John Hill; 1960, for House Beautiful magazine, Elizabeth Gordon, Editor

THE SHIBUI ROADSHOW

After the wild success of the two “shibui issues”, House Beautiful staff prepared a traveling exhibition to eleven museums across the United States to introduce the concept of "shibui" through a series of vignettes, mixing fabrics and objects, colors and textures. Japan Air Lines underwrote shipping costs. Commencing the tour in 1961, the Shibui exhibition arrived in San Francisco in April 1962. Elizabeth Gordon presented a lecture accompanied by lanternslides on "shibui" at each of the museum installations.

Photograph by Ezra Stoller; schemes assembled by John Hill; 1960, for House Beautiful magazine, Elizabeth Gordon, Editor

HONORS

In appreciation of Elizabeth Gordon’s work in introducing Americans to the concept of shibui, the city of Kyoto presented to her a bolt of "shibui" kimono fabric executed by a Living National Treasure textile artist.
In 1987 Elizabeth Gordon (Norcross) was named an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, with her introduction of the concept of "shibui" to the United States and her promotion of an understanding of other cultures cited as a major contribution to American architecture.

(all text, quotes are from Philip Bewley, with permission) 

As for me while looking at these 1960 photographs, I thought of looking at them as if the last 50 years of interior design had not existed. Impossible? 
Yes, somewhat. 
After looking at shibui, I think designers should consider rethinking some “off the rails” ideas considered of the moment, at the moment and return to this Japanese aesthetic in order to cleanse the palate- as it were.

Gelatin silver print. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Gift of the artist in memory of Ishimoto Shigeru, 2009.265 © Ishimoto Yasuhiro

What struck me most about the concepts of SHIBUI was this one-

SHIBUI

simplicity, 

implicitness, 

modesty,

silence, 

naturalness, 

everydayness, 

and

imperfection.

"It may have hidden attainments, but they are not paraded or displayed."

Elizabeth Gordon

 Pauline de Rothschild's Dining Room

 image from NEST magazine winter 98/99

Though Pauline de Rothschild was always seeking perfection in the her very private world -this Dining room is the very essence of Shibui.  Moving beyond the concept in the Japanese interior, de Rothschild's studied imperfections were mastery in shibui.  A great reader- de Rothschild was intrigued by the work of Japanese writer, Yukio Mishima  and in her singular book- The Irrational Journey she writes with the tools of a Shibui Master:

simplicity, 

implicitness, 

modesty,

silence, 

naturalness, 

everydayness, 

and

imperfection.

This concept of hidden attainments - connects seamlessly with the Pauline de Rothschild aesthetic.

Shibui beauty, as in the beauty of Tea Ceremony, is beauty that makes an artist of the viewer."

Elizabeth Gordon

Pauline de Rothschild- Bedroom

image from NEST magazine, Winter 98/99

It seems to me photographers are the most qualified observers of  SHIBUI, whether photographing fashion, architecture or documenting the world around them.

 Henry Clarke captured it in this 1965 photograph of  Veruschka for Vogue.

 simplicity, 

implicitness, 

modesty,

silence, 

naturalness, 

everydayness, 

and

imperfection.

Fellow blogger, Bruce Barone has mastered the Art-this everydayness.
His keen abilities to see the Beauty around him everywhere have struck me as I've followed his blog here.

East Hampton Mass, photograph by Bruce Barone

This is one of Bruce's photograph that interprets the idea of Shibui and seems artistically to be- Shibui perfection. The simplicity of the landscape, the hay field-patched in places & in other places conforming along the line of man's labor. Amidst the field- a cart stands as testament to that labor -yet its design stand in perfect companionship there with nature.

Photo credit: Gelatin silver print. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Gift of the artist in memory of Ishimoto Shigeru, 2009.265 © Ishimoto Yasuhiro

In today's saturated design field there are pictures, photographs, images, mood boards-especially those where we see heap upon heap of fillers piled on tables- in order to finish a room, photograph a room, sell a product. It's unavoidable really.  
Am I too hard on my chosen field, and its inhabitants of the blogosphere? 
Maybe- but I don't think I'll be changing my mind any time soon, especially with this new idea- SHIBUI- permeating. 
More than ever it seems having an eye that can interpret the past and make it a part of today's world-whether it be Art, Design, Fashion- is key.


My thoughts on the subject led me right to the of the work of Rose Tarlow:

photographs from her book-  The Private House

Here are a few excerpts from her interview with ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST,  it is obvious she is a Master of the ART.


Who or what has influenced my style...Everything I see! I’m influenced especially by nature. A tree influences me. I once said that a tropical fish influences me. I’m influenced by anything that’s natural. There’s a certain cleanliness, an order in the universe, that I try to emulate if I can. 

There are many rules designers and architects should bear in mind. one is...Study. Learn the rules before you break them. I always think that a good artist who does abstract work must also know how to paint in the classical way. In design, learn the classics, study the past, study the great architecture and design of the world, and then draw from all of that your own perspective. 

The mistake most people make when doing their own designing is...Taking themselves too seriously. They get too intense and allow themselves to second-guess. They should take their time and enjoy the process and the end product. Do it slowly.



One of my fellow bloggers- a stylist Thea Beasley has kept faith with this Japanese concept of beauty-elegantly, beautifully, in a most unassuming way-meaning she is a Master:

at  home

simplicity, 

implicitness, 

modesty,

silence, 

naturalness, 

everydayness, 

and

imperfection.

(photographs by Thea Beasley)

 & in her work.

Thea- for her client Lacefield Designs

 photographs used with permission

I am going to continue to keep the ideas of  SHIBUI as an ongoing path.

Meditation at Mittineague Park, photograph by Bruce Barone

simplicity, 

implicitness, 

modesty,

silence, 

naturalness, 

everydayness, 

and

imperfection.

SHIBUI is "…beauty with inner implications."

Kiichi Asano/Elizabeth Gordon. Kiichi Asano (1914-1993) - Japanese photographer,

by way of the estate of Elizabeth Gordon (Norcross), editor-in-chief of House Beautiful Magazine from 1941 to 1964.

"It is not a beauty displayed before the viewer by its creator; 

creation here means making a piece that will lead the viewer to draw beauty out of it for oneself.  

Shibui beauty, as in the beauty of Tea Ceremony, 

is beauty that makes an artist of the viewer." 

-Elizabeth Gordon

A Note from Philip Bewley-

The tagline on the cover of the August 1960 House Beautiful issue “Discover Shibui” is not quite correct. Shibui is an adjective, while the noun form is Shibusa. Like the aesthetic concept itself, the translation of shibusa from Japanese to English is nuanced. Perhaps a more satisfactory translation would be:
Beauty = Shibusa (noun)
Beautiful = Shibui (adjective)
Beauty is to Beautiful as Shibusa is to Shibui.

( for the purposes of my thoughts I have held to Elizabeth Gordon's use of the word-she was a Master.) 

House Beautiful.com linked here and in bold type  within the text of the post

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June 2

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There, all is order and beauty,
Luxury, peace, and pleasure
-Charles Baudelaire

photograph by Gordon Parks, 1950

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how they write today

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This is what I turned to read last night from a pile of untouched June magazines:

Two stone-faced waiters at the BHH, balancing trays atop their sturdy shoulders, pause mid-stride to oh-so-discretely steal a glimpse of Kate Hudson's ass, Who can blame them really? Tawny and tousled, Hudson, six months pregnant with her second child (the baby daddy is British rocker Matthew Bellamy) looks so trim, so bikini-ready in her no-name silk sundress and 5 inch wedge sandals, that were she to visit some far-flung village devoid of the Internet or Access Hollywood, the townsfolk might simply assume she'd overdone it on spit roast and poi the night before. It's less baby bump that who wants seconds?

from MARIE CLAIRE/JUNE 2011, Lea Goldman


is there anything that redeems this?
did the waiters drop their trays?
did I read more?




caricature by Al Hirschfeld of The Algonquin Round Table

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hello?

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does anyone use the telephone anymore?

I do look-
checking out caller id-why didn't someone think of this sooner?

a couple of calls from CA. Now who could that be-yet not sure if I really want to start a chat there.

I wonder who Private Caller is? but not so much that I answer.
I prefer email-of course those that know me well-
Well know that.

 Aphrodisiac telephone by Salvador Dali,1938

This lobster telephone is one of six all white versions that Dali made in association with the pioneering British interior designer Syrie Maugham (1879-1955) for the home of the surrealist collector Edward James.Minneapolis Institute of Arts, William Hood Dunwoody Fund

Save your paddles for the hands-I know emails are impersonal, but I am not-So my emails are fully thought out and considerate, kind and well composed.
In my postings here and there- I often abandon proper capitalization and grammar, I do know it -understand it-
But I prefer  dialog on paper-
that is how we speak-this is how I write.


Remember the days of party lines?  they were shared lines in your neighborhood-imagine that! My brothers,  cousins and I called one of the elderly ladies-old maids in the neighborhood "Clickin Annie."
If you know of party lines- a click in on a conversation was a way hurry  another conversation  along -albeit a rude one.  A stealth listening in on others conversations was another party line taboo. I never did either-but I was not an old maid then-only a little innocent.  That I missed anything by not participating in these activities I have no doubt of-but when one is an old maid one has to take one's pleasures stealthily. Taboo or not.
It does beg the question- should be answering the phone more often?

I suppose I miss things- I'll never know-I'm not quite  an old maid there yet. Hush.



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the essence of an artist

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You've got to know the rules to break them. I spent a lot of time learning to construct clothes, which is important to do before you can deconstruct them." *

Alexander McQueen

Pablo Picasso Woman with a Crow

 from his Rose Period

 

 

 Alexander McQueen above & Alexander McQueen for Givenchy Haute Couture, below

*this is the essence of a true artist, I was taught this in my basic art courses over thirty years ago & it is none more visible in the work of these two geniuses-one with a long and full life, one with a full life-cut short.



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a reminder

" I'm an avid follower of the news, and sometimes you just can't take any more war, any more disasters, and you want to remind yourself there's Beauty in the world." Alexander McQueen

 

The Madonna and Child with St John and Angels 

 

Michelangelo

(c. 1497),

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the comet of 1680 & a comedy from fontenelle

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In 1680 a fiery comet caused superstitious panic in Europe. Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) wrote a comedy making fun of such fear. In 1686 he responded again by reporting the latest news about the cosmos, the findings of Copernicus, Galileo, and other scientists, in a book that any common reader could understand, Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes (Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds). No work was more influential in popularizing the facts and the philosophy empowered by the microscope and telescope.-from the Norton Anthology of English Literature

 
from Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
( selections below are from 1688 English translation, a free and stylish version, by Aphra Behn, A Discovery of New Worlds)

We went one Evening after Supper to walk in the Park. * * * Do not you believe, madam, said I, that the clearness of this Night exceeds the Glory of the brightest day? I confess, said she, the Day must yield to such a Night. * * * I love the Stars, and could be heartily angry with the Sun for taking them from my sight. Ah, cry'd I, I cannot forgive his taking from me the sight of all those Worlds that are there. Worlds, said she, what Worlds? And looking earnestly upon me, asked me again, what I meant? I ask your Pardon, Madam, said I, I was insensibly led to this fond discovery of my weakness. What weakness, said she, more earnestly than before? Alas, said I, I am sorry that I must confess I have imagined to my self, that every Star may perchance be another World, yet I would not swear that it is so; but I will believe it to be true, because that Opinion is so pleasant to me, and gives me very diverting Idea's, which have fixed themselves delightfully in my Imaginations, and 'tis necessary that even solid Truth should have its agreeableness. Well, said she, since your Folly is so pleasing to you, give me a share of it; I will believe whatever you please concerning the Stars, if I find it pleasant. * * *

  I shou'd think it very strange, that the Earth shou'd be inhabited as it is; and the other Planets shou'd be so entirely desolate and deserted: For you must not think, that we see all the living Creatures that inhabit the Earth. For there are as many several species and kinds of Animals invisible as there are visible. We see distinctly from the Elephant to the Mite; there our sight is bounded, and there are infinite numbers of living Creatures lesser than a Mite, to whom, a Mite is as big in proportion, as an Elephant is to it. The late invention of Glasses call'd Microscopes, have discover'd thousands of small living Creatures, in certain Liquors, which we cou'd never have imagin'd to have been there. And it may be the different tastes of these Liquors, proceed from these little Animals, who bite, and sting our Tongues and Palates. If you mix certain ingredients in these Liquors, (as Pepper in Water,) and expose 'em to the heat of the Sun, or let 'em putrefie, you shall see other new species or living Creatures. Several Bodies, which appear to be solid, are nothing else but Collections or little heaps of these imperceptible Animals; who find there as much room, as is requisite for them to move in. The leaf of a Tree, is a little World inhabited, by such invisible little Worms: To them this leaf seems of a vast Extent, they find Hills and Valleys upon it: And there is no more Communication between the living Creatures on the one side, and those on the other, than between us and the Antipodes. And I think there is more reason, to believe a Planet (which is so vast a Body) to be inhabited. There has been found in several sorts of very hard Stones, infinite multitudes of little Worms, lodg'd all over them in insensible varieties; and who are nourish'd upon the Substance of these Stones which they eat. Consider the vast Numbers of these little Animals, and how long a tract of Years they have liv'd upon a grain of Sand. And by this Argument, tho my Moon were nothing but a confus'd heap of Marble Rocks, I wou'd rather make it be devour'd and consum'd by its Inhabitants, than to place none at all in it.

 To conclude, every thing lives, and every thing is animated; that is to say, if you comprehend the Animals, that are generally known; the living Creatures lately discover'd, and those that will be discover'd herafter, you will find that the Earth is very well Peopl'd; and that Nature has been so liberal in bestowing them, that she has not been at the pains to discover half of 'em. After this, can you believe, that Nature, who has been fruitful to Excess as to the Earth, is barren to all the rest of the Planets? My reason is convinc'd, said the Marquiese, but my Fancy is confounded with the infinite Number of living Creatures, that are in the Planets; and my thoughts are strangely embarass'd with the variety that one must of Necessity imagine to be amongst 'em; because I know Nature does not love Repetitions; and therefore they must all be different. But how is it possible for one to represent all these to our Fancy? Our Imaginations can never comprehend this variety, said I, let us be satisfied with our Eyes, or we may easily conceive by a universal view, Nature has form'd variety in the several Worlds. All the Faces of Mankind are in general near the same Form. Yet the two great Nations of our Globe, the Europeans and Africans, seem to have been made after different Models. Nay, there is a certain resemblance and Air of the Countenance peculiar to every Family or Race of Men. Yet it is wonderful to observe how many Millions of Times, Nature has varied so simple a thing as the Face of a Man. We, the Inhabitants of the Earth, are but one little Family of the Universe, we resemble one another. The Inhabitants of another Planet, are another Family, whose Faces have another Air peculiar to themselves; by all appearance, the difference increases with the distance, for cou'd one see an Inhabitant of the Earth, and one of the Moon together, he wou'd perceive less difference between them, than between an Inhabitant of the Earth, and an Inhabitant of Saturn. Here (for Example) we have the use of the Tongue and Voice, and in another Planet, it may be, they only speak by Signs. In another the Inhabitant speaks not at all.

Here our Reason is form'd and made perfect by Experience. In another Place, Experience adds little or nothing to Reason. Further off, the old know no more than the young. Here we trouble our selves more to know what's to come, than to know what's past. In another Planet, they neither afflict themselves with the one nor the other; and 'tis likely they are not the less happy for that. Some say we want a sixth Sense by which we shou'd know a great many things we are now ignorant of. It may be the Inhabitants of some other Planet have this advantage; but want some of those other five we enjoy; it may be also that there are a great many more natural Senses in other Worlds; but we are satisfi'd with the five that are fal'n to our Share, because we know no better. Our Knowledge is bounded to certain limits, which the Wit of Man cou'd never yet exceed. There is a certain point where our Ingenuity is at a stand; that which is beyond it is for some other World, where it may be some things, that are familiar to us, are altogether unknown. Our Globe enjoys the Pleasure of Love; but is destroyed in several places by the fury of War. Another Planet enjoys constant Peace, without the delights of Love, which must render their Lives very irksom. In fine, Nature has done to the several Worlds in great, as she has done to us Mortals in little; by making some happy, others miserable. Yet she has never forgot her admirable Art in varying all things, tho she has made some equal in some respects, by compensating the want of any one thing, with another of equal value.

 Are you satisfi'd, said I, Madam, very gravely; have not I told you Chimeras in abundance? Truly, I find not so much difficulty to comprehend these differences of Worlds; my Imagination is working upon the Model you have given me. And I am representing to my own Mind odd Characters and Customs for these Inhabitants of the other Planets. Nay more, I am forming extravagant shapes and figures for 'em: I can describe 'em to you; for I fansie I see 'em here. I leave these shapes, said I, Madam, to entertain you in Dreams this Night.

Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle

 © Collection Jean-Jacques Monney, Geneva

image from here

1st image from here
The Plurality of Worlds here
images unless otherwise noted are from the original text of Fontenelle


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