My Style Icon #2 Edie Sedgwick

For an all too brief space of time Edie Sedgwick was the bright light of Andy Warhol's world of self proclaimed superstars. Beautiful, wealthy and emotionally troubled, her life of glamour and excess rapidly spiraled into debt, drug abuse and a tragic early death.  Edie dazzled everyone with her beauty, style, glamour and wealth. She was an "it girl" with a penchant for chandelier earrings, tights and eyeliner. She was part of the "Youthquake'' movement and a style trendsetter who made fashion statements simply by waking up in the morning and throwing on a stripped t-shirt over a leotard.

"She was the girl on fire with the silver hair close to her head, the eyes, the Viceroy in her fingers, the sleeves rolled up, those legs, yoicks! ... All you saw was her,'' the poet Rene Ricard, recalls, in Edie: American Girl George Plimpton's bio on Ms. Sedgwick. It is one of my all time favorite books and a must for fans of the poor little rich girl genre. Seriously, I own like 5 copies.

Pillow Talk

One of the most affordable ways to create a new look for your space is throw pillows. I like to think of them as jewelry for the home. And who doesn't love jewelry? Below are some of my favorites.

One of the enduring icons of mid-1960s Pop Art, Robert Indiana's "LOVE" design has been used for everything but the kitchen sink. This interpretation is $95 at Ashland & Hill in Santa Monica.

Areaware Fauna pillows approximately $45 at www.velocityartanddesign.com They have a veritable Noah's ark of options.

Jonathon Adler's fruit needlepoint pillows $98 to $178 at www.jonathonadler.com are delicious and good for you! I especially love the banana.

The hand woven Aubusson tapestry Union Jack pillow by Vivienne Westwood for the rug company is my dream pillow. I love the steam punk cool of the faded union jack. Looooove it! At $495 it's for those with a posh budget. Available at The Rug Company and Barney's New York.

The diva of deco and decadence

Tamara de Lempicka's distinctive artistic style was a sensual mix of soft cubism and art deco. Her paintings are clean, smoothly metallic, precise and elegant. As summed up by the magazine Auto-Journal in 1974, "the self-portrait of Tamara de Lempicka is a real image of the independent woman who asserts herself. Her hands are gloved, she is helmeted, and inaccessible; a cold and disturbing beauty pierces a formidable being—this woman is free!" Her portraits, nudes and still lifes encapsulate the spirit of art deco and the jazz age.

I highly recommend reading one of the many biographies about Ms. de Lempicka as she lived a scandalous life for the time.  A hedonistic swirl of high society and affairs with men and women. Love it!

Joyeux Anniversaire Victor Hugo!

Victor-Marie Hugo the French novelist, poet and dramatist was born on March 26, 1802 in Besançon, France. Every once in a great while if you are very lucky you come across something that profoundly changes the way you perceive life. For me Victor's novel Les Misérables was one of those life changing events. It is at heart a tale of redemption and I happened upon it at a time in life when I needed to know that no matter how far down the road we have traveled everyone is worthy of salvation. My much loved and well worn copy sits on my coffee table and I pick it up whenever I feel the need to contemplate grandeur. Below is one of my favorite passages.


He contemplated the grandeur, and the presence of God; the eternity of the future, strange mystery; the eternity of the past, mystery yet more strange; all the infinities deep hidden in every incomprehensible, he saw it. he did not study God, he was dazzled by the thought. He reflected upon these magnificent forces in establishing them, creating individualities in unity, proportions in extension, the innumerable in the infinite, and through light producing beauty. These unions are forming and dissolving continually; thence life and death.

Mobile, a word that in French, other than meaning something that moves, also means moving force.

Alexander Calder (1898- 1976) was an American sculptur and artist most famous for inventing the mobile.

John Paul Sartre wrote about the Calder Mobiles: “A mobile is a sort of private party, an object defined by its own movement, the sculpture suggests movement, the painting suggests the profundity of the light. A mobile does not “suggest” anything: it captures authentic movements and shapes them. The mobiles do not have any meaning, they do not instil thoughts of anything other than themselves. They are, that is it, they are absolute."  Sarte is very eloquent.  I just really love the pure primary colors and the perfect balance.

My Style Icon #1 Slim Keith

"God blessed me with a happy spirit and many other gifts. What I was not blessed with I went out and got. Sometimes the price was too high, but I've never been much of a bargain hunter."

Words to live by from Slim Keith. Nancy "Slim" Gross Hawks Hayword Keith, Lady Keith (July 1917 - April 1990) was born in Salinas, California.  Keith was a New York socialite and fashion icon during the 50's and 60's. She epitomized elegance, grace, poise and was the quintessential American jet setter. Some women are born into their fortunes, others earn them the old fashion way: they marry them. Slim Keith fell into the latter category. I guess when you're from Salinas you've got to do something!
 

esprit d'escalier

A French phrase which literally means the wit of the staircase, and usually refers to the perfect witty response you think up after the conversation or argument is ended.

I love architectural accessories. Miniature staircases were produced by architects and furniture makers mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries. They were also made for staircase manufacturers as models and salesman’s samples.

The collecting of staircase models was popularized in the late 20th century by the publisher Carter Burden. Burden was a descendant of Commodore Vanderbilt, and an huge collector of books and decorative objects. He owned the Village Voice and New York Magazine. The late fashion designer Bill Blass was also a prolific collector.