The House of Beauty and Culture

tell me

2011-11-23T17:37:00.001Z

What's New?

Miss Ronstadt

It isn't much, but it will have to do until the real thing comes along.

putta...

2011-11-04T23:48:00.001Z

nesca, that is.

using Nigel Slater's quick and simple recipe

Now playing - Frank Sinatra, Pal Joey (1957) - The Lady Is a Tramp

love

2011-10-22T20:03:00.001+01:00

this

song

Mission: Impossibly Smart

2011-10-20T23:43:00.000+01:00

Boiled leather and stainless steel chair

Simon Hasan

Johnson Trading Gallery

Now playing: Sade - Skin

Peek-a-boo

2011-10-19T09:26:00.003+01:00

I've been doing my washing today, haven't got a stitch on except my shoes.
I'm all in the rude under this dress...

I only tell you 'cause you are bound to have noticed.

Imperial Chinese court summer robe of embroidered gauze

You...uh...you can't see through this dress can you?

I have been worried for fear of embarrassing you...

Oh, Mr. Sloane! Don't betray your trust...

Kath in the film version of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane

Now playing: Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek-A-Boo

Make room for ...

2011-10-18T21:44:00.002+01:00

Oliver Messel: In the Theatre of Design

Edited by Thomas Messel

Introduction by Lord Snowdon, epilogue by Anthony Powell with texts by Stephen Calloway, Keith Lodwick, Jeremy Musson, and Sarah Woodcock.

Now playing: Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty, Act II. Panorama

S is for...

2011-10-17T03:53:00.001+01:00

Serpent

and...

Salviati

Now playing: Blondie - Heart of Glass

Circles

2011-10-16T14:18:00.000+01:00

Atsuko Tanaka
(1931-2005)

The formally trained Japanese artist who rejected the traditional notions of art

and went in search of what she called... unknown beauty.

Untitled, 1964

Museum of Modern Art

Golden Work A, 1962

87H, 1987

Untitled, 1961

Round on Sand, 1968

Now playing: The Beauty Room - Don't You Know

Reformation of a minimalist

2011-10-14T23:00:00.002+01:00

There are deep gouges in the parquet flooring, and paint flakes off the ceiling in the fashion designer Sacha Walckhoff’s fifth-floor apartment. He describes it as 'a little shabby’, and explains that the hairline cracks that creep their way up the walls are the result of this part of Paris’s 9th arrondissement being built on swampy ground above a small underground lake. Thus the building, from the 1820s, has been subjected to a fair bit of movement in its lifetime. 'When my mother visits she always says that we should repaint. But I love this. It feels so Parisian. -

Sacha Walckhoff's eccentric Paris apartment by David Nicholls, The Telegraph

Now Playing: Julie Driscoll - This Wheel's On Fire

Vintage

2011-10-12T08:29:00.000+01:00

Miss Hendryx

Above all else...

2011-10-11T09:51:00.003+01:00

Jacqueline de Ribes

Richard Avedon

Shortly after meeting Diana Vreeland, de Ribes was photographed for the Beauties of Our Time feature which appeared in Harper's Bazaar, April 1956. On working with Vreeland, de Ribes recalled -

She taught me that day to be very self-confident, and she told me something very important:
Whatever you are going to decide for yourself is going to be the the right thing. Don't get influenced. -

from, Diana Veeland: The Eye Has To Travel

Now playing: Nona Hendryx - Now That I Know Who I Am

Let the mind and heart follow

2011-10-09T21:39:00.002+01:00

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel

by

Lisa Immordino Vreeland

The book that inspired Immordino Vreeland to direct her first film, a documentary by the same name.

Last year, as I was conducting research for a book I’m writing on Mrs. Vreeland, I realised that her real strengths and subtleties needed to be conveyed in a three-dimensional platform in which she could come alive. Film is the most obvious and effective medium to communicate Mrs. Vreeland’s unique and visual journey. Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel will be more than just an intimate portrait of the legendary fashion icon. It will capture Vreeland’s life visually through a multitude of media. Vreeland’s own voice and persona – strong, eloquent and often very exaggerated – will guide us through her life, adventures, accomplishments and passions.

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 3rd September, 2011.

Now playing: Blueboy - Remember Me

Ab Fab

2011-10-07T10:23:00.001+01:00

In the 1980s and 90s Sara Thorn was Australian clubland's answer to Zandra Rhodes.

Galaxy, Melbourne

photograph by Kate Gollings, 1986

The joint venture that Bruce Slorach and Thorn (pictured reclining) established in 1985.

Galaxy was Thorn's and Slorach's first shop selling their Abyss Studio label.

I see textiles not just as fabric, but as a form of cultural communication. - Sara Thorn

Thorn's latest incarnation is WorldWeave, a collaboration with Piero Paolo Gesualdi.

Mermaid Throw

Embroidered Felt Throw

Now playing: Eskimo Joe - Sarah

Lost and found

2011-10-02T20:31:00.005+01:00

The New Cars 1964

by Lee Friedlander

In 1964, the then up-and-coming Friedlander was hired by Harper's Bazaar art directors Ruth Ansel and Bea Feitler to photograph the year's new car models. As Friedlander's album covers (for many of the jazz artists at Atlantic Records) had already proven his ability to work on assignment and wishing to obtain his best work, Ansel and Feitlier decided that he should be left to his own devices.

Rather than glamourising the then ultimate symbol of success, Friedlander ...just put the cars out in the world, instead of on a pedestal. The then editor-in-chief Nancy White was less than impressed and well aware that offending the car manufactures could ultimately harm advertising revenue.

Though Friedlander was paid, the shots were never used and all but forgotten. That is, until Friedlander rediscovered the negatives in 2010.

Now playing: Gary Numan - Cars

Mistress of swing

2011-09-28T11:27:00.001+01:00

French born American designer Pauline Trigère (1909-2002)

Inside Fashion: Pauline Trigere, 1984

Patricia Neal dressed by Trigère in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Pauline Trigère was famous for her coat designs, especially for her swing coats. This notable example shows how she has adapted her swing silhouette for use with leopard skin. The dolman sleeves are an interesting touch that allows for an attractive display of this handsome fur. Designed by Trigère, this coat, according to accession information, was made by Jerry Sorbana in 1962.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Now playing: Ella Fitzgerald - It Don't Mean A Thing (1974)

Vintage

2011-09-25T19:10:00.001+01:00

Miss Jones

Mid-century modern

2011-09-22T21:09:00.000+01:00

A Mid-Century Eye: The Collection of Colleen Sullivan

Now playing: The Beauty Room - Visions of Joy

photo synthesis

2011-09-21T00:19:00.003+01:00

Nick Leary's tribal inspired shoot for Australia's Next Top Model

Now playing: Yma Sumac - Tumpa

Who is she?

2011-09-20T09:36:00.000+01:00

Who was she?

Who did she hope to be?

Hibiscus

Now playing: America - Sister Golden Hair

the figurative abstract

2011-09-18T14:37:00.002+01:00

Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003)

Now playing: David Byrne - This Must Be The Place

Inspired

2011-09-17T20:46:00.003+01:00

Alexander Rodchenko

Prototype 576 table light, 1971

Made by Arteluce, 1971

Based on an idea of Germano Celant. Lights in the style of the Russian avant-garde of the 1920s, particularly after works by Alexander Rodchenko. Having acquired consent from the artist's widow, lights 576 and 577 were realised in very limited editions in the early 1970s.

One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again - Alexander Rodchenko

Now playing: Arthur-Vincent Lourié - Synthesis for piano op. 16

Almodovar's women

2011-09-14T21:25:00.000+01:00

Luz Casal - Un año de amor

La Lupe - Puro teatro

Chavela Vargas - En el ultimo trago

Lola Beltran - Soy infeliz

Mina - Esperame en el cielo

November came early

2011-09-13T20:49:00.005+01:00

Almodovar's The Skin I Live In is in the cinemas.

Part of the Almodovar magic has always been his choice of extraordinary singers.
And Concha Buika is no exception.

Here she performs Oro Santo with her artistic producer Javier Limón.

... un lamento como preludio de las horas muertas
horas que pasan con la agonía de una muerte lenta
vuelve el silencio a vestirme de oro mi santo...

Meanwhile...

2011-09-09T09:57:00.004+01:00

Upstairs, Louis is gone...

replaced by George.

A quick snap after installing the artwork.

Now playing: Adele - Rolling In The Deep

September issue

2011-09-03T22:00:00.001+01:00

And it's back to school.

From the ground up.

The basement kitchen of the house that I originally, and rather wantonly, described as a very poor mix of neo Georgian, Arts and Crafts, and contemporary Scandinavian elements. With an absolutely hideous reproduction Louis XV chimney thrown in for good measure. Whilst the assessment may have indeed been accurate, it failed to acknowledge that this was in fact once someone's house. And they undoubtedly thought it perfect. For them, it more than likely was.

However, to this jaundiced eye, the house was lacking.

Beginning with the kitchen and its adjacent rooms. The cherry wood cabinetry (replete with its quasi-Shaker details) and granite work surfaces looked dated and commonplace. And the overly bright colour scheme throughout seemed desperately cheerful.

Luckily the cabinets were beautifully made. And contrary to the current vogue of ripping out for ripping out's sake it was unilaterally decided to restyle the existing kitchen. Which, incidentally, had the most beautiful copper clad baseboards that would inspire the colour palette and the kitchen's details.

On the way to completion.

The kitchen walls were painted a dark green that was further deepened by 20%. The adjacent spaces were painted different shades of verdigris. With the space farthest away from the kitchen painted in the same dark green used as a tent stripe.

The morning room's rather innocuous cast iron Art Nouveau chimneypiece was replaced

with a larger ceramic Arts and Crafts example.

Now playing: amp fiddler - Faith

For the course

2011-09-01T20:53:00.002+01:00

Thomas Simon Parr

1930 - 2011

Now playing: Peggy Lee - Is That All There Is?

2011-08-25T20:36:00.002+01:00

Corey TuT - Hangman

Minny don't burn chicken

2011-08-15T22:08:00.004+01:00

Let them eat kibble

2011-08-12T20:32:00.000+01:00

Stylish British made ceramic bowls

from

oneBluedog

Now playing: Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over

State of the nation

2011-08-11T17:02:00.000+01:00

A dress.

A wig.

A look.

Now playing: Linda Ronstadt - Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Jelly Melba

2011-08-02T21:40:00.002+01:00

A bastardisation of two perfectly good recipes.

Steps 1 and 2 from this Raspberry & mint jelly

And using this Champagne jelly (substituting sliced peaches)
for the mint part of the first recipe.

Some people just can't leave well enough alone.

Now playing: Peaches & Herb - Reunited

Allegedly...

2011-07-28T11:19:00.003+01:00

Rupert Murdoch

is said to be deeply moved and touched

by all the messages of condolence and support

left by friends and family...

on Amy Winehouse's mobile phone.

Now playing: Shirley Bassey - Goldfinger

November is a long way away II

2011-07-25T00:04:00.003+01:00

100 YEARS: The imagination of Robert Crowder, Vralati, and Shoji Kuroda

The three faces of an artist that lived for a century

A special exhibition to mark Robert Crowder's centenary

November 13, 2011 - January 8, 2012

9:30 am—6:00 pm (Monday—Saturday. Sunday by appointment)

Shumei Hall Gallery

Pasadena, California

1960s folding screens which typify Crowder's work

Crowder (1921-2010) was an American-born painter who learned the technique of Nihonga while living in pre-war Japan. He took the artist name of Shoji Kuroda after having studied under the master painter Mochizuki Shunko (1893-1979). With the outbreak of World War II, Crowder was interned as an enemy alien and subsequently deported from Japan in 1943.

His profound affection for the country, however, remained intact, and to this day he shows not a trace of bitterness or regret. He would have stayed forever, he says, had it not been for the circumstances. As it was, he returned to the United States, and the beautiful things that had captivated him in Asia — ikebana flower arrangement and painted byobu, as well as fabrics purchased from the mountain “aborigines” on his visits to Taiwan from Japan — formed the basis for establishing a studio of handpainted murals and folding screens used in decorating the Hollywood homes of the rich and famous. - April, 2007 issue Cultural News

Imperial City by Robert Crowder & Company

The last incarnation of Mame's Beekman Place apartment

Now playing: Ryuichi Sakamoto - Solitude

Back to black

2011-07-23T21:24:00.003+01:00

Amy Winehouse

1983 - 2011

To use, or not to use

2011-07-23T01:16:00.000+01:00

That is the question.

Has Farrow & Ball become too commonplace?

Ay, there's the rub.

Now playing: B.B. King with Eric Clapton and Phil Collins - The Thrill Is Gone

The king is dead

2011-07-22T00:53:00.002+01:00

Reflection, 1985

Lucian Freud

8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011

Leigh Bowery, 1991

Mission: Impossibly Smart

2011-07-21T23:16:00.000+01:00

T-chair-3LC

William Katavolos, Ross Littell and Douglas Kelley

Designed in 1952/53

Made by Laverne International, New York

Now playing: Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Vintage

2011-07-19T20:09:00.000+01:00

Miss Lennox

Made of green silk with a golden weft, sixty miles long and sixty miles wide

2011-07-18T20:39:00.001+01:00

...when Solomon sat upon the carpet he was caught up by the wind,

and sailed through the air so quickly that he breakfasted at Damascus and supped in Media.

Now playing: Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride

For now

2011-07-12T05:01:00.000+01:00

this will have to do

Now playing: Billie Holiday - Until The Real Thing Comes Along

Relative

2011-07-10T23:24:00.002+01:00

Figure 1. Manifestation of Culture at Different Levels of Depth

In fact I'm rather anti culture... I'm rather put off by culture worshipers as they are somewhat precious and prone to gushing. The danger is one can use culture worship as a substitute for engaging with the... messy business of living. - the character of Christopher Isherwood, Christopher and His Kind (2011)

Now playing: Culture Club - It's A Miracle

By Jove

2011-07-08T21:51:00.001+01:00

c'est Jouve!

Sirenes ceramic wall lights by Georges Jouve

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each...

And they do sing to me.

Fabulous.

Now playing: This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren

Reality television

2011-07-07T09:20:00.006+01:00

In theory, Stir-Fried Turmeric Squid.

In reality.

To be fair, this was the first time out with this recipe.
Though the sauce was delicious, the amount of prep time actually needed was greatly underestimated.

MasterChef Australia

The only watchable version of this show.

Now playing: Men At Work - Land Down Under

Reality (tele)vision

2011-07-06T21:23:00.001+01:00

Ward Bennett lounge chair manufactured by Brickel Associates, c. 1970

Ward Bennett interviewed by Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel

Interior Design: The New Freedom - Ward Bennett, 1981

Part of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Video Archive, Duke University Libraries

Now playing: Tears For Fears - Pale Shelter

Vintage

2011-07-03T21:37:00.002+01:00

Miss Warwick

Not judging

2011-06-30T09:56:00.003+01:00

But.

Million Dollar Decorators

Really?

I love books and they are very decorative.

I now understand why a friend in NY (yes, you) absolutely loathes Bullard. And that was before this show. If he has been watching, he must be apoplectic by now.

Also wondering if Ireland is half the woman I imagine her to be. If she is, it won't be long before she gives that Factor woman a piece of her mind. Hefty commission or not.

Now playing: Martha Wash - Carry On

Now you see it

2011-06-29T23:00:00.000+01:00

Dreadful.

Now playing: The Cramps - Good Taste

Now you don't

2011-06-29T22:58:00.001+01:00

Unfortunately, they come out much easier than they go in.

Now playing: Jack Johnson - Gone

Could be far worse

2011-06-27T00:35:00.000+01:00

Donald Urquhart

Now playing: The Shangri-Las - Sophisticated Boom Boom

It's back

2011-06-24T08:58:00.004+01:00

Out and about one summer's day a few years ago, I spotted this chair outside an antique shop. Being a 1920s reproduction, it really wasn't up to the dealers usually high standard. Originally, its still very sound mahogany frame was stained and polished. And I quite liked the ugly beautiful orange 1980s chinoiserie cotton it was covered in. I thought it would make a great desk chair. And for the princely sum of £50, I could overlook its weakly proportioned legs.

That autumn we also added Ruby, then a two year old Schnauzer, to our menagerie. She too liked the chair and it quickly became Ruby's chair. Truth be told it suited her far better. As it was a wet autumn, it also quickly became filthy. Beyond belief. It had to be redone. I redid the frame and sent it out to be re-covered in a sturdy faded indigo linen mix that could take a good cleaning. And, she loved it.

Last year tragedy befell Ruby's chair. The long and the short of it is, someone died in it. Again, it had to be redone. After almost a year it's back. And, she loves it.

Now playing: Chet Baker - Little Girl Blue

Something for the weekend

2011-06-24T00:06:00.002+01:00

Donna Hay's mint pesto

1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/4 cup mint leaves

1 clove crushed garlic

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tbs olive oil

blend in food processor until smooth

season to taste

Along with 1/2 cup of blanched garden peas,

add to drained orecchiette pasta allowing the residual heat to warm through the pesto.

Serve with grated pecorino.

Gnocchi works well as a substitute if orecchiette isn't available.

Now playing: Ibrahim Ferrer - Dos Gardenias

Summertime

2011-06-22T22:23:00.001+01:00

Now playing: Jill Scott - Golden

Too soon...

2011-06-20T00:56:00.001+01:00

to start showing clients things for their new house.

Just hope these will still be available when the time is right.

Now playing: The Smiths - How Soon Is Now

Reflected glory

2011-06-17T03:00:00.001+01:00

Now playing: Foy Vance - Shed a Little Light

Are you the flower man?

2011-06-16T00:18:00.002+01:00

Lilium regale

Beautiful by day and magical by moonlight.

Now playing: Cat Stevens - Moonshadow

Does she still exist?

2011-06-15T03:39:00.001+01:00

Who?

The woman who could carry a rattan Kelly.

Now playing: Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Summertime

If nobody minds, I think I'll have something

2011-06-14T00:47:00.005+01:00

Patrician Stemware Service

designed by Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956)

Lychee Daiquiri

1 ½ ounce white rum

1 teaspoon fine sugar

1 ounce of lychee juice

Squeeze of lime

Crushed ice

Place rum, sugar, lychee juice and lime in a cocktail shaker with crushed ice.

Shake - do not over mix.

Strain thoroughly into a cocktail glass and serve.

Now playing: Pink Martini - And Then You're Gone

Now

2011-06-13T08:45:00.002+01:00

Cocktail cabinets are a completely different kettle de poison.

1920s chinoiserie drinks cabinet loosely eluding to the Queen Anne period

An Art Deco D shaped walnut cocktail cabinet

The upper section enclosed by panelled doors and fitted with brushing slides.

A very smart 1960s Danish rosewood cocktail cabinet

Now playing: Cher - Welcome to Burlesque

Wicked...

2011-06-09T00:52:00.004+01:00

But, couldn't help wondering whether the sale will be at Christie's or at Sotheby's?
And, would it be the scrum all the previous single collectors' sales have been in the past...
In the words of Noxeema Jackson, Miss Thing's got some stuff.
Undoubtedly, for the time being at least, nothing more than a baroque worry.

Iris Apfel’s Exuberant Apartment

Architectural Digest, June 2011

Now playing: Salt 'n' Pepa - I Am The Body Beautiful

November is a long way away

2011-06-07T00:46:00.002+01:00

La Piel Que Habito

Pedro Almodóvar's new film due for release 18 November 2011.

Now playing: This Mortal Coil - Tarantula

Hot chips

2011-06-06T01:32:00.001+01:00

the Vogue blog proffered, Farrow & Ball fatigue?

If so, the new colours by Adam Bray (who is as much a conjurer of atmosphere as he is a designer) for Papers & Paints may very well be the solution. 303 (middle row, far right) is the perfect shade of yellow.

Now playing: M People - Colour My Life

Northern light

2011-06-03T01:04:00.003+01:00

Early 18th century German Baroque bureau cabinet, Hannover

The arched top carved with shell and female portrait, the upper part with one door enclosing several drawers, the fall front enclosing a fitted interior above graduated drawers on square tapering legs.

By repute, this bureau was a wedding gift from Frederic, Prince of Wales to Lady Anne, 2nd Countess of Orkney and William O'Brien, 4th Earl of Inchiquin in 1720.

19th century George III style giltwood framed sofa

With a shaped back, outswept arms terminating in scrolls and a serpentine fronted seat on tapering fluted legs and spade feet.

Swedish 18th century Rococo gilt mirror

All that is missing is the right client with the right house.

Now playing: ABBA - Voulez-Vous

Sour sweet

2011-06-03T00:18:00.005+01:00

Claire Ptak's

Sour Cherry Pie with Noyau Cream

Now playing: Sade - Cherry Pie

Education

2011-06-02T00:02:00.001+01:00

A small boy says to his father "Dad, what's the difference between theoretically and realistically?"

His dad thinks and then says "Right-ho son, go and ask your mother if she'd sleep with Wayne Rooney for a million quid."

The boy toddles off and comes back saying "Dad, dad, she said she would! She would sleep with Wayne Rooney for a million pounds."

"OK son," says his dad. "Now go and ask your sister the same question."

The boy toddles off, and comes back saying "Dad, dad, she said she would too!"

So then his dad says "Right, son, now go and ask your brother if he'd sleep with Wayne Rooney for a million pounds."

The son comes back excitedly saying "Dad! Dad! He said he would too!"

"Well there you have it, son," said his dad. "Theoretically we could be sitting on three million quid. Realistically we're living with two tarts and a poof!"

Now playing: Cat Stevens - Father and Son

Sacred monsters

2011-06-01T07:02:00.001+01:00

Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu
(1924 - 2011)

Now playing: Patrick Doyle - Tango from Indochine (1992)

If the Kon-Tiki had a lounge...

2011-05-31T07:51:00.004+01:00

Early 1950s Italian rattan bar and barstools.

Have always been rather suspicious of those who would think this, or any bar for that matter, a good idea.

Claude Upson: I got this recipe from a bartender I met in Havana. You'll never guess the secret ingredient. I'll give you one hint: there's no sugar in a Claude Upson daiquiri!

Mame: And yet it's so... sweet.

Mame: [weakly] Whatever do you use?

Mame: [brightly] Chocolate ice cream!

Now playing: Billie Hiliday - One For My Baby

Beauty in exile

2011-05-30T09:36:00.001+01:00

Footage of Natalie Paley and Lucien Lelong from the documentary Mémoires d'exil

Now playing: Dmitri Shostakovich - Waltz 2

Talisman

2011-05-27T00:34:00.005+01:00

From Lucien Lelong's collection of Chinese objects and textiles,

A celadon jade Hand of Buddha

A pale grey jade Hand of Buddha

A banded agate snuff bottle

A 19th century wooden ruyi

Lucien Lelong (1889-1958)

The half-forgotten French couturier who greatly influenced modern fashion.

Amongst his apprentices were Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain and Hubert de Givenchy.

Silk Evening Dress, 1927–29

Coat and Skirt
Spring/Summer 1937

...French fashion was entering a decade of crisis.

Protectionist economic policies in America saw a 90 per cent import tax levied on French couture. The effect was a flood of cheap copies from American factories. And by now American women were taking fashion inspiration not from Paris but from Hollywood and the designs of studio costumers such as Edith Head and Adrian.

Paris struggled on, but when war was declared on 3 September 1939 the couture houses closed down, some for ever. Mainbocher and Schiaparelli left for America. Vionnet never reopened. Lelong was now president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and, after the invasion, it was his job to negotiate with the occupying German regime. The Nazis wanted to move Paris lock, stock and barrel to Berlin by any means, including violence. On 20 July 1940 five Nazi officers arrived at the headquarters of the Chambre Syndicale on an 'inspection'; five days later they broke into the building and requisitioned the archive.

Under the Nazi plan the Paris ateliers would be moved to Germany or Austria, where they would train a new generation of German dressmakers. The designers would also be moved. Within a generation, the Nazis expected, couture would be German, not French. It was a breathtakingly arrogant ambition to believe that they could appropriate a whole industry.

Lelong pointed out that the plan was unworkable. French fashion was dependent on thousands of skilled artisans in tiny ateliers, each specialising in one small detail of finish, such as embroidery. The skills, he explained, were unteachable. You could not transfer them, and it took decades to reach the necessary levels of craftsmanship. The intransigence of the Germans was nothing compared with that of French couture. Lelong asserted the right of each country to produce its own fashion and argued that it was their home environment that allowed the workers to do what they did. The Nazis backed down and returned the archive, and Lelong negotiated to keep a supply of fabric that would maintain production. The only fall-back the occupiers had was to conscript into the army its labour force. They started by demanding 80 per cent; Lelong got it down to five per cent.

Initially, after the liberation, there were murmurs that Lelong had been a collaborator, though it was Chanel who had spent the war living with a German officer. His case came to trial, but he was acquitted. The judge ruled that Lelong had co-operated only minimally with the Nazis to save France's cultural heritage and the jobs of its workers.

From, Lucien Lelong: the man who saved Paris by Linda Grant
21 November, 2008
The Telegraph

Man Ray, 1937

Model in a Lucien Lelong gown, seated in a wheelbarrow by Oscar Dominguez

Lelong's muse and second wife, the famously beautiful Natalie Paley

Lucien Lelong by Jacqueline Demornex

Now playing: Air - Talisman

Oud

2011-05-26T00:52:00.002+01:00

Agarwood Incense

Now playing: Maria Muldaur - Midnight At The Oasis

Burnt offerings

2011-05-25T00:40:00.003+01:00

Large Chinese bronze censer in the form of a citron, 19th century

Pair of Japanese bronze Shishi censers, Taisho Period (1912-1926)

Large Tibetan silver alloy tripod censer, early 20th century

A large Japanese bronze censer formed as a sailing vessel, Meiji period

Chinese bronze peach formed censer, Qing Dynasty 18th/19th century

Now playing: Dinah Washington - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

If it's not coffee and if it's not tea, what can it be?

2011-05-24T00:43:00.001+01:00

Mocha set

Yellow overglazed porcelain

Made by Porzellanfabrik Augarten, Vienna

Now playing: Ultravox - Vienna

at Home

2011-05-23T13:11:00.009+01:00

Lord and Lady Rendelsham

Their Chelsea house (also decorated by David Mlinaric) as it appeared in The World of Interiors, 1988.

The house was in fact only twelve feet wide and arranged over three floors benefiting from a courtyard almost as large as the house itself. In the courtyard were two mulberry trees planted by James I in order to encourage silk weaving in England.

The drawing room

The drawing room chimneypiece designed by Mlinaric

The libray/dining room with its very Soane like ceiling

Lady Rendlesham's bedroom reflected in an English 18th century tear drop mirror

Sadly, Clare Rendlesham died shortly after the house was completed.

Scale Model by Mirabel Cecil

The World of Interiors July/August 1988

Photography by Fritz von der Schulenburg

Now playing: Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)

Foreign accents

2011-05-22T21:20:00.005+01:00

19th century Chinese export carved hardwood etagere

Four section pagoda form surmounted with a triple urn finial and carved throughout with various flora, birds and stylised dragons. Standing on claw feet.

19th century ivory inlaid ebonised Milanese table cabinet

Rectangular cabinet with pierced bronze corner mounts and carrying handles, the inlaid fall front enclosing ten inlaid paneled drawers and a central paneled recess with an additional two smaller drawers, standing on an associated ebonised base.

Now playing: Elton John - Tower of Babel

Meanwhile...

2011-05-20T13:22:00.007+01:00

Back at Cafe Flore,

Lulu and Coco Vega make a spectacle of themselves in Marc Huestis's Whatever Happened To Susan Jane? (1982)

This camp classic follows Marcie Clark (Ann Block), a polyester suburban housewife dissatisfied with her bouffant-and-barbecue lifestyle hot on the trail of an old high school chum, Susan Jane Smith (Francesca Rosa). When she reconnects with Susan Jane (now Sujana), Marcie stumbles into the wild and wacky world of bohemian San Francisco circa 1980, replete with wild drag queens and glitter, kooky artists, Mohawk hairdos, new wave slackers, and a pool of well-known celebutants. She gets high and finally gives herself over to the intoxicating whirl of a wild party.

The colorful cast features appearances by Lulu, Coco Vega, members of the legendary theatre group the Angels of Light, Rodney Price, Silvana Nova, Tommy Pace and San Francisco Chronicle critic Edward Guthmann. A truly underground Tales of the City, featuring a vibrant soundtrack by San Francisco based bands Tuxedomoon, Noh Mercy with Esmerelda, Ben Bossi of Romeo Void, The Wasp Women, Indoor Life with Jorge Socarras and others.

Now playing: Mayer Hawthorne - I Left My Heart in San Francisco

New window

2011-05-19T07:10:00.002+01:00

Under Glass: A Victorian Obsession

A lecture by John Whitenight

The bell jar, or glass parlor dome, is synonymous with our memory of the Victorian Age (1837 - 1901). During the 19th century, these blown glass forms were referred to not as domes but as shades, and graced nearly every parlor, protecting a broad variety of treasures–including miniature tableaux, waxworks, natural history specimens, taxidermy of exotic birds and pets, automatons, and delicate arrangements of hairwork, featherwork, and shellwork–from dust and curious fingers.

8:00 PM
Thursday, June 2nd

Observatory

543 Union Street (at Nevins), Brooklyn, NY 11215

Now playing: Bobb Trimble - Glass Menagerie Fantasies

Cafe society

2011-05-18T15:54:00.002+01:00

The Angus McBean photograph that was flashed on the screen of the Academy Cinema to promote the adjoining Pavilion Cafe

The Lost Pavilion

The Pavilion Restaurant in Oxford Street designed by Angus McBean in 1951.
As it appeared in the May, 1988 issue of The World of Interiors.

Now playing: Jean Michel Jarre - Touch To Remember

Hi! I’m Nancy Drew! You must be the Hardy Boys!

2011-05-17T02:55:00.001+01:00

Cafe Flore, San Francisco

Once upon a time, also known as Cafe Hairdo.

Now playing: Moby featuring Patti Labelle - One Of These Mornings

One picture...

2011-05-16T10:45:00.003+01:00

two words,

Martha Graham

Now playing: Bryan Ferry - Don't Stop The Dance (Special Extended Remix)

Thinking

2011-05-11T01:11:00.002+01:00

This

This (in black)

Now playing: Human League - Together In Electric Dreams, Extended Mix

Too old to be young.

2011-05-10T00:20:00.000+01:00

And, too young to be old.

Without saying it, that is what my client meant.

And that shall be the premiss when we begin their new house.

The double drawing room.

Currently a very poor mix of neo Georgian, Arts and Crafts, and contemporary Scandinavian elements.

With an absolutely hideous reproduction Louis XV chimney thrown in for good measure.

Luckily, we had concentrated on a few good pieces for their transitional rental.

Current inspirations for the new house:

Lady Ottoline Morrell

photographed by Baron Adolph de Meyer, 1907

Fontana Arte and Cole & Son

And, the randomness life can bring.

Now playing: Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart

East meets west

2011-05-09T10:13:00.000+01:00

Chinese 19th Century figure transformed by an ormolu lamp mount.

Now playing: Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls

Don't(s)

2011-05-05T07:42:00.002+01:00

Don't stand there...

and don't use the word eccentric.

Here’s a word I loathe – eccentric. Eccentric is a word that boring people use to describe someone I think of as interesting. A great many people think of me as eccentric simply because when I have my shoes polished, I have the entire shoe polished – top, sides and soles. Some people think it eccentric that every morning I have my maid iron my money. When I told Truman I had my maid iron my money, you know what he said? Here’s what he didn’t say – ‘How eccentric.’ Here’s what he did say – ‘How wonderful.’ You can forgive a person a lot who really enjoys you. - Diana Vreeland (played by Juliet Stevenson) character in Infamous (2006)

Now playing: Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor

at Home

2011-05-04T07:52:00.008+01:00

Lord and Lady Rendlesham

Their country house decorated by David Mlinaric in the late 1970s.

from Mlinaric on Decorating

David Mlinaric, The end of the Sixties -

Everybody was to some extent camera shy. Nobody really wanted to go over the top in being conspicuous. The magazines that were interested in exposing this new thing, like Vogue or Queen were fairly uncritical to begin with, not like nowadays where everybody wants to score points off somebody else. The current celebrity thing has a lot to do with making a lot of money and we didn't have that aspiration. You could go out to lunch for seven and sixpence, and if you got fifty pounds for a photo shoot in a German magazine … you would just go out to lunch. We never thought it was the target, to make a lot of money.

Now playing: Big Country - In A Big Country

Decorative art

2011-05-02T14:21:00.003+01:00

Otto Alberth Hirth (1899-1969)

Screen

Watercolour on canvas, 1930-1940

Now playing: Carl Maria von Weber - Adagio Patetico in C#

Dr. Terwilliker, I presume?

2011-05-01T18:01:00.002+01:00

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)

The curious Mr. McBean

2011-04-29T06:28:00.002+01:00

Angus McBean
Self portrait as Neptune, 1939

"My mother and I completely redecorated our first £600 house. there was a variety of paints and styles, but there was one room which I had papered completely with a gold metal paper stuck on canvas, rather disgusting. and there was an awful lot of black paint everywhere. I had read somewhere that if you poured the top off gloss paint you got matt paint. So I did, and so it was, but alas it never really dried. When it was all done, my mother took against the house and so we advertised it for sale as ‘an artistically decorated house’. this term, applied to a house in South Wales, had never been heard before, it was something completely new. Newport was dazzled. people used to come and look round and say ‘Yes, it is artistic’– and so it was. We sold it at an £800 profit, with the money we bought a much better house, and my mother was bitten by the bug of buying and doing up houses in which I would do most of the painting and decorating.” - from Angus McBean: Facemaker by Adrian Woodhouse

Angus McBean photographed for Harpers & Queen, 1986
Flemings Hall, Suffolk

For more images of and insight into Flemings Hall see Smouldering brick and Mick Jagger by The Blue Remembered Hills.

Now playing: The Smiths - Asleep

Une table à écrire

2011-04-28T01:42:00.007+01:00

Louis XV Writing Table

by Bernard Van Risen Burgh (b. after 1696-1766)

The top is a late 17th century Japanese lacquer work panel of the Edo period.

Now playing: The Kingsmen - Louie Louie

Meanwhile...

2011-04-27T01:57:00.023+01:00

back at Fonthill,

Fonthill Abbey: the Grand Drawing Room

Stedman Whitwell Architect del.; engraved by John Cleghorn.
Plate 5

magnificent in dimensions and decorations ... The ceiling beams are carried at their ends by carved and gilt corbels, and the hangings are of garter-blue silk damask, embellished with gold mouldings. The burnished gilt chairs are covered with the same. In the centre of the room, upon a carpet of extraordinary costliness, stands a table of Egyptian marble, the largest slab of the kind in Europe. (pp. 30-31).

Interior of King Edward's Gallery

Looking across the Octagon into St. Michael's Gallery

Drawn by C. F. Porden; etched by John Cleghorn

engraved by Robt. Havell & Son, Chapel Str. Fitzroy Squ.
Plate 6

a magnificent apartment, embellished with a masterly and unsparing hand, superbly furnished, the ceiling covered with carving, and the walls nearly concealed by the ample and duplicated curtains of deep blue and scarlet.
This gallery has been designed for the purpose of commemorating the names of those individuals of Mr. Beckford's ancestry, who have been honoured with the illustrious knighthood of the garter. The number and rank of these persons, their historical and chivalrous fame, would add lustre to any genealogy.
Edward the Third, the founder of the order, and after whom this Gallery is named, occupies the place of honour, over the alabaster chimney piece, in the centre of the apartment: the portraits of six royal and most distinguished knights are placed three on each side; their arms and badges being emblazoned in stained glass on the opposite windows. In the frieze of the cornice, which surrounds the room, seventy-two gartered shields contribute to give this part of the decoration an appropriate and unusual richness.
The lofty windows to the west admit a strong influx of light, which, when the scarlet curtains are drawn, sheds a general and magical tint over every part ... (pp. 33-34).

Fonthill Abbey: Specimens of the Ceilings:

1. St Michael's Gallery

2. Yellow Withdrawing Room

3. Grand Saloon

4. The Sanctuary

5. The Gothic Cabinet

6. King Edward's Gallery

7,8,9,10,11,12. Bosses.

Drawn by J. Rutter; engraved by J. Cleghorn.
Plate 10

John Rutter: Delineations of Fonthill and its Abbey

Published June 2nd 1823, London

Now playing: Yo-Yo Ma - Elgar Cello Concerto, 1st mvmt

An exile's garden

2011-04-27T01:26:00.007+01:00

Part of William Beckford's exile was spent at the Quinta de Monserrate in the hills of Sintra, Portugal. Here, too, he left his mark. The waterfall and Vathek's arch (above) are present day reminders of his brief tenancy (1793-1799).

Now playing: Cocteau Twins - Pearly Dew Drops Drops

Memento

2011-04-26T00:02:00.000+01:00

18th century ivory oval box with cover

The slightly raised domed cover with urn finial and with gold wire inlaid monogram cartouches E H C, the box of slightly rounded form raised on six short feet, finely and delicately carved all over in openwork with geometric patterned panels, with original silk brocade partly covered cardboard box, with writing in ink to the interior of the cover partly reading " ...The Work that Beresford brought from Jamaica for .. his Daughter, This Box for Eliza Maria, My godchild and name sake"

11½in. (29.3cm.) wide

Now playing: Cesaria Evora - Negue

Woman's work

2011-04-26T00:01:00.000+01:00

A Regency brass inlaid rosewood ladies work table

Of casket form, the hinged cover with bead edge enclosing a fitted interior on a lyre support and splayed legs.

Now playing: Violent Femmes - Color Me Once

Sacred monsters

2011-04-25T00:20:00.003+01:00

Lady Rendlesham with her daughter Antonia at London's Serpentine, 1959

Photographed by Norman Parkinson

For Vogue, May 1959 - Maternity: Fresh Approach To Coming Events

Lady Clare Rendlesham (d.1987)

The smart and notoriously formidable once fashion editor at Vogue and Queen.

Legend has it, Rendlesham parlayed the sale of some heirloom antique French gold boxes into the Yves St. Laurent franchise in Britain. She was a woman of influence who was as well known to London's fashionable set as she was disliked. As fashion journalist Brenda Polan recalled, ...she was a monster. Most people were too scared even to talk to her.

Jocelyn Stevens, publisher of Queen, describes what happened after he had fired the formidable Rendlesham from her post in 1966 -

'I heard this extraordinary noise. She had thrown her typewriter out of the window,' he says, miming typewriter keys exploding in all directions. 'So I went downstairs and helped her. We threw everything out of her office window. There were people looking up at us, the police came. When there was nothing left in the office, we both sat on the carpet.'

Why help?

'I was a gentleman,' he protests.

Clearly, a gentleman who would not be out done.

Now playing: Janelle Monáe - Tightrope

The sacred and the profane

2011-04-22T09:21:00.001+01:00

Altarpiece: The Life of Christ

Keith Haring

Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, Saint Louis University

The altarpiece, cast in bronze and covered with gold leaf, is rendered in the artist’s post-graffiti style. Sam Havadtoy, writing in May 1990, shared his recollection of Haring's work on the panels:

In 1989, Keith asked me to help him decorate his new Manhattan apartment. In his living room was an old brick fireplace which he hated, so I had it plastered over. The plaster was wet and I suggested that he draw into it. He thought it was a cool idea. It was as if the plaster were a three-dimensional textured canvas. He loved drawing in the plaster, and got very excited about the new medium. When he finished, it was very beautiful. I asked him if he wanted to make an edition of the fireplace and he loved the idea. Later, I asked him if he wanted to do other works in editions -- perhaps, panels and tables. He laughed. But he said he liked the idea -- he would do it.

Trays were made for the panels and tables. I also had a last-minute inspiration and had special trays made in the shape of a Russian icon, an altar piece, a large version of a miniature icon I saw in a shop in Geneva. All the trays were then laid out in a quiet, womblike room in the Dakota. Trays were filled with fresh clay. Keith arrived. He snapped a tape into the ghetto blaster, turned up the music, sipped a Coke and set to work.

Instead of a brush, for the first time, he used a loop knife. He handled the knife freely and spontaneously like he wielded his brushes. As he worked, he became more and more excited. He said that he couldn't believe it had taken him so long to discover this kind of sculpture. He made no preliminary drawings except for a quick sketch of the dancer on the third panel, which he made on a two-by-four piece of wood. Yet he was completely sanguine as he cut into the clay. The images came directly from his head. He placed the knife in the clay and carved a continuous running line, a quarter-of-an-inch deep groove, which wound like a swollen stream during the spring thaw. He never stopped to rethink the line; he never edited himself and never made corrections. The lines he carved in the clay were seamless, flawless.

Keith finished the panels and then, for the first time, saw the three altar piece sections. He stared at them and was silent. Then he set to work. He cut into the clay and began to carve freeflowing lines. The images that emerged were unlike the others. They were religious: an inspiration of the life of Christ; a baby held by a pair of hands; hands ascending toward heaven; Christ on the cross. On one side panel he depicted the resurrection. On the other, a fallen angel. When Keith finished, as he stepped back and gazed at this work, he said, "Man, this is really heavy."

When he stopped, he was exhausted, and it was the first time I realized how frail he had become. He was completely out of breath. He said, "When I'm working, I'm fine, but as soon as I stop, it hits me . . . "

The altar was Keith's final piece of work.

Haring died two weeks after completing the altarpiece. The uncharacteristically solemn altarpiece reflects the artist's coming to terms with his own mortality and his grief over the death of friends. The work is an expression of love and an affirmation of the sacred.

Now playing: Mahalia Jackson - Calvary

Je n'aime pas à résister à la tentation.

2011-04-21T15:10:00.012+01:00

I am not over-fond of resisting temptation.

from Vathek by William Beckford

William Beckford

by Sir Joshua Reynolds
oil on canvas, 1782
National Portrait Gallery

William Thomas Beckford (1760-1844)

Beckford was the only legitimate son of Alderman William Beckford, twice lord mayor of London and Member of Parliament. His mother, Maria (nee Hamilton), was descended from the royal House of Stuart. Being the only child of a late marriage, he was given every encouragement. At the age of five he received piano lessons from the nine-year-old Mozart. He also received instruction from Sir William Chambers and Alexander Cozens in architecture and drawing. Upon his father's death in 1770, he inherited a vast fortune built on the Jamaican sugar trade. Making him, as his distant cousin Lord Byron later put it, England's richest son.

While touring England in 1779, he developed what he called a strange wayward passion for William Courtenay, the eleven-year-old son and heir of Viscount Courtenay. Beckford also became involved with Louisa Beckford, the unhappily married wife of one of his cousins. In 1780, the restless Beckford embarked on a European tour that his family hoped would ease his inner turmoil and dispel any rumors surrounding his friendship with Courtenay.

In 1781, inspired by a Christmas party held in Courtenay's honour at Fonthill, Beckford wrote Vathek - the story of an impious voluptuary who builds a tower. A tower so high that he not only can survey all the kingdoms of the the world, but he can also challenge god in his heaven. Beckford claimed to have written the initial French-language draft of Vathek in one sitting over the course of three days and two nights. He had based his characters on historical figures and provided a wealth of detail. He intended to add to this story four episodic tales. While composing them, he arranged for the Reverend Samuel Henley, an oriental enthusiast and former professor, to translate the entire work into English and to add footnotes explaining the allusions.

Unfortunately, completion of the episodes was to be interrupted. In the autumn of 1784 scandal broke . Beckford was charged with sexual misconduct with young Courtenay. Reports of the scandal spread quickly, and, though his guilt was never proved, he, with his wife (he married Lady Margaret Gordon in 1783) and baby daughter, was forced into exile. In May 1786, in Switzerland, his wife died of puerperal fever after giving birth to their second daughter. Beckford also learned that Vathek was to be published anonymously, with the preface claiming that the work was directly translated from the Arabic. Subsequently, Beckford published a French edition in order to claim authorship (the uncompleted episodic tales were to remain unpublished until 1912).

In Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Byron wrote,

Unhappy Vathek, thou wert smitten with unhallowed thirst

Of nameless crime, and thy sad day must close

To scorn, and Solitude unsought - the worst of woes.

Beckford spent his time in exile traveling throughout Europe, eventually returning to England in 1796. Ostracised, he spent the remainder of his life collecting books, paintings, and rare works of art and building his extravagant Gothic pile, Fonthill Abbey. Beckford supervised the planning and building of what was to become the most extraordinary house in England. In 1807 the house's great central tower collapsed and was rebuilt. Beckford grew notorious as both the creator of the increasingly popular Vathek and as the reclusive owner of Fonthill, where he lived until financial difficulties forced him to sell in 1822. The tower again later collapsed, destroying part of the building.

The design of the interiors and the furnishings at Lansdown Tower, the house Beckford later built in Bath, gave tangible evidence to his creative genius. And quite possibly, if not laid , solidified the foundations of the English eclectic style.

One of a pair of silver-gilt waiters made by William Burwash for William Beckford

Coffer-shaped display cabinet
William Beckford and Henry Edmund Goodridge
probably made by English and Son, Bath
1831-41

Oak cabinet on stand made for the Scarlet Drawing Room

Lansdown Tower, Bath

1831 - 1841

Oak cabinet

Most likely designed by Beckford and his architect Henry Edmund Goodridge

A superb example of the furniture Beckford commissioned during his final years.

Cabinet made in Paris around 1825

Richly encrusted with hardstones and mounted in gilt bronze

The panels were made at the noted Gobelins workshops in Paris, late 17th Century.

Roman chair, circa 1800

Originally part of a suite of furniture at Fonthill Abbey

Sold at the Fonthill sale 1823

Siena marble console table

Commissioned by William Beckford for the vestibule at Landsdown Tower, Bath.
Most probably designed by the architect of the Tower, Henry Edmund Goodridge, in collaboration with Beckford.

Now playing: Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade

Pravda

2011-04-20T06:27:00.003+01:00

Late 19th Century Russian mahogany sofa

Europa horsehair

Now playing: Air - Left Bank

We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!

2011-04-19T09:07:00.004+01:00

Vivian and I by Colin Bacon

‘Give me a fucking pre-med you fuckers, I’m a personal friend of Sir Lancelot Spratt.’ These words of frustration were the last to issue from Vivian’s wonderful classically-trained voice. Forcing himself upright on the hospital trolley, he saluted his friends before being wheeled into the operating theatre for the removal of his voice-box; a procedure he later dismissed flippantly as ‘getting a Jack Hawkins’. His final months would reveal a man of extreme courage, and a refusal to curb his excesses for anyone. Unable to swallow, he was forced to pump alcohol via a syringe directly into his stomach and spent his last few weeks propped up on Moroccan cushions listening to his beloved Elvis, refusing any nourishment other than dry sherry. - Colin Bacon

This remarkable memoir of the legendary Vivian Mackerrell, on whom the character Withnail in Bruce Robinson’s iconic film was largely based, is also an attempt to capture the essence of growing up as part of the ‘Baby Boom’ generation. It encompasses the half century from the end of the Second World War until the height of the ecstasy era.

Withnail and I (1987)

Now playing: Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale

Sacred monsters

2011-04-18T23:38:00.009+01:00

Dress by Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin, 1969
Printed silk, designed by Bernard Nevill for Liberty of London
V&A

Bernard Nevill (b.1934)

Professor Nevill studied and taught at St Martin's College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. In 1960 he became a design consultant for Liberty where he revitalised their traditional prints. Enabling them to keep pace with, and ultimately influence, the fashions of swinging London. His Islamic range of 1963 helped introduce Eastern design motifs and his Jazz range of 1964 led to an Art-Deco revival.

Nevill also achieved great success designing furnishing fabrics (Romanex de Boussac, Pierre Frey), and costume designs for the stage (the musical Marigold 1958, the Glyndebourne production of Cosi fan Tutte 1960) and screen (Genevieve 1953, Next to No Time 1955, The Admirable Crichton 1957).

Music is a very important part of my life, I listen with my eyes rather than my ears when I'm colouring, there is such a close association between music and colour which is quite a well known thing.

Bernard Nevill English Country House foxglove chintz

In the 1980s Nevill was commissioned by Sekers to create the English Country House collection. A highly successful collection of classical designs utilising his trademark handling of bold colour. Several of which were used in the 1982 redesign for the British Embassy's Long Gallery in Washington.

Standen

Glebe House ...Chelsea.

It is the London home of Monty, Withnail's lascivious gay uncle who wears a radish in his lapel, grows parsnips indoors and considers "the carrot infinitely more fascinating than the geranium". We have very kindly been invited in by the house's owner, Bernard Nevill. One of Britain's most important textile designers and former professor at the Royal College of Art, he is justly proud of his pad, "That carpet you were walking on is one of the largest Zieglers ever made."

The extraordinary redbrick Victorian mansion by Philip Webb does not seem to have been rearranged. Drawings by Hockney lean against dust-laden bookshelves. There is scarcely room to walk between the animal rugs, the huge chests and the incredible objets d'art. The sofa is the same, the heavy drapes are the same, even much of the clutter on the fireplace is the same. In short, the house is just as Monty left it.

Withnail With A High Conscience
The Evening Standard Newspaper - 2000
By Vincent Graff

Withnail and I (1987)

At present, Nevill is restoring what remains of the north wing of Fonthill Abbey, his country house since 1976. A task worthy of Sisyphus. Though, one imagines, not entirely without reward as Nevill believes himself to be the reincarnation of William Beckford, the house's original owner.

Interior view of Fonthill by its architect James Wyatt

Now playing: Blur - Charmless Man

Blast from the past

2011-04-14T11:43:00.006+01:00

Madge Garland (1898-1990)

photograph by Cecil Beaton

The Australian-born Garland was fashion director at British Vogue under its second editor-in-chief Dorothy Todd. Todd was not only her editor but also her mentor and her lover. Their time at Vogue was brief, 1922-1926. In this short period Garland and Todd forged friendships with some of the more significant members of the Bloomsbury set such as Virginia Woolf and Rebecca West. A reflection of Todd's desire to transform Vogue into a magazine more about literary content than about stays and . . . petticoats.

Todd was sacked by Conde Nast in 1926 for what was perceived to be an all too bohemian bent. Todd's career never recovered. Garland, on the other hand, went on to become a leading fashion journalist and textile expert. In 1947 she was appointed to London's Royal College of Art as the first Professor of Fashion Design.

In the latter part of her career Garland wrote numerous books on art, the history of fashion and gardening.

Changing Face of Beauty: 4000 years of beautiful women

Now playing: Kate Bush - This Woman's Work

The lantern is dead.

2011-04-14T09:54:00.000+01:00

Long live the chandelier!

Now playing: Iggy Pop - Mass Production

From Japan's Golden Age

2011-04-12T12:04:00.001+01:00

HIH the Princess Nori (Nori-no-miya Sayako naishinnō), the only daughter of HIM Emperor Akihito and HIM Empress Michiko, in the formal court ensemble jūnihitoe (a twelve-layered kimono style dating from the Heian period, 792-1192) at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, November 2005. One of her final acts as a member of the Imperial Family before becoming Mrs. Kuroda Sayako.

Now playing: Yoshida Brothers - Takeda No Komo