18 October 2010

Living with Castaing: Irene Lievoux

Busts of Josephine and the Duchesse de Berry watch over the Grand Salon
One of Mme Castaing's most faithful clients was Irene Lievoux.  The pair traveled to England, the United States and Italy together on shopping trips during which Lievoux was thoroughly inducted into the high priestess' style.  While Castaing offered her advice freely to Lievoux on the decoration of her neoclassical chateau de Vauboyen (which MC claimed to have once tried to buy for herself), most of the rooms were done by Lievoux herself a la Castaing. 


My friend John Woodrow Kelley shared this article with me from a 1987 issue of Vogue Decoration dedicated to Le Goût Russe which showcases White Russian Mme Lievoux's Paris flat.   


Red, blue and green - MC's favorite colors - dominate and each reminded Lievoux of her native land.  Red evoked the work krasnie "meaning both red and pretty", blue the color of the eyes of the Prince Youssoupov, and green the domes of Orthodox churches.



Castaing's fourth favorite color was black, which she boldly used as her neutral as David Netto points out here, where he further dissects le style Castaing.

Photos by Pascal Chevalier

7 comments:

P.Gaye Tapp at Little Augury said...

Beautiful Emily. the article from Netto is just wonderful, all quotable and I could pop right in to these rooms and live happily ever after.

Karena said...

Emily, such luxurious images by a design icon!!

Hmmm a book signing coming up in Kansas City!

I have a new Giveaway from Metis Linens, do come and enter!!

xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena

vicki archer said...

Black as a neutral.....that is clever. Thank you for the link, as a fan of Castaing's work, I enjoyed this very much. xv

home before dark said...

I swoon here in my office with its green walls, red curtains, leopard carpet and black bookcases. All done before I knew about MC. Of course I love these rooms! She affirms/confirms my over the topness. I'm with LA, I could dive right into my screen and live here happily.

Emily Evans Eerdmans said...

LA, I too so enjoyed reading Netto's take on Castaing. Again, I am constantly surprised by who has been inspired by the Castaing look.

Vicki, Imagine all the white in a room black instead - it makes for a much more dramatic, graphic look.

And I think Home should invite us all over for tea in her office, don't you?

Hill House Ramblings said...

Utterly gorgeous rooms! I only just discovered Madeleine's work. Her ability to successfully marry high drama/glamor with a comfortable coziness is really quite amazing. I enjoyed the David Netto article as well. Yes, black as a neutral...love it!

Anonymous said...

Dear Emily, What wonderful interiors. Classically elegant and, yet, surprisingly contemporary. I love the eclectic mix which is so seemingly effortlessly well integrated here. When does a mix become a mess....when it is not carried out with this degree of professionalism!