Film Couture: Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne

Brooding, melodramatic, and beautifully styled, the 1945 film Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne is a tale of revenge served cold. Auteur Robert Bresson retells the story of Denis Diderot's Madame de la Pommeraye with the help of dialogue by Cocteau and sets furnished with props from Madeleine Castaing's shop.

But what most swept me away was the beyond stunning wardrobe worn by woman-scorned Hélène (played by Maria Casares). Well, no wonder - Alix Grès and Schiaparelli were its creators, and their respective signatures of exquisite draping and wit are reason enough to see this classic.

The plummeting V-neck shows a daring amount of décolleté and is even more exciting in combination with the full-coverage elsewhere. Note the shimmering beaded hem...

which is picked up by this jet necklace...

Note the finally woven mesh scarf thrown over this Grecian goddess gown

Love the dramatic tulle that veils the face then gathers around the neck

another great hat and super strong shoulders.... this dress is intriguingly combined with a cape

and doesn't every fashion show end with a bride? Yes please, Madame Grès...

Film Decor: Easy Living

The dazzling sets of this Mitchell Leisen romantic comedy are guaranteed to transport you away from all your worries, just as it did for audiences in 1937 at the height of the Great Depression. Some considered Leisen more a window dresser than an auteur, and certainly his days as an art director resulted in extraordinarily chic sets, including the über-haute hotel suite in Easy Living, co-starring Jean Arthur and Ray Milland.

Easy Living opens with millionaire J.B. Ball in an outrage over his wife's profligate spending, so much so that he tosses her newest sable coat out the window and into the arms of working girl Mary Smith. Mary in turn gets fired by the magazine where she works on account of the sensational sable they believe she has immorally acquired.

Mrs. J.B. Ball giving chase through her bedroom with the sable that will soon soar down from their penthouse aerie.

Not down on her luck for long, Mary is mistaken for Ball's mistess and given the premiere suite at the Hotel Louis Louis to reside in.


The Entrance....presided over by two Classical busts and a magical Murano glass sculpture atop a rather fantastic center table.



Two Views of the Main Sitting Room...a confectionery of blanc de blanc



The Bedroom....with intriguing trellis-mounted ceiling and walls

The Del Rio - Gibbons House: Made for black and white?

In Hollywood, if what you're doing is not in front of the camera, what's the point?

No one knew better how to design for the screen than MGM Art Director Cedric Gibbons and the house he built for himself and movie star wife Dolores Del Rio was custom-made for a cinematic life. (Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for real life as they divorced in 1941.)

This 1930s masterpiece of Deco has all the high style flourishes we would hope for: mirrors everywhere, shiny surfaces gratis of a polished black rubber floor, and mysterious zig-zag walls and staircases that hint at glamorous intrigues. I firmly believe that this house was made to be seen in black and white - which was how everything was photographed in the 1930s. (Click here and here for a fascinating post from Mrs. Blandings about seeing rooms in b&w vs. color.)

Compare these period photographs when CG and DDR lived here to the house in the 1980s when owned by Adelle and Ira Yellin to now as decorated by Michael Smith for movie producer Joe Roth. What do you think?

In 1980.... photographed by the genius Derry Moore for the book The Dream Come True: Great Houses of Los Angeles (which I just rushed out and bought after reading Nick Harvill's book list for The Peak of Chic)

Derry also captured some of the rooms in b&w:

In the hands of Michael Smith, courtesy of Scott Frances for Architectural Digest....

Some may think Smith an unlikely choice for this Deco time capsule, but I think he acquitted himself well. However, I might have not as put as much furniture in the room above....

Film Decor: Wife Vs. Secretary

One of my favorite silver screen residences is the Hollywood Regency house of Van and Linda Stanhope in the 1936 MGM Wife vs. Secretary.

The romantic comedy stars Clark Gable and Myrna Loy who are happily married until Myrna begins suspecting Clark of a liaison with his bodacious blonde secretary, Whitey, played by Jean Harlow. A young Jimmy Stewart is also in the film in a supporting role, but the real star as far as I am concerned is this house.

Lets take the tour....

The Entrance. The graphic use of dark and light and geometric designs on the floor and front door make the room pop. The flattening of ornament - such as the reeded column and the military trophy(what IS that?) painted on the wall is very Hollywood Regency.

The Living Room.

Helena Rubinstein would adore this dining room. Mirrored and dead white furniture make this tres a la mode - think Serge Roche. The towering taper candles and white marble statues - not your typical table setting - reinforce that the Stanhopes are a zippy, chic couple.

The hallway of the second floor.

The Bedroom. I want that bedspread. And isn't that "pinwheel" satin pillow on the tufted armchair great?

Linda's Dressing Room. As already mentioned here, this room was my first pick for the cover of RR.

Van's Dressing Room. (Don't you have his and hers dressing rooms?) The stripes and more butch furniture declare this is a man's room.

Film Decor: Giant

Last spring, I attended a symposium at the Museum of the City of New York on great New York residences. The charismatic Mitchell Owens spoke on Mame Dennis' Beekman Place townhouse and its numerous redecorations which reflected the latest fashions from the Great Depression through World World II.

Similarly, "Reata", the Benedict Ranch, in the 1956 epic Giant mirrored the changing social values and tastes of the Texan elite.

Reata as it is when Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor) comes to live as Bick's (Rock Hudson) new bride. High Victoriana, with red flocked wallpaper, leather upholstery, and heavily carved Eastlake style furniture. It must have been quite a shock for Leslie after the gracious Georgian-style house in Virginia she grew up in. The decor changes little until after Bick's commandeering sister Luz dies from a nasty accident and Leslie gives birth, firmly sealing her position as chatelaine. Circa 1920s, but its 19th century era decoration hints at Texas' provincialism at this time.

Bick's office or Man Cave. This room changes little throughout the film - which fittingly reflects Bick's traditional ways and reluctance to change.

Leslie's bedroom which connects to Bick's. More of the same dark, heavy furniture.

Leslie recreates her Virginia home with chintz, cream woodwork, and Georgian furniture.

Leslie and Bick's bedroom, now with twin beds.

Reata gets the Hollywood treatment with a very Billy Haines vibe. White on white, touches of Chinoiserie, wall to wall carpeting, and low slung mod seat furniture. Love the cattleman at the white piano with the mirrored obelisks - so incongruous!

Another view of the living room. Don't miss the great white and black stone floor of the entrance hall in the background.

Leslie and Bick's bedroom.

This is actually not Reata, but a suite at the ultra-glam Emperador Hotel which was based on the Shamrock Hotel in Houston. Had to include it for the lacquer Carlton House desk and the fantastic tufted sofas - calling Jonathan Adler! Bick is looking worse for wear as he comes to terms with the waning of the Rancher and the new dominance of the Oil Man in Texas.