Zoomorphia at The Spring Show

If you are in the mood to be dazzled by the endless variety and infinite beauty of centuries of civilization then you must stop by the AADLA (Art and Antique Dealers League of America) Spring Show at the Park Avenue Armory taking place this weekend.  

As someone who prefers a Capability Brown approximation of a natural landscape to the real thing, I was in pure heaven.  For those of you who might say the same for animals, this post is for you.

The mid-15th century Italian stone creature (crocodile perhaps?) pictured above at L'Antiquaire and The Connoisseur  mesmerized me with its jagged teeth even before I saw it was doubly sublime with two heads.  The 18th century Piedmontese hand-painted screen behind it is one of the owner Helen Fioratti's favorite things on the stand, and used to be in her own house in Italy.  The palette is soft pinks and blues which haven't faded due to it being painted in tempera.

A 17th century cast iron shop sign of a lion passant (within a 19th century wreath) was an unexpected find at Kentshire.  It was even more fun to discover that it had once belonged to starchitect Stanford White...

... and can be seen pictured here in his Gramercy Park townhouse, courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

This spectacular French late 17th/early 18th century sleigh pulled by griffins may seem out of a fairy tale but it was designed by Jean Berain for the Dauphin.  It is in Dalva Brothers' stand which is dedicated to French royal pieces including a fire screen made for Marie Antoinette.

Three beautifully carved carousel animals - a zebra, stag, and a bejeweled polar bear - at Yew Tree House prove one can collect anything.  They all come out of an enormous European collection that was housed in an airplane hangar.  I learned that the more ornate animals, such as the polar bear, would be placed in the outer-ring where they were more visible.

This snazzy Murano glass tropical fish, c. 1970, from Mark Helliar, doesn't require a complicated state-of-the-art aquarium or food... 

and who needs to eat anyway with this pair of devastatingly chic whippet candlesticks from Clinton Howell - the quintessence of the Regency period.  Make sure to step back to enjoy the massive lady slipper...

painted by Anne Harris.  Click over here to view her portfolio and be even more wowed.

A pair of massive Ming dynasty porcelain lions from Vallin bade me farewell and are waiting to greet you.


The Spring Show at the Park Avenue Armory continues through Sunday, May 6


Visit http://www.springshownyc.com/ for more information.

And for a finale, my personal favorite of the show from Hyde Park Antiques: a pair of Chinese export verre eglomise portraits of two European lovelies, c. 1780 - or could one be a man, as one person believes?

Leading Ladies of Design

Seriously though.

I have the exciting privilege to be co-chairing a lecture series* dedicated to championing 20th century pioneering women of design.

We are pulling a list of six together and have our own ideas... but would love to hear yours.  Who was a trail-blazer in the applied arts (furniture, textiles, jewelry, silver, etc) AND is still a source of inspiration?

* In 1914 The Decorators Club was organized by 38 charter members who met in the home of Gertrude Gheen Robinson.   The Decorators Club lecture series, which is open to the public, was started in 1991 and benefits the Decorators Club Education Fund which provides scholarships to interior design students.

M is for...

Milly, the soignee with a twist ready-to-wear line... M is for Madison Avenue, home of the first Milly store... which is exactly where Blair Waldorf and her preppy chic minions were on last night's episode of Gossip Girl.



M is also for Martell-Donagher, the fearsomely talented designer-architect duo who have stirred up a tasty cocktail of French '40s neoclassicism and the louche glamour of the '70s for the store's design.



Beth Martell and Enda Donagher are no strangers to retail design - they worked previously with the late designer Randall A. Ridless who was responsible for the Burberry stores as well as a place very dear to my feet, the Bergdorf Goodman shoe salon.



The first step in defining a design direction is to distill the essence of the brand.  Michelle Smith, the designer and creator of Milly, has a strong affinity for French style and, upon graduating from FIT, interned with several notable French maisons de couture, including Hermes and Christian Dior.  Martell-Donagher referenced her Paris training with classic paneled walls and moldings all painted a chalky grey color, a wink to the Dior grey.  The overscaled basketweave parquetry floor stained a deep espresso riffs on parquet de Versailles.

Playing with proportion and scale is a time-honored design trick of the trade, and Martell-Donagher pay homage to a few of its masters: Dorothy Draper, whose pagoda bookcase was adapted for the display cabinet above; William Pahlmann with the leopard-upholstered counter above and the original below...

... and Andre Arbus whose iconic 1937 La Maison d'une Famille Francaise was drawn upon for this attenuated door with three paneled circles.  The polished and brushed brass knob was extrapolated from a signature Milly handbag closure.



Bold flashes of the 70s, such as a Milo Baughmann brass etagere and sofa and an exploding faceted mirror in the style of Neal Evans-cum-Paul Evans add edge to this proper polished M'amselle.



 The cherry on top are the dressing rooms.  Each one is wallpapered in a different pattern, including Cecil Beaton's "Beauties in rouge dresses", prompting me to vow once again to paint the inside of my closets as something is somehow more delightful and luxurious when it's private and for your enjoyment exclusively.

And if on this Black Friday, M is also for Mastercard... take a minute on your shopping odyssey to enjoy the design around you. Whether it's Milly or the Mall of America - there is inspiration everywhere...



The Secrets of Florentine Women

 Photo by Brian Duffy for Vogue, Florence 1964

It was one of those days when my hair was everything one doesn't want: lank, frizzy, too many lengths and no style whatsoever.  Nothing would do but to get it cut THIS MINUTE.  With the utterance "It's as if you have a tail" (as in the NKOTB's Jordan in the '90s) echoing in my ears, I knew it was time to find a new stylist and after dialing frantically, I finally got an appointment - yes, I can be there in 5 minutes! -at Garren.

 It could only have been kismet that I was seated in the chair of Lazarus Douvos, an Aussie  Martyn Lawrence-Bullard look-a-like with just as much charm.  Besides sharing an overzealous enthusiam for The World of Interiors, our ideas of style were hugely influenced by living in Europe in our twenties.  For me it was the classic BCBG style of Paris, for Lazarus it was Florence's bella figura.

 View from the Palazzo Ginori

While working at a fashionable salon, he encountered a clientele of soignee Florentine ladies who were always impeccable, always chic.  Instead of following the vagaries of trends, their hair was inevitably sleekly coiffed and lacquered so that it  looked like one piece.  The only departure was during summer when they let it grow long allowing them to pull it back but also reflecting the more relaxed spirit of the season. 

Ascending to the attic...

After a day of clipping away, he repaired to his studio romantically nestled in the attic of the storied Renaissance Palazzo Ginori (yes, that Ginori, my porcelain-obsessed friends...) 

Lazarus' Florence studio

Terra cotta tile floors, white cotton slipcovers, and a soaring view of the cities' Renaissance towers and roof tops put my sixth floor walk-up chambre de bonne to shame...

the studio's seating area

It also demonstrates - to my mind - when you have good bones, one needs very little else to make a room.  Well, maybe good hair...

 Lazarus and Waldo in his current Murray Hill studio

Lazarus, whose styling work can be seen on Hamish Bowles in this October's Vogue, has recently gone out on his own.  Book him on 347.982.4894 or lazarusdouvos@gmail.com - I'll think of ways you can thank me.

High Style, Small Space

This month's issue of House Beautiful is dedicated to stylish small spaces and it was a thrill to be asked to interview interior designer Maureen Footer on her very own studio.  As you can see from the glimpses above, Maureen hasn't let a lack of square footage impinge on living with her favorite things, like fine French furniture and Fortuny.  Click here to read the entire article and hurry to your local newstand to see all of the inspiring interiors that will convince anyone that less can be more.

Below, an outtake from our conversation...

EEE: I always thought in a small space, you had to keep to one color so it flows…

Maureen: I learned years ago from the architect Billy Tsien to demarcate everything. She changed the rise on stairs so that you were aware that you were passing through space. She dropped ceiling heights as you were progressing through a space, she created door jambs just so there was an awareness that space was moving. I think I’ve always taken that message to heart – that if you create a sense of everything in a space, it feels larger. And if you turn it into a monotone surrounding, it’s going to feel like one indistinct space. If you create distinctions, you create an awareness of the possibilities of that space.

Did you feel constrained designing a small space?

Not at all. We have these great templates of living stylishly in small spaces. Stanley Barrows, Van Day Truex, Billy Baldwin – they made it an art form. They had these jewel boxes which they redecorated every three or four years, and they became a laboratory for their ideas.

The restrictions we put on where we can use antiques, where we can put damask and Fortuny are pretty arbitrary, and in fact there aren’t that many restrictions. And of course Grace Kelly’s designer George Stacey broke the barrier when he put French furniture in his squash court!