C'est Inspiré is simply that - what is inspiring. Where the words end, images continue to speak. Seeing all that is around us, we seek some aspect of something that is life enhancing... something that you would like to be reminded of - to revisit. Something to capture and bring into your world, not leave behind... . That is why I take a camera everywhere; have spent countless hours organizing images in scrapbooks and pouring over them later to revisit the place, the people, the memory.
So, C'est Inspiré may be a single photo - or it may be 50, it may mean one thing to me, another to you - the meaning isn't important. Did it inspire? Did it make you smile? Did it bring back a pleasant memory? One or all of the above will do.
During a brief period of his life, the legendary art historian Bernard Berenson kept diaries where he wrote about how to see - and what he saw. These diaries were published under the title The Passionate Sightseer and edited by Raymund Mortimer.
Anyone, anywhere, anytime can be a passionate sightseer - just look.
Go see Valentino: The Last Emperor playing at the Film Forum in the West Village (it’s just been held over!) – here’s what they’re saying -
“It is a behind-the-scenes look at the world of fashion, featuring access never-before allowed in the high temples of Haute Couture. The legendary Valentino is the star of the film, along with his longtime business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti. VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR follows them for the final two years of their careers, and shows the struggles the two men face as they confront the final act of a nearly 50-year career at the top of the world’s most glamorous and competitive game. The struggle of art against commerce is at the center of the film. In the end, however, the story proves to be not one about money or expensive clothes, but about love.”
Also playing now in Chicago and coming to San Francisco and Los Angeles this weekend.
The New York flower market in the early morning is a breath of freshness and hyperactivity. Walking through 28th Street is a call back to some old world market, the sidewalks lined with with vendors and the air filled with perfume – it is a visual feast at every turn.
Real flowers aren’t the only great finds – just browse around Pany Silk Flowers and see if you’re not fooled by the incredible life-like silk bouquets! Go to B & J or Jamali for all your other supplies – baskets, containers, accessories, etc.
Here are a few flower shots from some of Charlotte’s favorite shops…can you tell the real flowers from the silk ones?
George Rallis – wholesale – 803 Avenue of the Americas, (212) 989-4747
March 23, 2009
Interior Design : Kips Bay Show House…a quick flashback to 2006!
During the Kips Bay 2006 Show House, Charlotte & Pete Abel (of Abel Cine Tech) produced a video documenting the rooms and talking to the designers. Watch this clip of Charlotte with renowned designer Mario Buatta as he thinks back on his show house career in his inimitable style. (Can you imagine what’s on his cutting room floor?)
A Connoisseur’s Eye: Inside the 34th Annual Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Show House is available for purchase on our site and includes rooms & clips with Thom Filicia, Eric Cohler, Barbara Ostrom, Joel Allen, and many more!
Charlotte was honored to be last week’s guest speaker at the historic Sulgrave Club in Washington DC.
The Sulgrave Club was founded by Mabel Thorp Boardman in 1932, and is named after Sulgrave Manor, the ancestral Northhamptonshire home of the Washington family.
A few images from the trip and the lecture, entitled “Inspiration, Discipline & Simplicity: Elements of Style.”
To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Wedgwood, one of the world’s greatest basalt manufacturers, Bloomingdales department store has invited me, Barbara Barry, Jasper Conran, Monique L’Huillier and Trish Foley to use Wedgwood china to decorate our own tables – and the tabletops will be auctioned off to benefit God’s Love We Deliver.
I have always loved basalt, and the pink and black were a great match – a color palette reminiscent of Madeline Castaing. Wedgwood just produced its new, streamlined collection of modern basalt tableware.
And while you’re at Bloomingdales, have a look at their retrospective...
…two hundred fifty years is a LONG time, and there are many masterpieces on display, like these porcelain shoes made for the Queen (in Wedgwood’s signature blue) or these luscious 18th Century pieces.
I hope you will also look for a new book by Trish Foley,At Home with Wedgwood: The Art of the Table, which will be released June 2nd, in which we were also asked to participate. It’s going to be a good one!
Remember that for what one might spend on lunch, you could enrich someone’s life in ways you may not know were possible.
After arriving in DC on Tuesday this week, I made a visit to Dumbarton Oaks to see the gardens.
A Brief History
“In 1920, after a long and careful search, Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss found their ideal country house and garden within Washington, DC. They purchased a fifty-three-acre property, described as “an old-fashioned house standing in rather neglected grounds,” at the highest point of Georgetown. Within a year the Blisses hired landscape gardener Beatrix Farrand (Edith Wharton’s niece) to design the gardens. Working in happy and close collaboration for almost thirty years, Mildred Bliss and Beatrix Farrand planned every garden detail, each terrace, bench, urn, and border.” (www.doaks.com)
Eventually the property was divided, part of it donated to Harvard for garden and landscaping study & research, and the other part was established as a public park.
I have seen Dumbarton Oaks in all seasons except winter, so this was a great opportunity to see the architecture of the gardens, to wander from room to room marveling at shapes and structure. The smell of wet brick and boxwood – a welcome waft reminding me of Richmond, and other points south.
The patterns of stone, brick, ironwork and trellis spoke loudly as the color of flowers were not yet there to compete. The genius collaboration of these two women created a classic Southern garden, a series of hospitable and intimate rooms furnished in a thoughtful and abundant way.
The number of garden seats extending invitations to me and my patient and curious brother, Jeff, gave us a place to stop, sit, talk and admire the leafless vistas.
The combination of bamboo, enormous cedars, espaliered magnolia and the many shapes of boxwood created the strong walls of this garden, as the delicate and random patches of snowdrops provided another kind of decoration.
The first daffodils of Spring were awaiting us as we exited, a reminder that Spring is around the corner – and it is time to focus on my own garden plans for spring and summer. I look forward to my visits to the nurseries and garden centers of Long Island for ideas, inspirations and new plants to experiment with.
I noticed “wheat” cropping up – no pun intended – all over the grounds…
These garden ornaments are striking focal points all year round…
…and the same effect created with a tall, clipped yew.
Go see Valentino: The Last Emperor playing at the Film Forum in the West Village (it’s just been held over!) – here’s what they’re saying -
The New York flower market in the early morning is a breath of freshness and hyperactivity. Walking through 28th Street is a call back to some old world market, the sidewalks lined with with vendors and the air filled with perfume – it is a visual feast at every turn.
A few images from the trip and the lecture, entitled “Inspiration, Discipline & Simplicity: Elements of Style.”
I hope you will also look for a new book by Trish Foley,
The combination of bamboo, enormous cedars, espaliered magnolia and the many shapes of boxwood created the strong walls of this garden, as the delicate and random patches of snowdrops provided another kind of decoration.
