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.
White flowers extend day into night with wisps of light and pools of brightness attracting moonbeams, perfuming the air.
Gertrude Jekyll’s garden had clouds of white gypsophila –
Vita Sackville-West created an entire white garden that makes it difficult to call another one to mind. If you have been to Sissinghurst you know what I mean.
Vita planned that her white garden would be planted in the winter of 1949-50 – she called it the “pale garden that I am now planting under the first flakes of snow.”
Her garden survives today to the delight of a steady stream of visitors, admirers, and die-hard gardeners. Gardens like Sissinghurst make all gardeners hopeful – it makes them aspire to the next level, plant by plant, blister by blister, year by year.
Vita said, “Still no gardener would be a gardener if he did not live in hope.”
While I do not have a white garden, I do have a number of plants that represent the family of all things blanc – and in varied shades of white, something like the Benjamin Moore paint chart of “whites.”
After the crocus, hellebores, lily of the valley, muscari, leucojum, tulips and others have gone, a summer cycle comes around. The cycle that I am a witness to – a time that I can enjoy, visit in the early mornings and late afternoons when the light is so photogenic – even for an amateur with a Canon digital. Must say, I am enjoying a new Leica too.
I look forward to the Oriental lilies and their intoxicating fragrance. I look forward to more white flowers in my garden, I aspire to make it better – I have hope – but in the meantime, I will simply enjoy it!
June 26, 2009
At this year’s Landscape Pleasures Symposium at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, Charlotte sat down with fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi for a little Tete-a-Tete of their own…on COLOR. Obviously, neither of these two have any trouble when it comes to color, its use, or how to get inspired. Here are some highlights…
Questions and Answers…
Like many talented, creative people there is never just one answer, there are often many…so we’ve tried to capture as many as we could from Isaac’s inimitable, rapid-fire style…
Charlotte: “What is inspiration, to you? What gets you fired up?”
Isaac: “Inspiration is something that pleases me…and there’s always something pleasing to me to distract me from the work in front of me…. I think that procrastination is the road to inspiration!”
Charlotte: “How do you get inspired, Isaac?”
Isaac: “Well, I love to cook and I LOVE to eat, so that is where I sometimes start. It’s very amorphous, you must devote yourself entirely to it, so that you don’t even know you’re being inspired.”
Charlotte: “Does it come to you, or do you have to go after it?”
Isaac: “It starts to happen to me, like watching TCM late at night. I should pay them a royalty! Like the other night I was watching ‘Oklahoma’ and I could have literally wept at the color, just the amount of color in that movie.”
Charlotte: “It’s interesting you mention dance also. I know you draw inspiration from the ballet. George Balanchine was famous for saying ‘There is only now, do it now. Right now!’ This sounds a lot like you, too, Isaac.”
Isaac: “Yes, be spontaneous! Trust your instincts.” And even if you’re wrong, “Sometimes mistakes can be the most inspiring things.”
Charlotte: “In your book you say that the only way to have style is to be inspired, but number two is to know yourself, to honor yourself, to like yourself. Which is true. How are you going to get dressed in the morning if you don ‘t know what you like, or who you are?”
Isaac: “So true! I always think of myself as this bratty little child, saying “That one! That’s the one I want! I want it, I want it, I want it! But in the end, that is who you have to listen to, that is who must run your life! That way, in the end, at least I’m pleased. Somebody has to be pleased. I live to please my inner brat.”
Some more wisdom, that surfaced in our notes:
Advice to a younger designer: “Drop everything, go to Europe!”
On Designing a collection: “Every single thing is related. [Our lives are layered.] If a collection is not cross-referential then I am bored.”
“You must be able to visualize your ideas, a garden, a room, a dress.”
“Mine your sketchbooks! Ask yourself, ‘what was I thinking then?’ A lot of my ideas are stored, not knowing when I am going to use them, in my head or in my sketchbooks.”
“Fashion, style, the moment that we are living now – is predicated on the last moment and directed toward the next.”
Isaac connected to our gardening symposium when we realized his description of the creative process was totally aligned with that of Russel Paige, the great garden designer. For Isaac, gratification is not just in the concept or the end result, it is in the process every stitch of the way! Isaac has a greener thumb than he gave himself credit for.
To keep up with Isaac (Good luck!), check out www.isaacmizrahiny.com.
Thank you, Isaac!
June 22, 2009
Most Americans will tell you they get goose pimples when they hear “Hail to the Chief,” “Stars & Stripes” or when they are in a large crowd singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Every year on Flag Day, we are reminded of what the flag represents – a legacy of freedom, dignity…so many things.
An interest and appreciation in the flag runs in my family. My great great uncle, Lieutenant James Moss wrote the book about the care of the flag, The Flag of the United States. While it is currently out of print, copies can be found online.
See my recent blog story, from February…. And then go fly your flag, it’s Flag Day! If you don’t have one, there are a lot of good websites. Try www.AmericanFlagStore.com or you could wear one…
June 11, 2009
