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.
With a sparkle in his eye, these were the words of wisdom shared with me by François Lesage on January 20, 2011, on a visit to the Lesage atelier in Paris. I was visiting the workshop while working on an article for the Wall Street Journal (“The Old-World Artistry Behind the Modern House of Chanel.” Wall Street Journal Magazine, May 2011) and it was my good fortune that Monsieur was there….
In December of 2011 Mr. Lesage passed away. The world of Haute Couture mourns a down-to-earth gentleman with a great sense of humor, and an artistic passion for his craft, and the desire to create beauty that had him still coming to the studios at age 82. François Lesage took over the business from his parents in 1949.
He invented.
He experimented.
He coaxed.
He solved problems.
And he mentored the world of Haute Couture.
Paradise – that is where he must be – an embroidered, dramatically enhanced paradise it must now be.
The Lesage School, his legacy
To secure the future of the Lesage name and the profession, François Lesage started The Lesage School. The Lesage school is the most prestigious school for teaching the needle arts, for Haute Couture and interior design. Open since 1992, many students from around the world have come to Paris to immerse themselves in the hours required to become skilled in a craft and to enter into a universe dedicated to the preservation of the artistic heritage of embroidery.
www.Ecole-lesage-paris.com
January 14, 2012
What's Happening : ICP: Ground Breaking Women in Photography
On January 10, I attended The International Center of Photography’s luncheon, ‘Groundbreaking Women in Photography.’ During the luncheon of chicken and roasted vegetables at Tribeca Rooftop, “Today” co-anchor Ann Curry led the conversation with photojournalists Stephanie Sinclair, Gillian Laub, Mary Ellen Mark and Samantha Appleton. Kathy Ryan from the New York Times Magazine also contributed. Topics covered by the panel included: taking pride in the fact that a photo essay on segregated proms in the South helped end them; and photographing in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel during war time. All these women were recognized for their determination and persistence in capturing the “real” in the spirit of photojournalism.
January 13, 2012
November 22, 2011
What's Happening : Don’t follow the wind, follow your vision. Advice from a self-made pro.
We all know the importance of school….
But there is no substitute for what we can learn from others and the value of their experience and wisdom. On a very special night at Lincoln Center in New York, Oprah Winfrey and Ralph Lauren took the stage to have a conversation…. And Lincoln Center witnessed the most successful fundraising event in its history.
Three large screens on stage scrolled familiar visuals from Ralph Lauren campaigns over the years, a glance down memory lane of the most stylish and elegant variety. The evening on stage ended in a fashion show of almost 50 models parading the looks of the Spring 2012 collection. Most of the looks for the evening were shades of Gatsby in ivory and pastels, bias-cut charmeuse, delicately beaded, just the right amount of feathers and, of course, infused with an abundance of American style a la….RL.
Some Ralph Lauren philosophy taken away that evening included the following (all I could get on the 3×5 tucked in my evening bag!):
-Believe in yourself…stick to your guns…don’t give up.
-Believe in your vision…dedicate yourself to it.
-I had a vision, I had no idea where it would take me.
-Don’t follow the wind , follow your vision.
-I never went to fashion school…what came, came from inside, I stretched, I made myself stretch.
-You must love what you do, you must keep moving ahead, and the creativity comes.
-If you are prepared to work harder, you can have what you want.
-And in closing…..
-Find what makes you happy. There is a world out there that is needy, giving, and doing good things makes me happy.
And seven million dollars later, ‘An Evening with Ralph Lauren and Oprah’ raised critical funds for the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention and for The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
A good time was had by all at the David Koch Theater, where long tables were set for dinner, decorated with all white flowers…caviar awaited, and dozens of candleglobes glowed….a la RL, of course….it’s all part of the vision.
Ralph Lauren’s book was a gift to each guest that evening, now available from Rizzoli through your local bookstore or the Mansion…of course.
November 10, 2011
What's Happening : Chrysanthemums at the New York Botanical Garden
Recently, I had the opportunity to catch the Chrysanthemums, and the kiku at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. The Botanical Garden’s exhibition of the Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum has four imperial styles at the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Courtyards: 0zukuri (“thousand bloom”), ogiku (“single stem”), kengai (“cascade”), and the shino-tsukuri (“driving rain”). Below are some of my selects from the exhibition.
The Ozukuri - or Thousand Bloom – features hundreds of simultaneous blossoms shaped into a massive dome-shaped array, all grown from a single stem. It takes 11 months to create each bloom, and each plant is trained to grow five branches from the main stem. The branches are then trained to form the dome shape that you see below.
The Kengai features hundreds of small-flowered chrysanthemums, trained on a boat shaped framework that is angled to evoke the scene of flowers growing down the face of a cliff. Each one begins as one potted plant and is trained to grow along a single wire.
Also on display at the Botanical Gardens were sculptures by Tetsunori Kawana. A master teacher of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana in Tokyo, Kawana incorporates personal style and artistic vision into his designs. He is known for his modern, large-scale installations that take traditional principles while making use of new materials in techniques. To create the sculpture below, Kawana salvaged fallen branches, twigs, vines, stumps and roots from the grounds of the Botanical Garden in the days following tropical storms Irene and Lee. Through gathering and reassembling these items, Kawana seeks to give them a second life as a site-specific work of art that engages all senses.
Museum gift shops and bookstores are one of my favorite places to shop for gifts. The NYBG is getting prepped for Christmas – what better way to do your shopping when you know the proceeds are used to produce all this beauty. Visit or shop online.
nybgshop.org
On November 7, the New York Public Library hosted their annual “Library Lions” dinner, which honored authors Jonathan Franzen, Tony Kushner, Ian McEwan, Stacy Schiff, Isabel Wilkerson and Natalie Merchant. The Library Lions celebrates great thinkers and creators who have made remarkable cultural contributions.
I always look forward to see what David Monn will do to decorate the room. No flowers this year, instead large bowls bursting with perfect green, champagne and concord grapes, they were the perfect autumnal note.
Edible, subtle and abundant.
