Treasure Hunting - Glamorous Ghosts In A Country Manor

Freak snowstorm aside, we just returned from a wonderful weekend in the country visiting Victorian mansions and digging for fabulous treasures in countless antique stores. 

We had the great pleasure of enjoying cocktails in one magnificent house in particular. Our friends have decorated their late 19th century home with such care and superb taste that we have been relishing the memories of each of the rooms since our return. 

The house is arranged around sublime vignettes, utilizing the most fantastic decorative objects and pictures from the last 200 or so years, from the Baroque to high modern without ever forgetting to honor the gorgeous architecture of the house. It was truly like walking into the pages of The World of Interiors magazine. The house was described by one of the owners as a personal Wunderkammer, a perfect description of a perfectly beautiful home. 

Moving through these many rooms, up and down staircases, resisting the urge to slide down the shiny polished banisters, treading gently over French silk carpets, careful not to let my small vintage Celine handbag knock over a frighteningly fragile Bavarian porcelain folly (a priceless accident I would never live down), I began thinking about the scenes these rooms have been witness to over the last century. I wonder what songs have been played on Victrolas to Hi-Fis with party revelers wearing clothing that one might find eccentric today...


The images that are inspiring me this week derive from this idea of imagining one great old house and the history of fashion that the privileged people have worn in these rooms, from Edwardian finery to the sleek lines of the Art Deco era. Maybe it's because of Halloween, but I could swear that I saw out of the corner of my eye fantastically dressed ghosts going about their ghostly day, moving from room to room lighting candles and then blowing them out. 


Below is a beautiful photo of an Edwardian girl. I love the way her striped fur wrap is worn so casually. The plumed hat is also quite fantastic.

Below is a great studio shot of an actress wearing an insane dress that appears to be made of silver silk velvet and chinchilla. The way she is standing, hand on hip with just the right amount of bangle bracelets is perfect. The head wrap is also great with the scarf ends hanging long with glittering beaded tips.

Below is a stunning photo of an actress wearing a magnificent pleated dress with fabulous accordion pleated wings. 

This next photograph is unusual and beautiful. I love the placement of the two jeweled bows and double heart beauty marks. 

Beneath is a great image of the beautiful actress Veronica Lake looking absolutely gorgeous.

Next is a beautiful photo of the actress Kathryn Adams. I love the vertical ruching at the shoulders. The tassel necklace is beautiful. Lately we have been collecting a variety of tassel necklaces for the Pearl Modern store from Hattie Carnegie to Etruscan revival. There is something so fun about the way they swing!

Next is a photograph of the always beautiful actress Carole Lombard in the most exquisite beaded leaf patterned dress. Amazing!

This next image is so haunting. It is of the actress Marion Davies, the lover of infamous publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst.

Below is a photo of the silent movie actress Mary Brian, who played Wendy Darling in director Herbert Brenon's 1924 silent movie adaptation of 'Peter Pan'. I love the rhinestone buckle detail at her waist.

 
This next photo is a wonderful image of the actress Kay Francis from the 1920s. The all white outfit is so chic and modern that I could imagine it having been designed by Giorgio Armani.

Beneath is an image of the actress Toby Wing. This corduroy dress is quite amazing. The geometric details and the diamond shaped belt buckle are excellent design elements. 

Next is a stunningly goth image of the actress Suzanne Ridgway from 1938 taken by master photographer George Hurrell. I have a scarlet red dress just like this that needs to be exhumed from the wardrobe immediately!

Below is another amazing 1938 photograph by George Hurrell of the actress Whitney Bourne. This is just a perfect photo. I love the use of the hat and the long netting is mysterious, sexy and slightly subversive.

This next image is also mysterious. She looks like a James Bond villainess in her high heeled boots.

Below is a photo of the actress Elaine Dunne, who played Vashti on the "Wild Wild West" television series in the episode "The Night of the Infernal Machine" in 1966.

Next is a photograph that I absolutely love of the Swedish stage actress Viveca Lindfors. The styling is absolutely perfect. 

The next photo inspiring me this week is of actress Merle Oberon. Born in Bombay in 1911, she made her way to England and then to America, where she had a long career appearing on television. To me, she exudes an exotic beauty with eyes that could tell many dark stories.

On a lighter note, in closing, we have a very surreal photo of the über glamorous actress Anita Ekberg from 1955, sitting in possibly the strangest chair we have ever seen. We wish we had been at that costume party!

Funky Pretty

Collecting magazines is one of the great passions and pursuits of my life. To say I might have 10,000 magazines in my archive may be a huge underestimate. I have been collecting all sorts of magazines in a serious way since I was twelve years old. As a young girl, there was Tiger Beat, Teen Beat and Bop, all of those girly heartthrob magazines, full of pictures of brooding boys with come hither eyes or golden boys with perfect hairstyles and heartbreaking smiles. Below is an introspective photograph of a young Johnny Depp.

My stepsister had a shelf in her bedroom that held a precious collection of Seventeen and Surfer magazines. For a girl growing up in California, this was an essential library of beauty tips to help you charm that gorgeous surfer guy, the mythic perennially tan, blonde and salty skateboarding superhero. My stepsister and I would sit on her waterbed and read these magazines one after another, taking mental notes on which lip glosses will make your lips look most kissable, while listening to The Cure, The Violent Femmes and The B-52's "Whammy". Below is a video for the B-52's song "Legal Tender" from "Whammy".

When I was twelve years old, a posh work colleague of my mother's (who was well traveled and always fashionably dressed) bestowed upon me a gift that would change my life, opening my eyes to other worlds and ways of living. Like a fairy godmother in stilettos, this woman gave me her collection of international fashion magazines. 

There was Donna, Vogue Italia, Paris Vogue, British Vogue, Tatler and on and on. The lady was Italian by birth and favored Italian magazines and Italian fashion, so there were a lot of Italian titles. She was the mistress of a powerful businessman, so she often took short trips to Paris, London or Milan, where she would pick up new reading material at the international newsstand.

These magazines were a revelation of style, glamour, beauty, elegance and wealth. Everything was so exotic and jewel encrusted. Women had fantastic, perfectly painted faces with eyes drawn black and hair that fell in soft curls, almost impossible to replicate in one's own bathroom.

Soon, I would convince my mother to buy me Vogue or Bazaar and I would almost sacrilegiously, very carefully remove my favorite pages from the binding and tape them to my bedroom wall. I learned so much about fashion from staring at these outfits from Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Claude Montana, Azzedine Alaïa, and Christian Lacroix. This is a passion I still indulge on a daily basis, an addiction to beauty.

The girls in these images represent the exuberant style of the 1960s to 1970s. Although this era was before I was born, it is a time period that I tend to gravitate to visually. I find inspiration in the fantasy makeup and the carnivalesque patterns. The photography was experimental and took risks with angles and lens distortion, which gave the models and clothing a fresh, new look.

'Funky Pretty' is how I like to describe this vibrant style. Pretty girly-girls experimenting with crazy style in a psychedelic atmosphere. Contemporary fashion magazines emulate this look, but it is the vintage fashion photography that I really love. 

Brigitte Bardot is of course an icon both for her style and beauty, as well as for her screen presence. She was naturally photogenic and looked most beautiful when casually posed. 

Below is a video from Paris Aktuell, that ran from 1966 to 1970 featuring the fashions of Ungaro.

Below, we have a fun and campy French clip from the late 1960s that shows great fashion and style from that era.

Twiggy, Veruschka, Penelope Tree and Jean Shrimpton would have to be the most famous models of that time period. One particular photography book that I have always loved is "Veruschka" by Vera Lehndorff, where Veruschka is completely painted to blend in with her surroundings, so that she almost disappears. If you haven't seen this book, it is definitely worth getting.

Natalie Wood was an excellent actress and a great beauty. This is an amazing photo of her looking so angelic, yet seductive, relaxing at the beach... a one of a kind beauty.

Julie Christie was so great in the classic film "Shampoo" with Warren Beatty. She perfectly personified the free and easy, yet utterly glamorous look of the day. Her features are so interesting because she can look soft and romantic at the same time as looking willful and edgy, without changing a thing. This complexity has been used brilliantly by every director she has worked with. This photo below succeeds in best highlighting these characteristics. 

The next clip is of the legendary Marianne Faithfull performing the song "Hier ou demain" from 1967.

Below is a photo of Cher looking fresh, young and perfectly styled. 

Below is an incredible photo of the brilliant Sophia Loren looking punky, mod and fabulous that appeared in Vogue in 1970.

Last, we have a video made for the Santa Cruz, California band 'The Vox Jaguars'. The video is a great montage of cool 60's girls dancing and scenes from Russ Meyer's "Faster, Pussycat, Kill! Kill!" set to their song "Swagger".