Summer On The Run

I can relate to the girl on the go in the amazing Elmer Batters photograph above. Over the last few months, I have been absolutely mad trying to prepare for a gallery exhibition while still venturing out on my almost daily hunts for all things beautiful and fabulous. I have been wearing many hats, both figuratively and literally.

My art making process and my vintage hunting and gathering process have many similarities. The art making process begins with a concept and then a pursuit resulting in an often frenetic gathering of images and materials. My eyes are trained like an aesthetic athlete to sort out the rubbish, to know when, where, what and why. When hunting for vintage pieces, I must be able to instantly size up whether I can see it being worn by a fantastically chic individual, and I must stress the word individual.

Below is a wonderful summer photo of Grace Kelly about to set sail, at least, in her imagination.

My art has taken me all over the world and given me a chance to peruse insane, labyrinthine flea markets where I have found countless treasures, some too genius to share, like in France, where I found my beloved original Paco Rabanne chain link bag, or in Holland, where I found a divine and perfectly cut leather jacket that I wore until the lining began to disintegrate into a long, black fringe that would trail behind me like a gothic pirate or an urchin in a Dickens novel. At my favorite flea market in Berlin, rusty dental tools share company with unbeatable Soviet movie posters and stacks of black and white photos of questionable characters in unsavory situations, often in uniform.

Below are a few gorgeous photos of the Austrian actress Romy Schneider.

I love this photo of Romy Schneider looking sexy and happy, caught in the paparazzi's flash.

I am the first to admit that I have never been the summery type. I am much more suited for drizzly days that cast silvery shadows on wet cobblestone streets, the type of weather that begs for velvet and greatcoats. Born in the wrong era, a constant refrain...

The summer does bring me a few sublime delights, such as the first bloom of my rare Oriental lilies. Their color, saturated and sublime, like fire roasted peaches in Champagne.

This summer, New York City is awash with superb art and fashion exhibitions. "Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a must-see for anyone interested in the history of fashion and the direct role art plays as an inspiration for a designer. My love of Elsa Schiaparelli's designs is well known, and this is a perfect and unprecedented opportunity to see into the grand dame of the surreal's wonderfully twisted mind. The exhibition runs through August 19th.

At the Whitney Museum, Yayoi Kusama wraps you in walls of "Infinity Nets" and dazzles with unbridled obsession, sometimes magical and sometimes frightening, but always genuine and inspiring. This exhibition runs through September 30th.

Below is a photo of a free spirited mother and child that reminds me of my earliest summer memories.

Summers in California were dry and smelled of wildflowers. Color abounded on the summer frocks girls would wear with wild hair and beachy tans and on children's faces with the designs of flowers and clowns painted on flushed cheeks by hippie chicks with braids and macrame bags.

I have an affinity for the psychedelic. I love bold patterns that have a hallucinatory kaleidoscopic effect. I am happy to see girls today embracing wild psychedelic maxi-dresses this summer. It looks so fresh and easy, but still dressed up. I love the pairing of wild patterns and ethnic jewelry topped off with the perfect floppy hat.

Summer in the city is all about garden parties held under lantern strung trees. These festive settings are the perfect occasion for dressing up. I prefer an exotic look, maybe wispy chiffon in the deepest emerald green paired with an armful of 1960s jeweled bangles, wild and gorgeous clamper bracelets with glittering, snarling animal faces, or Chinese silk pajamas worn with a coolie's hat and golden Moroccan slippers, what could be more chic?

Below is a beautiful 1920s photo of the Brooklyn born and bred vaudevillian actress Lilyan Tashman, fully embracing the Chinoiserie glamour I adore, perhaps she even graced a garden party right here in Brooklyn.

Keeping cool as temperatures rise is priority number one and everyone knows that the best way may just be a proper cocktail. This summer, we are spicing up the mix and then throwing it on ice in a concoction that we have created in honor of the best of summer fashion that we call "The Psychedelic Sizzler".

Cocktail Of The Week: "The Psychedelic Sizzler"

serves four

ingredients

4oz silver tequila

3oz pulpless orange juice

4tsp sugar

1c fresh raspberries, rinsed

1tsp sriracha

3oz chilled champagne

shaved ice

directions

in a blender, blend tequila, sugar and raspberries until smooth.

pour mixture through a fine sieve into a glass bowl

in a cocktail shaker, combine orange juice and sriracha, shake well

add champagne to orange juice and sriracha mixture

in four champagne flutes, divide champagne/orange/sriracha blend equally between glasses

to each flute, add shaved ice to about 3/4" below rim of glass

spoon raspberry tequila mixture over shaved ice equally between the glasses

Enjoy!

In closing, we have one of my favorite Japanese jazz bands - Soil & "Pimp" Sessions - with their classic song "Summer Goddess".

The Mysterious Life of a Deco Handbag - The Stork Club & The Velvet Hammer

The holidays have come and gone and it feels as if I have been around the world and back, a whirlwind of art and fashion.

For Christmas I received the most fantastic vintage handbag! It is a 1930s black velvet and wrought metal pagoda-shaped birdcage bag, a wonder of Art Deco ingenuity, absolutely genius! 

When I opened the latch on the handbag and tilted the top open, it revealed a snow white silk interior, a tufted and mysterious box as luxurious and foreign as the glovebox of a Rolls Royce Phantom. 

When I reached my excited and curious hand inside of the bag, I felt something resting on the bottom. I felt around and pulled out a business card. As crisp and white as the silk lining, this business card was printed elegantly with a refined font in stark black ink. The text simply read "Sherman Billingsley - Private Rooms - Stork Club". Below is a photograph of Stork Club owner Sherman Billingsley sitting at his favorite table at the Stork Club.

The Stork Club and El Morocco were the hot spots in New York City for celebrities, politicians, the literati and notorious gangsters from the 1930s to the early 1960s.

When I looked at this business card, my mind began racing. What were the historical implications of this card being in this bag? What was its provenance? Who originally owned this bag? Were they a celebrity, a grand dame of cafe society? What sort of life did this handbag lead from then until now? What scenes was this refined bag witness to? Surely it was carried on the gloved wrist of a lady out to enjoy a fine dinner with a dashingly handsome gentleman. It would have been casually placed next to a crystal flute of champagne just in reach to be taken to powder one's nose. 

Below is a photo by famed photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt of the glamorous ladies within the Stork Club's powder room.

Was the owner of this handbag a showgirl seduced by a B-level film star or an heiress slumming with her Latin dance instructor? Was the bag gently placed on the bedside table or thrown on the floor in the midst of passion, a silent witness to all manner of debauchery? 

Was this handbag carried by the striking actress Yvonne Printemps, star of the Folies Bergère? She is photographed below by the great photographer Horst in 1934 for Vanity Fair in a fantastic ensemble as worn by her character in the Broadway production of the Noël Coward play "Conversation Piece".

Could my bag have been in the possession of Millicent Rogers, the Standard Oil heiress, fashion icon and great champion of Native American art? When this handbag was new, she was married to an American stockbroker. She is photographed below in 1938 also by Horst. 

Could the charming and talented Frances Langford, radio star, singer and actress have carried this handbag to a celebratory cast party held at the Stork Club, setting the bag down only to break into a rapturous rendition of her signature song "In the Mood for Love"?

Below is a wonderful image taken of Langford by the photographer C.S. Bull in 1936. What an absolutely gorgeous dress!

Wouldn't it be fun if the handbag belonged to the adorable Chilli Williams, better known as "The Polka-Dot Girl" of World War II, famous as the pinup girl in a polka-dot bikini? She is photographed below in the 1940s, not in a polka-dot bikini, but with a magnificent headdress.

Perhaps the bag was worn on the arm of the great actress Bebe Daniels, who made an amazing 230 films. Under contract to Warner Brothers, she certainly would have dined alongside other up-and-comers and contract players at the Stork Club. Here she is in the 1930s photographed also donning an amazing feathered headdress, but with the ultimate dinner date, a live cheetah!

Wouldn't it be brilliant if Bette Davis herself had owned this handbag? She was also under contract at Warner Brothers at the same time and favored very dramatic clothing for nights out on the town. This bag would have been the perfect finishing touch for this amazingly chic outfit she wears in the photograph below. 

Speaking of cheetah, the gorgeous model Babs Beckwith would have looked divine with this handbag, perfect for carrying just the right shade of blood red lipstick.

This bag would have been absolutely perfect carried by the great Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong. I can see her strolling the back streets swinging this Chinoiserie bag by her side in Josef von Sternberg's "Shanghai Express". 

I would like to imagine that the original owner of my beloved handbag had been the actress Myrna Loy, co-star of the great "Thin Man" films, where she played the beautiful, stylish and often hilarious Nora Charles. Myrna Loy had a kindness of spirit that radiated out of her face, making her one of the Silver Screen's most beautiful stars. Below are two photos of Loy, one with a very inventive hairstyle and the other with her looking amazing, a perfect portrait.

In closing, in honor of the great dinner clubs of yesteryear and the glamour of their patrons, we have a take on the classic chocolaty cocktail, "The Velvet Hammer".

Cocktail of the Week: "The Velvet Hammer" 

serves two

1 oz Crème de Cacao 

1 oz Tia Maria Coffee Liqueur

2 oz Vodka

4 oz Cream

2 chilled martini glasses

combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker

shake with ice and strain into martini glasses

serve and enjoy

Eccentric & Extravagant Holiday Wish List - Oh to Dream...

As the holidays quickly approach and I start to think about packing for my winter escape, I realize that all I have been doing for the last couple of months is thinking about what luxurious trifles other people might want as gifts. Not for one second did I indulge in a fantasy of what gifts I might want this Christmas. 

So I began making a list and it was sadly predictable and utilitarian, even the winning lottery ticket was too obvious. I then began to think about what really inspired me aesthetically this year and what objects I wanted to surround myself with. I think about beauty all day long, beautiful jewels, beautiful paintings, beautiful clothing and then I think about the amazing rooms that house these luxuries. That brings me to the first thing on my wish list. 

In November's issue of The World Of Interiors magazine, I read a review of the new book "A Taste For The Exotic" written by Emmanuelle Gaillard and Marc Walter, published by Thames and Hudson. This gorgeously photographed book delves into the most luxurious and obsessive public spaces of history's most eccentric and fabulous collectors/aesthetes from Portugal to St. Petersburg. This got me thinking about the objects that I might furnish my rooms with in this grand and gilded fashion. While perusing my favorite antique stores online, I came across a gorgeous Chinoiserie chest from Polly McArthur and Associates in Seattle. This beautiful set of drawers is painted a shade of robin's egg blue that I find very soothing. The chest is very finely decorated with crimson red typical Oriental scenes of pagodas and farmers, but also leisurely scenes of kite flying. The drawers are even lined with vintage Fortuny fabric!

The next piece on my wish list is in the same vein as the chest (and would, in fact, look perfect perched on top of it) is this absolutely beautiful Meissen tea caddy made in Germany in 1740 and available at the Brian Haughton Gallery in London. The porcelain is painted with harbor scenes viewed through exotic windows. 


Below is an amazing cover from a 1934 Travel magazine.

These images of sailing ships and intoxicating distant lands provoke a sensation of extreme wanderlust in me and make me wander off in my mind on a fantasy journey to Tangier, Morocco, where I dream of shopping in the Bazaar for glittering jewel toned glass lanterns for my garden and armfuls of intricate silver and brass bangles that jingle wildly as I dig for treasure. 


I long to stay for at least a week at the beautifully appointed boutique hotel Nord-Pinus Tanger.

Thoughts of the exotic persist as I am almost hypnotically drawn to the most fabulous Buccellati emerald and diamond ring from Kanners Jewelers in Bal-Harbour, Florida. Lately I have been attracted to this deep sea green shade with its mysterious depths. I love the heavy, encrusted setting - like some Spanish courtly jewel retrieved from the sea's depths. At 20cts, truly a fantasy bauble. 

I am crazy about true Art Nouveau design and regularly buy Art Nouveau jewelry. I discovered this beautiful out-of-print book simply entitled "Art Nouveau Jewelry" by Vivienne Becker that is being sold by Potterton Books in London. The book features 156 color plates of the most stunning and fantastical masterworks of Art Nouveau jewelry design.

As I am always (almost daily) in the market for a new piece of rare jewelry, I was moved to see a very beautiful and delicate French Art Nouveau dragonfly brooch. This plique-a-jour enamel dragonfly with trembling wings sparkles with rose-cut diamonds... sigh. It is available from Linda Horn on New York's Madison Avenue, (212) 772-1122.

Below is a beautifully dressed tree from 1957.

While looking for more inspiring tomes for my fantasy wish list, I came across a set of the Journal de Dames et des Modes illustrated by Georges Barbier in France in 1912. This collection is available from The Manhattan Rare Book Company (212) 326-8907. 

This first edition is a collection of 79 issues that feature 186 hand-colored plates. This is truly a rare and valuable gift for anyone with a deep love of antique and vintage fashion. Barbier's illustrations are divine!

All of these images of beautiful dresses, jewels and shoes have me wanting to dress up. For Christmas I would like an extravagant pair of teetering red shoes, not so much to walk in as to just casually stand around at, perhaps, an art opening. These amazing sculptural red Alexander McQueen shoes will do the job just fine.

Next on my list, I would like an unusual handbag to add to my unusual handbag collection. As I love all things aquatic, I fell in love with this white shrimp shaped leather clutch, sweetly named "Tonie the Shrimp" designed by Larissa Hadijo and available from Beyond the Valley.

Also in a wild vein, I adore these new Givenchy clutches designed by Riccardo Tisci. This panther one is particularly fierce!

Below is a terrific photo of a young Ann Margaret and her furry friend on Christmas morning. Don't you love her leopard print cat suit?

These strangely surreal accessories remind me of another rare book I must add to my wish list. It is Salvador Dali's "Le Diners de Gala (The Gala Cookbook)". This bizarre (to say the least) book is lavishly illustrated by the master himself and features 136 recipes spanning the gastronomical gamut, some intriguing and exotic and some downright repulsive. This book is also available from The Manhattan Rare Book Company.

On a more appetizing note, one must always remember to leave a plate of cookies out for Santa. This year, I would love to leave him my all time favorite cookies ever. Years ago, while in Siena, Italy on a trip focused on finding the most macabre reliquaries, I happened upon the most delicious cookie, the Ricciarelli, which are soft, icing sugar sprinkled almond cookies that originate in Siena. I highly recommend the ones made by Antica Drogheria Manganelli, at Via di Citta 71-73 in Siena, absolutely addictive.

Below is a charming, crafty crèche from the 1970s.

Another of the favorite things that I like to collect are vintage posters. I particularly like German and Swiss travel posters. On my list this year is a sublimely beautiful rare poster entitled "Silvaplana" from 1934, designed by Johannes Handschin. It is available from Pullman Gallery in London at 44-207-930-9595.

Inspired by the Art Deco lines and cool blues of the Handschin poster, I will add to my fantasy wish list my dream antique radio, the Walter Dorwin Teague designed Sparton Radio, produced from 1936 to 1940. This Deco streamlined radio is made of ebonized wood and cobalt blue mirror. I first saw one being auctioned in Los Angeles and I fell in love. This is a perfect example of the genius of Art Deco design. This radio is available from Modernism Gallery (305) 442-8743.

Finally, on a musical note, I recently heard a few tracks from the new jazz release "Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1". These may be some of the best performances of Miles Davis' stellar quintet that I have ever heard. This is definitely on my list and it should be on yours.

One of my most cherished memories of encountering an idol in person was while I was on holiday in France with my mother. We just happened to be staying in a hotel in Nice that was hosting musicians playing at the famous Jazz Festival. One day, on my way to the beach, the hotel's elevator opened and standing inside was Miles Davis looking like the coolest, most magnificent witch doctor, leaving me speechless.


In closing, here is a wonderful performance of "Footprints" as played by the Miles Davis Quintet in 1967.