Allure
by habituallychic
10 . 07 . 10
I own a lot of vintage books but one I don’t have in my collection is Allure by Diana Vreeland. I was therefore very excited to see a reissued copy in the bookstore today. Vreeland was a fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue before her appointment in 1972 as “Special Consultant” to The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The book came about in 1980 because her editor at Doubleday, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, urged her to put together photos and musing on “allure” in fashion and in life. Fashion designer Marc Jacobs has written the foreword in the new version of Allure and I look forward to adding both editions to my shelves.
The cover of Allure is red and since I didn’t have any photos from the book, I thought it would be fun to take another look at Diana Vreeland’s Park Avenue apartment. According to her decorator, Billy Baldwin, she told him “I want this room to be a garden-but a garden in hell.” He replied “I knew what it meant: red. I searched for an eternity before I found exactly the right material- in John Fowler’s shop in London. It was scarlet chintz with brilliant Persian flowers. I raced home with yards and yards of it and we covered the whole room – walls, curtains, furniture, the works.” Luckily, the bedroom is blue although, still a riot of pattern. Enjoy!
12 Comments
I just came into a wonderful collection of those fabulous designer books…Billy Baldwin , Slim Aarons, Allure and will be listing them on my blog in the next week. Chistmas is coming…
lovely blog. hope you will become a follower of my blog too?
xoxo
http://theonlyfashionprincess.blogspot.com
Vreeland, so exciting in her individuality and verve!
Karena
Art by Karena
Great pics, those interiors are so wonderfully wild and unrestrained.
Love that red door!
ammaazing!! love her sophisticated taste!!
Great images you pulled together, very inspirational!!
http://gramercyboutique.blogspot.com/
OK WOW! – i’ll take the striped sofa tho – but that’s just TOO much red – wouldn’t u just go mad in there?!
PS PASS IT ON! –> GIVE-AWAY going on NOW! – 2 necklaces = 2 winners!
*kiss kiss*
Erika @ ~Tiptoe Butterfly~
I just want you to know to that I really appreciate your blog and I look forward to opening it every time it arrives in my email. Even though I also am a decorator and I live in New York, you still enlighten me on what is happening in the world of style. I find myself wondering how you find the time to dig up such interesting tidbits and post about them when you are also a working as a decorator and probably a mother as well. I also have a blog, I’m a mother and a decorator and I can’t seem to post even one tenth as often as you do. Bravo and thank you.
When you get a chance, go to Youtube and see the interview of her in her apt. when she talks about horizon lines, water and skateboards…brilliant! I keep it on my favorites…
Such a great post. Love learning about this sort of thing! Thanks for sharing… and what an amazing room! Talk about confidence in design!
CC
http://currentlychic.com
Come visit!
Love that room!!! Did you notice the blue fabric in the bedroom is the same as the red?
That woman was an original. The very best!
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