How They Decorated by Rizzoli International Publications

The Fashionably

CHIC

The Fashionably Chic woman thrives on personal self-expression. Her rooms are filled with oddities and objets d’art from her travels, her fashionable wardrobe, and in some cases her own design work. Her worlds spill gracefully, and quixotically, into the rooms she decorates. Stagecraft is key. The use of vivid color, the exotic, and the unexpected are maximized. Collectors all, never dismissing their decorating ability to “make it work,” the Fashionably Chic don’t shy away from the wiles of their eyes and imaginations. “Mixing it up” is the mantra. In the words of Françoise de la Renta, “fantasy, gusto, and enthusiasm” are esse ntial to these interiors.

Isabella Blow Fleur Cowles Françoise de la Renta Babe Paley Elsa Schiaparelli Pauline Trigère

of the room under a banquette. This room O P P O S T I E : Panels of fantasy flowers and trees in decorative urns were painted by Prince Federico captures all Fleur’s flight of fancy. Pallavicini’s Pallavicini and commissioned by Fleur in 1954, and exotic gold leaf painted panels with flower once installed at Fleur’s 16th century Surrey estate. filled urns were striking, and functional, In usual Fleur fashion, six panels acted as shutters serving as shutters for the windows. A massive in her Second Drawing Room. stone fireplace and hearth was surrounded by O P P O S T I E : The Surrey barn was filled with all things modern day banquettes, anchoring the room. Fleur. She had a pair of quirky tiered free form Her creative eye roamed every corner of the tables in cinnabar built around the barn’s timbers. room, and it was filled. When Spain beckoned, Fleur decorated an ancient castle in Trujillo called Las Torres de los Bejaranos. New and ancient, the castle was the magical fusion of Fleur Cowles aesthetic genius. Two 15th century towers on the edge of Trujillo were the starting point, and Prado architect Jaime de la Fuente, with Fleur, designed the main living spaces. (14) Roman arches and stone unearthed from an old house provided most of the bones of the new house and the two towers became bedroom wings. Inside, 7

Dominique de Menil An Elegant Simplicity

At a 1930 Versailles ball, in what Dominique de Menil (nee Schlumberger) called a “chance encounter,” she met her husband, Baron Jean de Menil. As a young married couple another “chance encounter” with Dominican priest Father Marie-Alain Couturier, would set them on a path that led to the creation of The Menil Collection in Houston Texas, housing the 15,000-some objects the de Menil’s collected together. Couturier had been tasked with the curation of the Catholic Church’s burgeoning modern art collection and soon the de Menils began acquiring the world’s largest collection of Surrealist painters Max Ernst and Rene Magritte, along with Braque, Picasso, Matisse. These great paintings were a part of the de Menil’s daily life, albeit, in the intimate setting of home, not a museum. They lived with their art, at houses in France and their Philip Johnson designed home, de Menil House in Houston designed. Johnson thought them “unpretentious, yet arrogant enough... an extraordinary couple.... There are some who think they’re crazy. I think they’re inspired.” Crazy was the unanimous in the tony River Oaks section of Houston, c 1950. Built in the International Style, flat- roofed pink brick sat in unpretentious silence, while the city could talk of nothing else. (1) The house was built around an interior courtyard where light poured into the rooms and through Johnson’s signature “glass walls.” Today the house still resonates with the de Menil spirit. de Menil Collection director Josef Helfenstein said “The de Menils were very independent in the way they saw and combined and lived with art,” To them it was very spiritual and intuitive,

Charles James’ Butterfly sofa was designed for the house. Dominique said it “drove upholsterers wild.” Three years in the making, James gave Dominique the “voluptuousness” she was looking for. The subtle play of the curving lines

and that is still palpable in the house today.” Raising five children in the now iconic house, and decorating it in a most unlikely style for a modernist house to say the least, reflected Dominique’s own complex personality and her appearance. Called “the iron butterfly” in Houston, Dominique had translucent skin, was tall, but almost fragile in appearance. Her architect thought her “a mysterious woman.” Hand in hand with that, she was devout, committed to social reform, and highly intelligent. All of these mercurial attributes converged into the decoration of the house under the direction of Charles James. In another “chance encounter” an introduction to couturier Charles James, orchestrated by the de Menil’s friend the Duchess of Gramont, Maria Ruspoli, resulted in the alchemy of a potent mix-the mercurial James as interior decorator for the Philip Johnson designed house. Having rejected Johnson’s own interior design suggestions, John de Menil (Jacques had been anglicized) suggested Dominque contact James-who was her favorite designer. Charles James’ only decorating project is de Menil house. He provided Dominique with the “voluptuousness” she sought, and the results were staggering, but not without woes. In an interview she revealed, “Charlie was impossible. But all that mattered was that he was a genius.” James’s sculptural gowns had become a part of her wardrobe and he approached the house

“Works of art are like people. They either talk or they’re mute. It depends on what surrounds them. They never tell you something if they are in the cold.”

Mixing his own paint colors, James created Menil Gray for a wall in the living room. Max Ernst Return of la Belle Jardinière hangs on the Menil gray wall, and an octagonal ottoman planned by Dominique de Menil, floats on polished black floors, a certain Jamesian couture touch. A James designed chaise longue followed James approach to couture, with color punctuating the details of a line.

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O P P O S T I E : Charles James’ Butterfly sofa was designed for the house. Dominique said it “drove upholsterers wild.” Three years in the making, James gave Dominique the “voluptuousness” she was looking for. The subtle play of the curving lines was present in all of James blatantly sexual 1950’s evening gowns. Upholsterers came and went, with the last one finally getting the sofa upholstered properly.