Natural Fashion

Colette van den Thillart on the mixology of Lavender

Corbis image

"Lavender lends itself terribly well to what I call metamorphic colours

-colours that change and are complex."

Jacques-Emile Blanche's In the Mirror

image from it's about time here

"Aesthetically I have always loved it in the garden...it works so well with grey greens especially."

Liotard's Empress Maria Theresa

"It was my grandmothers favorite colour so I had slightly 'old fashioned' aesthetic hang ups in regards to decorating with it,

but Nicky really brought home to me the potentials of the colour."

Haslam's Shutter Stripe in Cloudy Lilac

"I have learnt to think of it as a neutral and use it more and more. It sets off and calms almost any colour palette and when used in a scheme can provide a whisper of necessary clash... that invisible note of the unexpected."

"Reflective silks, silk velvets and lacquer finishes come to life when there is the slightest tint of lavender in them. Nicky often adds a dash of it to old white ceilings for that hard to place sense of faded grandeur...."

oil sketch of madame X giving a toast

John Singer Sargent

Lavender is that wonderful sensory colour that conjures not only visions, but certainly smells, and especially tastes. Only just this weekend I bought some lavender infused black tea, and last summer while in the countryside of Ontario we experimented with Lavender ice-cream which was an enormous success.

Oh!

"And a dash of lavender syrup in champagne never hurts either!!"

Colette van den Thillart- interior designer , blogger here, here

.

Audio Cousins: 'The Social Network' & 'In Treatment'

The last Netflix disc I returned was the Gabriel Byrne-as-therapist HBO series, "In Treatment." So the theme was fresh in my ears last night when I heard the Oscar-wining theme for "The Social Network." I know this sounds ridiculously paradoxical, but except for the notes, the two are exactly the same.

Based on superficial Googling, I have not found any over lap for "In Treatment’s" composer, Israeli musician, Avi Belleli, and "The Social Network’s" composers, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Belleli’s music for In Treatment was actually written for Hagai Levi's Israeli series, Bitipul, on which "In Treatment" is based.

Listen to the first 40 seconds of each …

I know, I need to get a life.

Winter Portraits Paris

My apologies for the lack of contact. The past couple of weeks have passed in a flash. I am shortly boarding a plan for Australia!! Yippeee..

This winter I had the pleasure of meeting the divine Shannon Fricke who I have long admired through her beautiful design books and fabulous blog.

On a soft overcast Parisian day (is there any other type) I took these snaps of her beautiful family all rugged up for winter.

The top one was taken on the Pont des Arts, the middle in the garden behind Notre Dame and the last one on the right bank of the Seine.

What a divine family!!

Carla xx

liz taylor

happy birthday today Elizabeth Taylor

two time OSCAR winner

she might not be every one's style-

but she was The Goddess of the Silver Screen in the 1950's & 1960's

her OSCAR winning films:"Butterfield 8" 1960 & "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in '66

Phyllis Galembo: "Maske" revisited

I am truly fond of Phyllis Galembo's work. Galembo is a photographer and professor of Art at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She has exhibited extensively in museums, most recently Call and Response in collaboration with Nick Cave at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in conjunction with Spoleto Festival USA. Her work can also be seen in five published books, Aso-ebi: Cloth of the Family, Divine Inspiration from Benin to Bahia, Vodou: Visions and Voices of Haiti, Dressed for Thrills: 100 years of Halloween Costumes and Masquerade and Maske.
For over two decades, Phyllis Galembo has documented cultural and religious traditions in Africa and the African Diaspora. Traveling widely throughout western and central Africa, and regularly to Haiti, her subjects are participants in masquerade events - traditional African ceremonies and contemporary fancy dress and carnival - who use costume, body paint and masks to create mythic characters. Sometimes entertaining and humorous, often dark and frightening, her portraits document and describe the transformation power of the mask.

The exhibition Phyllis Galembo: Maske features recent photographs by the artist , including sixteen large-scale color prints of African and Haitian figures in indigenous masquerade costume. The exhibit also coincides with the release of Galembo's new book, Maske (Boot, 2010).

Exhibition at Steven Kasher Gallery, NY, March 2 - April 2, 2011
Opening reception and book signing, March 2, 6-8 pm

Four Children in Fancy Dress, Nobles Masquerade,

Winneba, Ghana, 2009

Two in Fancy Dress with Pointed Hats, Tumus

Masquerade Group, Winneba Ghana, 2010

Panther, Dodo Masquerade, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, 2009

Kambulo and Kapada, Makishi Masquerade, Kaoma, Zambia, 2007

Fancy Dress and Rasta, Nobles Masquerade Group, Winneba, Ghana, 2009

Water Buffalo Devil, Red Indians, Freetown, Sierra Leone, 2008

Ghost and Bull, Dodo Masquerade, Bobo-Dioulasso,

Burkina Faso, 2009

Janus Mask, Nkim Village, Nigeria, 2005

Atal Masquerade, Emanghabe Village, Nigeria, 2004

Agbago (Big Horse Who Comes in the Night) Masquerade,

Mountain Cut, Sierra Leon, 2009

Atam Masquerader, Alok Village, Cross River, Nigeria, 2004

All images courtesy of Phyllis Galembo/Steven Kasher Gallery
Phyllis Galembo

This post is also featured on The Huffington Post

Lavender pale & cool

"Givenchy Haute Couture pleats in palest lilac—class and cool"

Andre Leon Talley said of Cate Blanchett

Vogue here

Cate Blanchett class & cool

& if you missed it

Florence Welch in Givenchy Couture at the Grammys 2011

& at Givenchy Spring Haute Couture 2011

see Charles James@Oscar here

images from Givenchy at Vogue here

Charles James@Oscar

''We wanted something more voluptuous.''
Charles James & Dominique de Menil

Mrs. Charles James

photographed by Cecil Beaton

image from stirred up straight with a twist

as if blogs don't make predictions- making it's return debut two years ago here-this Charles James gown at STIRRED STRAIGHT UP WITH A TWIST. when I started this post as the Oscar's wrap up- here's the dress and the great style of vintage that can not be denied.

February 27 2011

Marisa Tomei in Charles James at Oscar

photograph from bella sugar here

the dress 1950 vintage Charles James from Lily et Cie

her jewelry from Van Cleef and Arpels

1924 portrait of Dominique by Max Ernst hangs in the living room, facing another of his canvases,

Return of la Belle Jardinière (1967), and across from the signature piano, chaise and ottoman

Charles James surrounded by his models in celebration

the de Menil collection here

in the works: about Charles James and Dominique de Menil

Brown Girl Royalty (Part III)

I have to go to Kauai soon to scout out a location for one of my travel camp programs that will debut in the summer of 2012 and I can't wait! And don't let me get a VIP pass to Ni'ihau (known as the Forbidden Island), because if I do, I'm all over it!

Not only are the Hawaiian islands beautiful, but Hawaii is the only U.S. state that was once a kingdom with its own monarchy. It's true! The only real royal palaces in the United States are in Hawaii! Several years ago, I actually visited Iolani Palace, which is a museum in downtown Honolulu and a National Historic Monument, and walked away from this tour more enamored with Hawaiian culture than ever before. *Doing the hula*

Iolani Palace

From royalty.nu: The Iolani Palace was completed in 1882, during the reign of David Kalakaua, the last king of Hawaii. It had electricity years before the White House did. The last royal to live there was Kalakaua's sister, Queen Liliuokalani, who abdicated in 1895 after the overthrow of the monarchy.

In 1898 Hawaii was annexed by the United States, and in 1900 it became a U.S. territory. On August 21, 1959 it became the 50th American state.

Queen Liliʻuokalani (1838-1917), born Lydia Kamakaʻeha Kaola Maliʻi Liliʻuokalani, was the last monarch and only reigning queen of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and her life was quite interesting and equally as complicated.

Her parents were High Chiefess Analea Keohokalole and High Chief Caesar Kaluaiku Kapaʻakea; however, based on the Hawaiian tradition of hānai (a Native Hawaiian adoption practice), she was adopted at birth by High Chief Abner Pākī and his wife Hawaiian princess Laura Kōnia. Her niece was Princess Kaʻiulani. I wrote a Spotlight on One Brown Girl post about her and I've stayed at the Sheraton Princess Ka'iulani in Honolulu which - like this post and this movie - is also dedicated to her memory.

Liliʻuokalani later married American John Owen Dominis, who ultimately became Governor of Oʻahu and Maui and my readings indicate that they didn't have a happy marriage nor did they have any children together. (After reading Dominis' bio, I kinda wonder if he was an opportunist.) Either way, Liliuokalani was appointed Crown Princess in 1877 by her brother David Kalākaua who was the last reigning king in the Kingdom of Hawaii. She inherited the throne from her brother, but the Kingdom was overthrown by a group of Americans, Europeans and Hawaiians called the Committee of Safety in 1893. In 1993, 100 years after the overthow, the U.S. government apologized for U.S. participation in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. What a remarkable time. What a remarkable life.

moore blue fords

.
looking for Julianne Moore,
bound to be wearing Tom Ford.

Any one of his special Spring Collection 2011 pieces would be best dressed on the OSCARS Red Carpet or an inspired creation for one of his Muses.

modeling Tom Ford in his Spring 2011 show

at the BAFTAs

wearing Tom Ford

brilliant in blue with Tom Ford in Tom Ford

on Tom Ford:

"Tom's a friend of mine. I've known him for a long time from the fashion world and socially. I knew that he had aspirations to direct. He's talked about it for a long time, but never to me.
When he sent me the script it was out of the blue, it was a quite a surprise. I was very struck by it. I loved my character. She made me laugh and I hadn't seen anyone like her before and I hadn't seen a friendship depicted like that." NY Daily News