Fleur's Flower Game, Want to play?

In 1983 FLEUR COWLES published The Flower Game. This book shares nearly 200 of FLEUR'S "friends" answers to her question:




NAME TEN FLOWERS YOU WOULD WANT TO TAKE WITH YOU IF BANISHED TO A DESERT ISLAND-NOT JUST ANY ISLAND BUT ONE WHERE ANY AND EVERY FLOWER WOULD GROW, REGARDLESS OF SEASON OR SOIL.

Fleur's 10

Fleur decided to choose specimens evoking Proust's ' Remembrances from things past' so she could choose from an "etagere" of memories- assuaging some of her loneliness.

the pink clover, hoping to "spend time in happy search" for the lucky four leafed kind.


& the snowdrop, a sentimental choice since her husband of 27 years had found the first of spring's offering and presented it to Fleur.



the Tulip-for Fleur they conjured up the "drama of profusion" in one flower, trips to Holland, London's own and her sixteenth century home with pinkish red tiles.

Rembrandt's Flora

the pansy- evocative of the famous French primitive painter, Andre Beauchant and also one of the Queen mother's favourites.

Andre Beauchant

& Tuberose would always say Spain and her home there.

the humble field daisy for answering questions-the counting of petals, for its simplicity and memories of childhood in the States.

June Sira
"he loves me he loves me not"

& White Jasmine would fill the shells and coconuts made into vases on the island and remind her once again of her Spanish home where jasmine climbed the walls.

Fleur Cowles

the rose and its ability to allow Fleur to recall Shakespeare, Katherine Mansfield, Katherine Anne Porter, Andre Maurois and "every painter I love, if worth his salt, has painted the rose."

Fantin- Latour

Fleur wanted another wild flower besides the clover- a wild orchid, a cowslip,a buttercup. Perhaps the pimula, the dandelion, or even cow parsley.

(How could she have selected just one or would she have slipped a few of all these in the soil of her picks? Likely.)

Givenchy gown Muguet

& Finally lily-of -the-valley , its whiteness, fragrance, size and it holds a special place-the flower her husband sends when available.

Botticelli

FROM FLEUR'S LIST I WOULD TAKE :

lily of the valley, the lily Regale , snowdrop and the rose would pack well.

To this I would add the gardenia, lilac, peony, hydrangea,violet and lastly- the beautiful Queen Anne's Lace.

Some lists that are standouts- Cary Grant, Cecil Beaton, Beverly Nichols, Evangeline Bruce, Lady Diana Cooper, Norman Parkinson, Terence Stamp, Pauline Trigere, Eleanor Lambert, Clare Booth Luce.

- Princess Caroline of Monaco, Princess Grace of Monaco, Lord Olivier, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Jane Goodall, David Hicks...

What would you take along?

Andre Beauchant

Once and again~ FLEUR + ULLA

MORE FLEUR shared by fellow blogger ULLA. Ulla left a Daily Mail link about FLEUR in comments about my yesterday's post- a homage to FLEUR COWLES.

ULLA has a fashionable blog MODEL'S OWN that I follow. A model- Ulla features gorgeous photographs of fashion first hand, along with her musings about fashion-past, present-future and the fashionable world of design and art. Her blog came to my attention- when An Aesthete's Lament -my absolute FAVORITE blog around, (and I know I won't be stepping on any toes-as I suspect there are many bloggers out & about that would say the same thing) wrote about designer extraordinaire Nicky Haslam. I fantasize about having NH decorate for me- IF only I could -I would. But more about NH another day, another post.

When the Aesthete wrote about HASLAM- Ulla commented that she was an intern for the fabulous Nicky Haslam when she lived in London. She said "He was a delight to work for and I learned so much, he really is one of the best and always in a great mood. Thank you Nicky!" - I immediately thought- this is a girl I can learn from and have enjoyed her blog ever since!

here is the link ULLA sent me "the working-class girl who became the last great society hostess" by Geoffrey Levy in MAIL Online (the Daily Mail). The story is NEW chock full of FLEUR COWLES.

the gorgeous ULLA
photograph from her blog MODEL'S OWN

the fabulous FLEUR
from the Levy article

(click on all the BOLD words above to go to the mentioned links)


Daily Mail> FLEUR> ULLA>Little Augury> ULLA> Nicky Haslam> An Aesthete's Lament
What goes around comes around in a most delightful way!

a Fleur with Flair

my favorite FLAIR cover

the Best of FLAIR

"I decided [the wing of a bird] would be the symbol of Flair because it's flight of fancy, which is what we need if we live an interesting and imaginative life. A flair for something--I don't care what it is, but whatever it is, have elegance in it, even if it's shining shoes. And knowledge--whatever you do, learn more about what you're doing." F.C.

FIRST in FLAIR February 1950

all FLAIR ONE YEAR assemblage
from the blog pages of Brilliant Asylum

50-cent for a peak at high society, art, literature, and fashion, Flair lived & breathed for 12 issues, from February 1950 to January 1951. FLAIR was said to have cost over a Dollar.26 to run each copy. FLAIR was way beyond its time with die-cut overlays, varied paper stocks, and accordion inserts. W.H. Auden, Eleanor Roosevelt,Tennessee Williams, Gypsy Rose Lee, Simone de Beauvoir, Salvador Dalí, and Jean Cocteau all eagerly contributed.
Time magazine reported, "there is an accordion-style pull-out on interior decoration, a pocket-sized book insert, a swatch of cotton fabric, even a page written in invisible ink that can be read when it is heated by a lighted match."

FLEUR lives on today- as FLAIR, blogged about, revisited and oggled over.

Fleur Cowles photographed by Robert Trachtenberg 2003

Fleur wears BALENCIAGA , made for Queen Elizabeth's coronation 1953

Most probably one of the last articles written about Fleur Cowles was in 2003, by Heather Smith MacIssac for the New York Times magazine and photographed by Robert Trachtenberg. Fleur was interviewed in London at her home at Albany, once Lord Melbourne's Georgian manse. Fleur Cowles died June 5 of 2009, making her- it is believed 101.

by FLEUR

It appears she adhered to her FLAIR raison detre: "Live an interesting and imaginative life." My own GranMa lived to be 107 and at the age of 100- I asked her what she attributed her longevity to: She replied with much the same answer-" You must be curious, You must find life interesting and be creative." It would appear that this is sound sage advice.

Of her Albany drawing room- once the Albany ballroom designed by Sir William Chambers, c.1780:

''I believe it's the most beautiful drawing room in London.'' FC

In the original article- clipped from the 2003 Magazine- The bookcase lower shelf is dotted with multiple petite vases each holding a single pale yellow rose- perhaps the FLEUR COWLES ROSE.

Fleur Cowles
a Pale Yellow Floribunda
very fragrant spice, blooms in flushes throughout the season
bred 1972 by Walter Gregory

A Second Drawing Room with panels gold leaf and exotic pots and flowers by Federico Pallavicini resides over the built in baquette-well worn in pink.

A 1954 sculpture by Sydney Harpley has a very haunting presence at the fireplace in the Second Drawing Room, above it a- Fleur Cowles painting. In this photograph one gets a sense of the grand proportions of this room.

Portrait of Fleur & her signature FLAIR Specs by Rene Gruau

painter, writer, and founder of the short-lived but legendary magazine FLAIR

as we imagine her-with FLAIR. Fleur Cowles and Cecil Beaton (photograph from An Aesthete's Lament)

Fleur in her office amongst, books, family photographs, her paintings, rifts on her name, decoupage plates. Throughout the apartment FLAIR is ever present. What do you have a FLAIR for and What keeps you young?

"The world is a magazine to me, Everything has potential." FC

little footnotes

...& from Pigtown Design

all photographs, unless noted are by Robert Trachtenberg