SAVOIR FAIRE

Caught in Traffic

2012-01-23T11:00:00.001-05:00

My apolgies fellow bloggers for the lack of posts recently, I just seem to be frightfully busy of late. Caught in traffic like our young man below!

The Father of Modern Day Perfumery

2012-01-09T17:53:00.000-05:00

Mention the name Coty and you have a name synominous with modern day perfumery. Once at the forefront and on everyone’s lips, the company still exists however only serving as a platform for the manufacture and marketing of other brands.

Francois Coty was both a talented perfumer and a brilliant marketer. He was the first to recognize that an attractive bottle was essential to a perfume's success. Originally collaborating with Baccarat for the packaging of his perfumes, Coty's most famous collaboration was with the great ceramist and jeweler René Lalique. Lalique designed the bottles for Coty's early scents, such as Ambre Antique and L'Origan, which became bestsellers. He also designed the labels for Coty perfumes, which were printed on a gold background with raised lettering.

Coty once said; “Give a woman the best product to be made, market it in the perfect flask, beautiful in its simplicity yet impeccable in its taste, ask a reasonable price for it, and you will witness the birth of a business the size of which the world has never seen.” And how true this is!

However at first Coty had a hard time getting his fragrances on the market. So like the true visionary that he was he set off to the department stores of Paris seeking shelf space where his perfumes would get better exposure and sales.

The story is told of how the buyer at a major Parisian department store, Grands Magasins du Louvre, refused to take Coty's new perfume. On leaving the store, Coty let drop a bottle of his fragrance, La Rose Jacqueminot. Striking the hard floor, the Lalique crystal exploded like a bomb, filling the crowded store with the scent of ... La Rose Jacqueminot.

As the scent of La Rose Jacqueminot filled the air and the store a number of frenzied women (hired by Coty?) rushed around the store asking where they could buy this marvelous fragrance. The buyer for the Grands Magasins du Louvre called Coty back and a deal was made. Within days, 500 bottles of La Rose Jacqueminot were sold.

Other stores got the message and hurried to obtain Coty's perfume. By 1914 Coty was a wealthy man and his company was the world's number one seller of perfume.

By the early 70s the company had languished until being taken over by Pfizer and subsequently sold to Joh. A. Benckiser GmbH, which owns it today.

The 70’s were about the last time Coty (the company) actually cared about making real perfumes instead of regurgitating lame formulas for even lamer celebrities. The notes for Complice were left by Francois Coty before his death in 1934, hence the direct reference to him on the bottle and box. The bottle design was also made to evoke the days of yore, when Coty perfumes were poured into Lalique bottles.

Do we thank Monsieur Coty, for what he has done in making fine perfume available to the masses?

Family Ties par Mon Peche

2012-01-05T20:34:00.003-05:00

Family Ties were never like this!

http://monpeche.blogspot.com/2012/01/family-ties.html

Age Cannot Wither Her

2012-01-04T17:00:00.000-05:00

As readers of Savoir Faire would have noticed that Marchesa Casati has featured quite frequently on the pages of Savoir Faire. Even though she died in 1957, she has long continued to be a source of inspiration to new generations of artists, designers and people with a hankering for savoir faire and personal style.

After mounting debts (around $326 million in today’s terms) and an auction where her most treasured possessions were sold off she fled to London. At one stage the most wealthy and scandalous woman of her times, she died virtually penniless in London in 1957. Living off the charity of friends and family and in a variety of rented rooms, she lived out her days, not forsaking any of the savoir faire that she was known for in her past. She was even rumored to be seen rummaging in dustbins searching for feathers to decorate her hair.

Her last days were also spent making collages from cut out magazines. Here the tables are turned and this time she is the artist.

She still had presence though. Quentin Crisp left us a thoroughly wonderful description of her in this period

“Quite suddenly and simply by chance, I once met a bizarre lady while taking tea with some friends in London. She arrived wearing black velvet from head to foot, her mouth painted blood red, and carrying a very tall umbrella with a decorated handle. And, you must understand, this ensemble was being worn in the middle of the day. This picturesque ruin of a woman was very tall and thin, and gave the impression of formidable strength. It was then I was introduced to the Marchesa Luisa Casati for the first and last time. She had made her entrance into that room looking wonderful and saying very little. She wasn’t beautiful—she was spectacular. Here was a woman possessing a presence one would never forget. “

Her biographers Ryersson and Yaccarino tell us, "A later acquaintance recalled how Luisa invited him for gracious dinners of tinned food, and of her habit of telephoning him to ask with adventurous enthusiasm: 'I have ten shillings. Shall we have a bottle of cheap wine or go for a taxi ride?'" This was a life where money may have been squandered, but pleasure was not.

She died at her last residence, 32 Beaufort Gardens in on 1 June 1957, aged 76 and interred in Brompton Cemetery. The quote "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety" from Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra was inscribed on her tombstone. She was buried wearing not only her black and leopard skin finery but also a pair of false eyelashes. She shares her coffin with one of her beloved stuffed Pekinese dogs, which she was in the habit of getting stuffed when they died with the bills sent to her daughter for payment.

Joy to the World

2011-12-21T20:00:00.000-05:00

The Mirror Crack'd

2011-12-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

I am not too sure how many of you are familiar with Tennyson’s poem “The Lady of Shalottt”. For those of you that are not it is a Victorian poem by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

It is one of my favourite poems and has been the inspiration of many artists, writers and musicians.

It was loosely based on the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat, as recounted in a thirteenth-century Italian novella titled Donna di Scalotta. Tennyson focused on the Lady's "isolation in the tower and her decision to participate in the living world, two subjects not even mentioned in Donna di Scalotta."

The Lady of Shalott lived in an island castle in a river which flowed to Camelot. She had been cursed and was doomed to constantly weave a magic web without looking directly out at the world. Instead she looks into a mirror which reflects the busy road and people of Camelot which pass by her island. Her world is changed forever when she sees the reflection of Sir Lancelot in her mirror. She stops weaving and looks out her window, toward Camelot, bringing about the curse. Which brings us to my favorite stanza in the poem.

Out flew the web and floated wide-
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
“The curse is upon me,” cried
The Lady of Shalottt.

She then leaves her island tower, finds a boat on which she writes her name, and floats down the river to Camelot. She dies before arriving. Upon the people who see her, is Lancelot who thinks she is beautiful.

There can be many interpretations to the poem from the dilemma that faces artists, writers, and musicians: to create work about and celebrate the world, or to enjoy the world by simply living in it. I myself love it as a highly romantic and tragic story.

With many interpretations from a written sense it has also been the inspiration for many an artist. One artist JW Waterhouse painted 3 different pictures depicting different episodes in the poem all very different from each other. They are above in the chronological order in which they were painted.

The first done in 1888 is one of my favorite paintings. The third and last painting is in the Art Gallery of Ontario, hanging next to my favorite picture of the Marchesa Casati. A treat for them to be both together.

The verse containing the words "the mirror crack'd from side to side" gave the title to one of Agatha Christie's detective stories and parts of the poem are referred to several times throughout it. The cover by Tom Adams slightly modifies one of the Waterhouse pictures, to create an intriguing bewitching cover.

I always like to re-imagine things I have seen or written so how would it be if our main character were a man? Food for thought!

Over at Mon Peche

2011-12-18T20:50:00.000-05:00

It is a Pas de Deux by Newton

The New Kid in Town

2011-12-13T20:00:00.002-05:00

It is very rare that when I post that I will quote whole text as the bulk of a post. However I came across this little gem the other day from Time Magazine in 1961 giving a recap of the Haute Couture showings in Paris in 1961.

I am not sure who the author was, however a world of glamour and elegance is described at the eve of the beginning of the swinging sixties. Compared to the huge publicity grinding machines and spectacles that couture showings today demand, this seems like a dowager’s tea party. However I think that I would rather have tea with a dowager than attending a brash cocktail party which today’s showings tend to be.

“In the salons of haute couture in Paris last week, buyers and fashion editors from all over the world got their first look at the color and shape of the spring lines—and found themselves looking backward. The new look was the old look of the F. Scott Fitzgerald flapper in the 1920s. Skirts and coats were straight, short, with hemlines flaring. Shoes were square-toed. Bosoms were flat, backs bent and billowing, with designs that required the mannequins not only to slouch but virtually assume the posture of an expectant, concave catcher's mitt. Though Paris fashions have been irresolutely marching backward for several seasons, the big, bold step this year was apparently inspired by a hit movie running in Paris called The Crazy Years, a documentary of the '20s.

The Crazy Years designs produced as wild and improbable a week as the fashion world has known for many a year. At the house of Cardin, which drew the week's first applause for a superlative line, a mannequin was showing a new flat-chested dress to a U.S. buyer. She was suddenly interrupted with a scream from the vendeuse: "But darling, you're wearing it back to front!"

Cardin

When Madeleine de Rauch's collection failed to follow the flapper trend, the audience began to leave, and waiters dashed in with champagne to stem the bored retreat.

de Rauche

The triumph of the week and cause of the most excitement was the work of Christian Dior's little-known, untested Marc Bohan, 34. The Parisian-born son of a modiste, Bohan broke into haute couture in 1945 as an assistant designer at Patou, left Patou in 1958 to work under Dior's Boy Wonder Chief Designer Yves St. Laurent. When St. Laurent, after an unhappy stint in
the French army, "retired" from Dior two months ago because of "ill health," Bohan, one of the few married male couturiers in Paris, took over. Few in Paris expected much from his debut, and St. Laurent fans were openly hostile. Admitted the New York Herald Tribune's Eugenia Sheppard: "I had a poisoned typewriter ribbon ready."

Dior

But Bohan's hip-hugging skirts, exotic colors ("Laburnum yellow," "Provence apricot,"), and infinite attention to detail and neatness, generally embracing the flapper trend, stunned the salon and sent reporters into paroxysms of joy. "But Marc Bohan is wonderful," cried a converted Eugenia Sheppard. "Five minutes after the show started, I felt like a cat before a saucer of cream."

Dior

At the show's end, the audience was near delirium and jaded U.S. fashion editors at the outer tether of objectivity. "The shouting, clapping, surging mob at the press showing caused chaos in the elegant salon," reported the New York Times excitedly on Page One. "M. Bohan was pushed up against the boiserie, kissed, mauled and congratulated. Chairs were toppled. Champagne
glasses were broken. People were knocked down." Breathlessly cabled another U.S. reporter to her office: "Just dashed out of Dior to share with you still-boiling excitement." Wrote the New York Daily News's Monique: "Thundering applause led by a newly blonde Duchess of Windsor rolled through the elegant grey-and-white salons of the House of Dior today, the happy
ending to the suspense story of the fashion year."

*Don't forget to visit Mon Peche

Mon Peche by Savoir Faire

2011-12-10T20:10:00.003-05:00

As an addition to Savoir Faire, I have decided to launch another blog! I have found lately that I have not been able to devote the amount of time daily to Savoir Faire as I wish. Savoir Faire will still continue as will my new blog Mon Peche, which is an going to be visual only with no text and a twist! I a m not sure how running two blogs is going to give me more time. Mon Peche is going to be a visual record of what Savoir Faire is actually thinking.

Let me know what you think!

A BIrd in the Hand

2011-12-09T19:00:00.000-05:00

They say a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (especially if you are hunting), however these fabulous creations are more than that! An instant bit of Savoir Faire for a night out on the town in the Holiday Season.

Ferragamo

Maison Martin Margiela

Valentino

Mary Norton

Charlotte Olympia

Just be careful you don't run into this man and his dog.

The Original Tom Ford?

2011-12-05T18:15:00.001-05:00

As much as I love Tom Ford and his savoir faire, sometimes he (or his publicity team) does lack a certain amount of originality.

I had touched on this once before in a previous post. (see here)

So is there any doubt as to where Mr. Ford (or his team) got the inspiration for the photo below?

I am sure that inspiration came from the below photo of Marc Bohan and model taken in the
1960’s. Or is it just a coincidence?

The Renaissance World of Pucci

2011-11-30T20:00:00.000-05:00

When one thinks of Pucci the Renaissance palaces of Florence are one the last things that come to mind and vice versa. However the Renaissance and Pucci are so intertwined you could not have one without the other.

Reaching fame through his highly psychedelic designs of the 1960’s and 1970’s Emilio Pucci was born in 1914 of one of Florence’s oldest noble families, and would live and work in the Pucci Palace in Florence for much of his life.

The 14th -15th Century Palazzo Pucci has been in the Pucci family since it was built and is a standing testament that old and new can coexist together.

Marchesa Cristina Pucci di Barsento, widow of Emilio Pucci, still remembers how astonished she was when she first entered the house, back in 1959: ‘I was very young and quite astonished: It was a heavy house, even severe, like Florence’. Still, what looked like a timeless palazzo outside was a living house inside.

Pucci can be given credit for revolutionizing couture in the 1960s with his vibrant designs and colour and an aesthetic that was totally out of place within the environs in which his clothes were created. However the history of the Pucci family and their business interests gave rise to an evolutionary trend that had its epoch with Emilio Pucci.

In the brown room, for example, the silk draperies and wall covering were made at Antico Setificio Fiorentino, a silk workshop founded by the Puccis and other families in the 17th century; Emilio Pucci took it over in the 1950s for the manufacture of his fabrics which would become the backbone of his designs.

The late-18th-century fresco in the dining room, by Luigi Ademollo, depicts Aenes leaving Troy. Marchesa Pucci and her husband added the Venetian chairs. The crystal glassware was made for the family in the 18th century.

The 17th-century bed in Emilio Pucci’s bedroom was made in Lucca and it was among Pucci’s favourite pieces. The gilt woodwork on the headboard echoes the embroidery on the canopy.

The Wedgwood room was created by an English artist in the late 18th century. The palette and Neo-classical plasterwork were inspired by the signature ceramics. An 18th-century marble sculpture of the goddess Diana is at center.

“My husband loved and respected this house, and we changed little. He was very kind to me and didn’t want to teach me. He understood that some things should be kept the way they are, but he didn’t say, ‘Do this; don’t do that.’ And it was not necessary, because I didn’t want to interfere with the palazzo.”

The house the current marchesa “came into” is still ancestral, layered in generations of incremental change. However after nearly 50 years, Marchesa Pucci has gently made it her own—and shifted the terms for the next fortunate generation.

Splashed

2011-11-29T20:00:00.000-05:00

It was raining all day here in Toronto. A steady rain that kind of penetrated everything. This can be great if you are inside. Only problem, was I had to walk the 1.5 kms to work at 7:30 this morning in the rain. Now that in itself is not too bad, however as puddles form quickly there is always the possibility that you will be splashed or in my case drenched by a passing car.

So instead of looking like this in the rain

It was a bit like this!

How was your day?

The Beaton Effect

2011-11-28T21:06:00.000-05:00

Just proves that the great Cecil Beaton is still a force to be reckoned with.

Has Your Luggage Been Lost?

2011-11-27T10:02:00.000-05:00

With many of you travelling this weekend, it is always a sinking feeling when you have arrived at your destination, waited patiently at the baggage carrousel only to find that your luggage has not made it to the same destination as you have. I know as it has happened to me several times!

So when you have to check your luggage, make sure it satnds out on the baggage carrousel.

Put Your Best Face Forward

2011-11-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

Lately with all the hype over designers collaborating with clothing retailers for capsule collections for the so called masses (think Versace for H&M), one also thinks of other collaborations that have taken place especially where cosmetics are concerned.

We have those designers who have refused to collaborate at all for the fear that it might cheapen their image. On the other hand others have partnered up with every fashion-related endeavor under the sun. Some fashion stalwarts have taken an out of the box approach to their collaborations, bringing some designer cachet to our faces instead. It seems a natural step for some designers who want to achieve a total look.

With his original 2005 Estée Lauder collaboration, Tom Ford kicked off a small wave of designer-beauty brand partnerships. Tom Ford for Estée Lauder was short-lived, however, and intentionally so — the beauty giant turned the collection into a permanent, standalone Tom Ford beauty line in 2006.

Gareth Pugh, the fashion-forward Lady Gaga designer favorite, admits that even he uses MAC Cosmetics, so a partnership with the beauty brand seems natural. Pugh’s dark and stormy aesthetic has been translated into an array of dark pigments and angular packaging. The limited-edition line will be available from November 23 to December 23.

Okay, so Lagerfeld actually collaborates extensively, but his latest endeavor is too good to leave off this list. The designer’s new line for Sephora includes an eye palette and nail polish, and totally inexplicably, a Karl lookalike doll. Unfortunately for those of you in the Americas the range is only available at physical outposts of Sephora in Europe and Singapore.

The up-and-coming designer and CFDA award-winner Chris Benz has yet to dip a toe into the world of fast fashion. However, he’s already partnered twice with the venerable Parisian beauty brand Lancôme, first on a single lipstick and then on a complete beauty product-filled summer tote.

From a Paris couture house long-celebrated for its romantic use of pattern and colour, to the modern evolution of Ungaro today, this was an interesting debut. Live from backstage at the Fall 2008 collections, Ungaro designer Esteban Cortazar, and MAC came together to create a special colour collection as dreamy, refined, and, well, Parisienne as anything this side of the Avenue Georges Cinq.

Back in 2007 McQueen created a Cleopatra-inspired look featuring bold, beautiful blue and green shades for MAC. “Alexander McQueen was very specific about the makeup direction and I translated his ideas of Egyptian, graphic, bold colored makeup into a look that was strong yet hypnotic;” said Charlotte Tilbury, the key makeup artist for McQueen.

So if you missed out on lining up for the likes of Missoni, Versace and others for fast fashion at the crack of dawn, a little bit of designer glam for your face will go a long way and a much easier alternative.

Winter Woollies

2011-11-21T20:00:00.001-05:00

I have always been a fan of knitwear. Having grown up with the Martha Stewart of Australia as a mother, I couldn’t help but love it. Jumpers, scarves, gloves you name it I love it. With the colder weather now here, it is the time to bring out the knitwear.

When I was younger I could show my talented mother any of these and say "please" and a couple of days or weeks later I would have an exact replica. I am forever indebted to her for keeping me supplied in fabulous knitwear.

Now I must say men's knitwear has come a long way in the last 30 years pr so. I love big bulky avant-garde styles, which unfortunately do not suit my rather small frame (and age). However if I was 20 something with model good looks I would definitely be saying please to my mother and donning some of these pieces!

Stay warm!

Braces or Suspenders????

2011-11-19T19:00:00.000-05:00

If there is one look for men that I haven’t really got behind, is that of wearing braces or suspenders.

For a start what do you really call these things? Call them braces and I immediately think of teeth. Call them suspenders and I think of women’s stockings. One reason why they might be called suspenders is that sometimes they do look like they are suspended in space. So for an article of adornment that has no definitive name the problems are already mounting up.

Trying to find images of an actual man looking good in them was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. So we are already fighting a losing battle.

Primarily used to hold one’s trousers, pants, slacks or jeans up (which some of our youth today could use) I kind of have the feeling that they look a bit ridiculous. This is why trousers etc. have belt loops. We don’t really need the added pressure of trying to make suspenders or braces look good.

You cross a fine line if wearing suspenders or braces that you don’t look like someone’s grandfather, a Clockwork Orange wannabe or worse a hillbilly.

The social connotations of young men wearing them with close cropped hair is not a good one. Adopted by right wing politically motivated youth a political statement is being made. Do we really want to portray this sort of look?

Middle aged men wearing them and thinking that they a fashionably forward or quirky, seems a bit wrong as well. Picture Larry King here, it is a bit creepy.

Over time designers have valiantly tried to make them look good. We have had chains from dsquared and various other adaptions that basically do not work.

Oh, I do admit that they occasionally look ok, however for classic savoir faire do not go there!

Chez Lanvin par Rateau

2011-11-17T20:00:00.000-05:00

Many of us I am sure (being the voyeurs that we are) have always wanted to know, how some of

the most famous designers and personalities of history lived at home? We have seen their ‘public’ side however one always wants to know what were they like at home? For some there was very little distinction between home and ‘work’ so to speak. Such was the case with Jeanne Lanvin.

A lot of us who have been fortunate enough to have travelled to Paris no doubt have visited the
Musée des Arts Décoratifs. When Lanvin’s original residence was taken down in 1965, the complete decoration and furniture of the boudoir, bedroom and bathroom was saved and given to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs where the spaces have been recreated.

The interiors decorated by Armand-Albert Rateau in the 1920s are a lavishly Art Deco styled heaven and oasis of femininity.

Rateau also designed Lanvin’s fashion house and managed the Lanvin-Décoration department of interior design (established 1920) in the main store on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

He also designed the Lanvin spherical La Boule perfume flaçon for Arpège about 1925–34.

Lanvin was one of the first along with Poiret in capitalizing on the whole "lifestyle look”.
Living by example Lanvin used Rateau to decorate her private residence.

The interior design of her private quarters although classed as Art Deco, is quite removed from what we know today as quintessential Art deco. With hues of cornflower blue, known at the time as ‘Lanvin Blue’ and some remarkable bronze furniture, the interior was were more refined and individual than the current trends.

Lanvin blue was the basis for her bedroom in a monochromatic color scheme, and it achieves a striking yet reserved effect. The white-silk-embroidered fabric used on the walls, draperies
and bedding was made by the same seamstresses that embellished her robes de style, and add a sense of cohesion to the room.

The living room was decorated in a similar vein, which gave the whole apartment of cohesion.

The bathroom in stark contrast is something that could have been a relic from ancient Rome. The chic mixture of black and white tiles on the floor in a mosaic pattern is quintessential art deco. Again the fixtures were designed by Rateau, with accessories also including the spherical Arpege bottle.

Rateau's specialty was the creation of luxurious objects using a deliberately restricted but striking mix of materials which was influenced by disparate sources such as, the Wierner Werkstaette in Austria and the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy.

These preserved interiors not only give us a glimpse into the private world of one of the great couturiers of the twentieth century. Although some may argue that these interiors may not be
as refined and elegant than say the private apartments of Chanel, I tend to disagree. Whereas Chanel was trying hard to forge an identity for herself, Lanvin had already found hers.

Regretting Coupland

2011-11-16T20:00:00.000-05:00

You know I am kicking myself now that I did not pick up anything from the Douglas Coupland collection for Canadian Clothing Retailer Roots last year.

Coupland is a Canadian novelist whose fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. I like the concept that originally a visual artist Coupland would do the cover art for his novels. I would think that nobody would
be best to illustrate a novel than the author themselves.

A concept collection for Roots last year featured iconic Canadian images re-worked using Coupland’s trademark style of bright colours and simplification. A common theme in his work is a curiosity with the corrupting and seductive dimensions of pop culture and 20th century pop art, especially that of Andy Warhol. Another recurring theme is military imagery, the result of growing up in a military family at the height of the Cold War.

Liking the style maybe I can whip up something myself?

Savoir Faire has Returned!

2011-11-14T19:56:00.009-05:00

Well Savoir Faire's one is back from my whirlwind trip home to Australia. It was all too quick, however a few of the highlights follow.

A walk in the country to catch the wonderful flora that abounds in Australia.

A family wedding that was exactly the way the happy couple wanted it.

Of course you could not have gone wrong with a reception held at a winery!

A pause to remember our war heroes on November 11th.

Guerilla knitting Sydney Style.

Unfortunately a day early for the exhibition of the decade!

And lastly a favourite statue on a perfect Sydney day!

Heading Off!

2011-10-26T20:00:00.000-04:00

Many of Savoir Faire’s followers are aware that I grew up in Australia in a very small country town in the middle of nowhere. A small village of 1500 people nestled in rolling countryside with a strong historical past.

The town is a virtual time capsule which attracts tourists (luckily not too many), wine lovers (great vineyards in the area), historians, artists and just the curious. The main basis of the town as we know it today was the fact that gold was discovered in 1870, and at one time the town boasted a population of over 20,000. The gold petered out, the people left and the town settled down to become a farming community based on sheep and wheat.

Another claim to fame of the town was that it was the home for a time of one of Australia’s noted authors, Henry Lawson. Images of the town during the gold rush and Lawson were featured for many years on the Australian $10 bill. This has led to the dubious distinction of being known as the Ten Dollar Town.

Not much in the town has changed thanks to a very strict conversation policy which has preserved many of the town’s older buildings including the 5 pubs that cater to the small population. Walking down the main street is like going back in time.

Wonderful colonial Australian architecture still abounds and it is still a pleasure to go and admire the details and spend some time under these cool verandahs in summer, when the temperature can be over 100.
The town even boasts an Opera House called the Prince of Wales Opera House.

Mind you growing up in the middle of nowhere is not easy for teenagers, and one could not wait to escape the confines of the town and head for the big smoke and bright lights of Sydney.

Now the tide has turned and one always looks forward to visiting one’s home town, which Savoir Faire will be doing on Saturday. After a marathon flight from Toronto, via Shanghai to Sydney, Savoir Faire then boards a train, and then changes to a bus, to then be met by one’s mother at the old railway station and then home!

The purpose of the trip mainly being to attend the wedding of one of my nieces. This particular niece’s fiancé, proposed to her on top of the Rockefeller Centre in New York last year one evening while they were on vacation. How romantic and full of style is that?

So Savoir Faires for the next two weeks I will be incommunicado enjoying the relaxation of home!

Soaring Savoir Faire at Dulles

2011-10-24T20:00:00.000-04:00

Knowing how much I love aviation and architecture it has been a while since I have featured a post combining both of these loves.

We are all familiar with the name of Eero Saarinen, the Finnish architect who designed some of the 20th Century’s most iconic emblems of mid-century modernity. Who cannot know the “Tulip Chair”, “Womb Chair” and various other items of furniture which are still in production with Knoll?

However it is as an architect that he was well and truly in his element, with some of America’s most iconic structures being designed by him. Undoubtedly, his most famous work is the TWA Flight Center at JFK, which represents the culmination of his previous designs and demonstrates his expressionism and the technical marvel in concrete shells.

However, another part of his architectural legacy includes Washington Dulles International Airport which is sometimes overlooked in favour of the TWA Flight Centre in New York. Designed in 1958 and opened in 1962, the main terminal is a fitting homage to an architect with foresight and vision.

Eero Saarinen intended his Dulles International Airport Terminal to evoke both the monumentality of a federal building in the nation's capital and the dynamism of the dawning age of jet travel. (Dulles was the first commercial airport designed for jet aircraft from the start.). There is a dynamic sense of liftoff and speed.

Architects continually cite it as one of America's greatest works of modern architecture. Designed as a jet-age threshold and gateway, the terminal is a kind of super-scaled pavilion, a place of transition between movement on land and movement through the air.

Two characteristics, in particular, make Dulles unique. It has proved functionally durable because of the terminal's flexibility and adaptability to changing needs. Owing to the clarity of its dynamic, of its original design, its aesthetic quality also has endured, to become a classic example of mid-century modern.

In order to reduce the distances that passengers had to walk, and to create a compact building, Saarinen developed "mobile lounges," motorized departure lounges on wheels that would detach from the terminal and transport travelers to their aircraft, located at service areas near the runways.

Anticipating growth in airport usage, Saarinen designed the terminal to be expanded. Indeed, stretching the original terminal to its current length some years ago actually enhanced the building's overall proportions, fulfilling Saarinen's intentions.

The airport authority has wisely safeguarded this relationship by not crowding the terminal with. At many airports, terminals have become part of sprawling building agglomerations, with multi storied car parks and hotels, jostling for space. Dulles can be seen and appreciated architecturally from afar.

Dialing M for Murder?

2011-10-20T20:00:00.000-04:00

One of the top ten movies being ranked as number 9 in the mystery genre, Dial M for Murder is one of Hitchcock’s classics. Starring Grace Kelly, Ray Millard and Robert Cummings it is a movie full of Savoir Faire.

So have these young lovelies outfitted in Lanvin and Madeleine de Rauche couture dialed M for Murder or S for Savoir Faire?

You be the judge!

Orangina and Opium??

2011-10-17T16:00:00.001-04:00

Ever wonder what lies behind those fabulous bottles full of enticing scents that adorn our dressing tables and bathroom shelves? And what about the enticing packaging of these scents that entice us in boutiques and department stores?

There are two major perfume bottle designers who have dominated the industry for the last 50 years or so. Serge Manseau and Pierre Dinand.

Pierre Dinand is virtually a living legend in the world of perfume bottle design and packaging. Creating some of the most iconic and recognised perfume bottles of our time, the man has created over 500 concepts and designs for perfumes that have been in production at some stage or another. To put it plainly he has created over half the bottles produced in the last 40 years. Almost single-handedly he has optically enriched our appreciation of fluted crystal, innovative shapes and the art of bottle design.
Quantity is fine, and one would think that with such an output that one would lose any sort of innovation, and treat each commission with less enthusiasm from the last. Not so with Dinand. Each creation is different from the last. If anything the underlying feature of his work is the architectural quality that unites them all. Working closely with the perfumer he spends time with the noses, and tries to exchange views on the project. It is always better that the bottle and juice are worked together.

His first bottle for Rochas’ Madame Rochas released in 1960 is a classic and in Dinand’s words the story of its creation goes something like this. I was working in 1958 and 59 as Art Director in an advertising agency, which had clients involved in luxury goods, including champagne, cognacs and fashion. One of the companies, Marcel Rochas, liked my new graphic approach, and knowing of my architectural study background, asked me if I had any ideas for the shape of a new perfume that would carry the name of a beautiful woman, Helene Rochas. That was new to me but very challenging; I decided to spend time with Helene Rochas, falling in love with her. I got inspired by a collection of antique perfume bottles she had at home. The problem was to produce industrially something that was originally handmade. It worked and was an enormous success.

I was immediately requested by many other fashion designers, Pierre Balmain, Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent. I always thought this would be the last and I would have to design some other things, but it kept going, increasing demands from all over the world…

Another classic project which has stood the test of time is the bottle and packaging for Dior’s Eau Sauvage. ‘The box design, taken from the inside of a Rolls Royce, was more difficult than the bottle, printed with 7 colors to achieve this precious wood look.’

Dinand is the first to bemoan the fact that now creativity is now dead and that marketing and sales have taken its place. ‘Creativity is less important nowadays, now that marketing studies end up with the exact same recommendations, whatever the company. The result is leveling the design to the base, cutting everything too low like cutting grass in your garden, and then the little flower blooming in the middle has no chance to survive thanks to the powerful P&G Marketing Gurus, invading the world of parfumerie. C’est la vie, or I should rather say c’est la mort. It is the death of creativity”

Pierre Dinand has also enjoyed great success as a mainstream, consumer product container designer. One of the most famous packages he crafted is the world famous orb bottle for the popular soft drink Orangina. The ubiquitous Orangina shape is renowned around the world and is further proof that this design giant digs deep to understand the needs of every client he services.

I am sure that you will recognize some of the other iconic bottles he has designed pictured here!

Back in the Land of the Living

2011-10-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

Well Savoir Faire’s, I am back in the land of the living, after being struck down with a version of the flu that I am sure they have not discovered yet!

Hence the lack of posts and comments on all your blogs. Needless to say in true savoir faire fashion I was guzzling any over the counter flu medication the way Petra is guzzling gin out of the obscure Ranier Werner Fassbinder, 1972 film, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.

Movies like this and other offerings from the art film stock in my library were my aesthetic elixir. I'm feeling better already ~ and inspired to get dressed up again and face the week with some savoir faire and updates!

Under the Weather

2011-10-04T14:06:00.001-04:00

Apologies all for no comments on all your wonderful blogs and lack of posts on mine.

The Baroness Had a Ball

2011-10-02T11:05:00.001-04:00

It seems that nowadays there are none of the great private costume parties or balls held by the rich and famous as there used to be. Any party attended these days by the well to do and famous is usually sponsored by a multi- national corporation launching some product or movie. Nobody throws a great party for the sheer heck of it.

Gone are the great hostess’ of the last couple of decades of the twentieth century, and none knew how to throw a party more than Marie-Helene de Rothschild!

With savoir faire, and sheer determination she had the imagination to plan, create and hold grand soirees that would be constantly described as the best parties of the respective decade. With sheer ruthlessness she would attend to every detail ensuring complete success.

Forever in quest of new talent and new figures to entertain from the world of the arts, literature, dance and haute couture, she mixed them with the more established set of Paris society. Everyone was intrigued. Marie-Hélène's parties took on such importance that one social figure threatened to commit suicide unless she was invited...

One such grand fete was her Surrealist Ball held at her chateau Ferriéres, in December 1972.

Guests were asked to come in black tie and long dresses with Surrealist heads.

The invitation was printed with reversed writing on a blue and cloudy sky, inspired by a painting by Magritte. To decipher the card, it had to be held to a mirror.

For the evening the chateau was floodlit with moving orange lights to give the impression that it was on fire. The staircase inside was lined by footmen dressed as cats that appeared to have fallen asleep in a variety of staged poses.

To enter into the party Guests had to pass through a kind of labyrinth of Hell, made of black ribbons to look like cobwebs. The occasional cat appeared to rescue the guests and lead them to the tapestry salon. Here they were greeted by their hostess Marie-Hélène wearing the head of a giant donkey weeping tears made of diamonds.

Tables were decorated in a variety of surrealistic themes inspired by de Chirico, Magritte and Dali which shocked and astounded the guests for their originality.

"It's a very healthy thing to give parties, don't you think?" she once said. "But people don't know how to dress any more - it breaks my heart. People have even lost the taste for perfumes. Nothing is done now for good taste or for the beauty of things, but to appeal to people's lowest instincts."

Under The Sea With Evolution’s Controversial Artist

2011-09-29T20:00:00.001-04:00

Ernst Haeckel was a professor of zoology in Germany from 1865 until 1909, who occasionally stooped to a bit of skullduggery to prove his theories. However the real area in which he stands out for me is his superb illustrations he created to illustrate his theories and work.

The published artwork of Haeckel includes over 100 detailed, multi-colour illustrations of animals and sea creatures that are extraordinary in their attention to detail. In a time before the camera was used to record detail we had Haeckel!

Jellyfish have never looked so good! Even though I am always impressed with the real thing, these just take my breath away!

In Savoir Faire's eyes these are sublime!

Does Your Savoir FAire Stand the Test of Time?

2011-09-27T20:00:00.000-04:00

Well Savoir Faires, I am actually nearing 500 posts on this little blog! I never thought that I would get to this milestone as since when I started blogging I did not know where this would take me. That considered I thought I would show a bit of savoir faire through the ages, with just a touch of humour!

Below are some photos from a well known women’s magazine in Australia (which shall remain nameless). Each week they would have a feature called “What People are wearing’. It usually showed the society set, who had all the savoir faire in the world (for 1973 anyway) at various society functions generally being, glamorous, intelligent and oh so with it. While growing up in the middle of nowhere in Australia I used to read this section religiously .Just goes to show that what is considered the height of style one year is so terribly de trop the next.

Original captions from the magazine are with the photos.

‘Mr and Mrs Tony Richardson at The Sunday Painters Exhibition held by Committee Members of the Peter Pan Kindergartens at their Paddington Headquarters. Mrs. Richardson looks stunning in velvet flares and matching jacket.'

I guess Mrs. Richardson thought that this would never go out of style, and the fact that she was described as stunning kind of clinches the deal for me.

'Peta Oxer was a guest at the annual dinner dance held by members of the Avant Garde Committee at the Menzies Hotel (Sydney) in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind. The Gold fish pendant Peta wore with her beautifully styled shantung dress added an unusual touch.'

The thing that I am wondering is that there was an “Avant Garde Committee” and that they had regular soirées like the one Ms. Oxer was attending and why wasn’t I invited?

'Mrs Kym Bonython wore a New Guinea tribesman's mask and an animal printed silk dress to the Night of Fantasy arranged by the Pied Piper Committee and held at the Elizabeth Bay home of the Cedric Symonds'

I am still wondering which museum she stole that mask from?

‘Mrs Helen Mullinger wore a domed yellow beret’. I think that this is all they could say on this particular entry as words just escape me.

Mrs Mullinger obviously had not considered what this would look like in September, 2011 where she has unwittingly found herself on a blog of do's and dont's about savoir faire.

Mr and Mrs George Hutchison were among the audience at the new Total Theatre when it opened with a production of Guys and Dolls. Mrs Hutchinson wore a silver fox stole with her red wool crepe dress. Her husband was in a black Kangaroo Coat.

PETA is still trying to track this couple down.

Mrs Dean Davies wore a yellow lace trimmed calico evening dress, matching scarf and beaded jewellery.

While everyone is looking fabulous, Mrs Davies is wondering where her next valium is coming from.

Mrs Shirley Barnett took second prize with the head-hugging helmet of silver, green and turquoise leaves she wore with her silk jersey gown'.

This is just before that head hugging helmet found its way into the trash. I wonder who got first prize?

So style mavericks, think carefully before posing on that staircase, cigarette and drink in hand, wearing chartreuse, think to yourself, “Is this going to stand the test of time?” Just as I ma asking myself will this blog stand the test of time?

America's Couturier

2011-09-26T20:00:00.000-04:00

American fashion can sometimes be a bit of a conundrum. Always caught between the casual and chic and elegant, nothing really defines it like the glamour that is Paris or the style that is London.

There have really been few great American designers who have reached the lofty heights of sheer drop dead glamour. Mainbocher, James and Halston are up there, and so is Norman Norell. Now the name on people’s lips since First Lady Michelle Obama wore vintage Norell to a Washington Christmas Party in 2010, Norell is hot! Her choice is proving that great American fashion can be timeless.

Somewhat forgotten since his death in 1972, this in itself is telling in the negligence that coincides with the decline of the fashion industry in America. Known for his pret a porter which bordered on couture, Norell bought quality, taste and sophistication to a public that were yearning for this sort of cachet.

Receiving his initial training in New York at Parsons, he continued a strong relationship with the school right up until his death serving on the school’s advisory board and the Board of Trustees.

Norell was a central figure in the development of the American fashion industry from the 1940s through the early 1970s. His simple but stylish clothing was lauded for its glamour, timelessness, and high-quality construction. Considered the first American fashion designer to compete successfully with French couturiers a niche was carved out for the client who wanted to be dressed in the height of fashion.

Gaining prominence during WWII because of the lack of communication that was available between France and America at the time, magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar began to feature more American designers and Norell was one of them.

Norell's aesthetic is known for its precision tailoring, simplicity, and elegant femininity. . Innovative techniques and designs associated with him include the “Mermaid Dress”, a formfitting sequined evening sheath; evening and feminine variations on the pea coat; blouses and dresses with floppy bows tied under the chin, jeweled or contrasting buttons that added punch to an otherwise impeccably restrained ensemble; warm and rich looking fur and coat weight wool pants.

His “Subway Coat” which from the outside looked like a well cut conservative wool overcoat but when opened revealed a glorious sequined lining, perfect for riding on the subway en-route to a cocktail party or nightclub.

The designer’s talent was recognized in 1943 when he received the first Coty American Fashion Critics Award ever presented. He was to be awarded four more such awards, and in 1956, he was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame.

America, needs more designers like this.

Chez Dior

2011-09-25T13:33:00.000-04:00

Recently as Savoir Faire followers will recall I featured the country retreat of the famed couturier Christian Dior. The mill which Dior had renovated was an exerecise in country living at its most refined and simplicity.

In stark contrast to this idyllic country retreat, Dior’s Paris apartment was an essay in high Napoleonic style and Parisian chic.

As Dior’s success gained momentum in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Dior had two friends decorate his Paris apartment in a style that was befitting his new status amongst Paris’ elite.

Georges Geffroy did the “public” rooms where Dior would hold receptions and dinners, while his other friend Victor H. Grandpierre did his private rooms.
One aspect of these rooms that strikes us is that they are virtually timeless in their appeal and execution. Today the colour pallet might be on a more muted tone, however I could see many designers using these rooms as a basis for designs today.

Watermelon Cocktails at Schiaparelli

2011-09-22T20:00:00.000-04:00

If you thought watermelon was only a fruit and are bemoaning the fact that summer is nearly over and that you will not be able to enjoy this luscious fruit until next year, well think again! Have some longing glances at these wonderful “watermelon” stones from Schiaparelli.

“Watermelon” rhinestones are multi-hued rhinestone called 'watermelon' because the stones resemble the natural watermelon tourmaline. Green around the edges and bright pink at the center.

Schiaparelli along with her arch nemesis Chanel promoted the use of cocktail jewellery also known as costume jewellery. Production of fine estate style jewellery was halted in the Second World War and America became the leader in designing attractive costume jewellery pieces using advanced technical methods of production making a market that was dynamic, inventive and affordable.

Whereas Chanel’s style harked back to baroque splendour imitating real jewellery (perhaps due to insecurity re her humble beginnings), Schiaparelli’s style reflected her aristocratic background and her never ending quest for the avant-garde and new.

Watermelon stones were among the most recognised and favoured of Schiaparelli’s jewellery. Set in anything from antique silver plate scrolls to rococo gold, these pieces are bold and showy, complimenting her signature shocking pink perfectly. Reflecting light like the colour of rainbows or opals the settings showcased these fakes wonderfully!

Watermelon has never looked so good!

150 Grams of Happiness!

2011-09-21T20:00:00.000-04:00

No I am not talking something illegal here but of Leonard!

“Cut out a square of silk, a big square, a metre thirty by a metre thirty. On the silk, place an orchid, pose it. Draw it, paint it, recreate the precise graduation of colours, the blush on the bloom. There are over thirty shades in your work, requiring over thirty passes through the printing press. You can pose a wave in the same way, or a fish, whatever your dreams of the Far-East inspire. The only condition is that it should be beautiful, that the composition holds. Nothing weak, nothing insipid; you are Leonard.

Unfurl the square; float the silk, fluttering and weightless, sending ripples through the image, the colours. Some bright, some darker, like life. Within the square, or two if necessary, outline a dress, a blouse, trousers, a tie... Or choose not to; outline nothing, let the square exist simply as a scarf. Adorn this printed silk with the body of a woman: that's Leonard.”

The story of Leonard stretches back half a century and follows closely the trajectory of Pucci. Conceived in the same era and worn by the same members of the jet-set, Leonard quietly steers a course through fashion and style without the hype that has surrounded Pucci in the last couple of years.

Although similar in style and look Pucci is full of the abstract while Leonard concentrated on floral and romantic with a touch of orientalism thrown in. If one were to look at a Leonard dress without looking at the label, without hesitation one would assume they were Pucci.

However one has to fine tune one’s eye to notice the differences. Their exuberant prints with Asian inspired floral motifs are a lot more refined than Pucci. . A signature style of weightless silk and colorful prints has become the foundation of the house, with their first caption being, “150 grams of happiness”

Their silks being so divine they were the first non-Japanese house to create a collection of Kimonos for the Japanese market in over 2000 years.

Under the artistic direction of Veronique Leroy, Belgian fashion designer the Asian influence is still strong for this season, however there is a new sensuality with prints that are more abstract and graphic than romantic. This collection seems poised to propel Leonard into a next generation of wearers. Designs have an entirely new character and attitude that is oozing modernity, with references to past collections. The traditional printed orchids and peonies have now been mixed with printed python's skin in geometrical forms, to bring a charismatic side to femininity, not seen for a long time.

“And Leonard is also a family. My two daughters, Nathalie and Virginie, work by my side, along with a dedicated team, all of us together enshrining the creative past and future of our House, artists, painters, stylists, seamstresses... We may be long-established, but we have young talent, and nothing gives me greater pleasure than discovering new treasures created by our novices.

Except perhaps one thing, which gives me even greater pleasure: in the course of an evening, on the street, on the beach, to see Leonard silk worn elegantly by an attractive woman, to see the Leonard orchid, fuchsia, lavender, lemon, golds, mauves and greens alive in a subtle harmony of movement. Subtle and light, as life should be. As it is, with Leonard.”
Daniel Tribouillard, President and Founder.

Medusa a la Shrimpton

2011-09-20T20:00:00.001-04:00

The great jean Shrimpton as Medusa! Just because!

Hooked on Hicks in Paris

2011-09-19T20:00:00.000-04:00

It is no secret that I am a huge fan of David Hicks. As most of you know there has seen a resurgence in the Hicks style, and his electric colours and bold interiors are making a comeback. The revival in part can be attributed to Christophe Aboville the brand’s artistic director.

The David Hicks France boutique opened in 1973 on Rue de Tourmon, just across the street from the first Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche boutique. Recently (well in 2010) the boutique underwent a renovation. Gone was the fashionable neutral palette of the safe 90’s, to be replaced with the David Hicks' signature hot pink, bright orange and brilliant red colorations. The boutique’s interior, coming straight from the psychedelic combines colors, geometric shapes, antique furniture and contemporary style. Chic while different from the conformist standards the Hicks style reigns supreme.

Thanks to Aboville, the David Hicks line of carpeting, wallpaper, furniture and objects are lovingly edited and recreated, from the original and are now available at the boutique.

A recent commission in Paris is the below apartment. It's unusual to see this amount of color in a Boulevard Haussmann apartment, which is most often a study in muted tones, however it works brilliantly.

”My greatest contribution as an interior designer has been to show people how to use bold color mixtures, how to use patterned carpets, how to light rooms and how to mix old with new,” –David Hicks on Living — with Taste (1968)

Byzantine Chic at the Airport

2011-09-18T20:00:00.001-04:00

Turkish airlines recently unveiled their new First Class/Business class lounge at Istanbul’s International Airport. Sometimes one shudders at the banality of airports and airport lounges around the world. Very few airlines get it right and passengers are met with bland lounges that cannot escape the fact that one is in an airport waiting for the departure of a flight.

Given Turkey’s rich artistic heritage the airline has hit the nail on the head, in a lounge that just oozes an ambience of Byzantine Chic, with a 21st century jet set edge. The airline has used curved arches which reflect Turkey’s Ottoman roots and heritage to give a modern and fresh take on travel and to alleviate the boredom one associates with waiting in an airport.

What is truly remarkable is the atmosphere created by the juxtaposition of startlingly modern architectural elements with the appearance of classical dome representing thousands of years of culture in the Ottoman Empire. The illusion of depth created by the use of mirrors makes the new lounge incredibly light and spacious. As a result of this superb architectural solution the lounge offers at once a quiet oasis for those who want to rest, a fashionable restaurant for those who want to enjoy the pleasure of eating and drinking, and a tranquil cafe with soft piano music for those who want to read a good book.

The lounge which features a 150-year old olive tree is able to accommodate 2,000 passengers per day. The lounge is divided into several sections, among which are a billiard hall and library, a TV wall, business centre, and a play room for children. The lounge also includes private relaxation rooms, showers with special toiletry kits, and a private infant room.

Now I cannot afford to travel at the pointy end of the plane so I cannot see myself ever gracing the threshold of this wonderful lounge. The only thing that mars this for me is picturing the actual business class traveler occupying this space. Whenever I am trudging my way to the back of the plane or exiting, the business class cabin always seems to be occupied by the less than glamorous. On exit the business class cabin always looks as if a bomb has hit it. Will they appreciate this fabulous interior and all its services?

No Sex, No Lies, No Videotape

2011-09-15T20:00:00.000-04:00

In today’s fashion world the clichés of modern fashion photography are manifold. I am not sure whether I am showing my age here, however there is a predominate feature that unifies them all, and that is the almost unshakeable belief in the power of seduction. Let’s face it sex sells, so they would have us believe. This could explain the dominance of male photographers today, however there are few exceptions to the rule, and one of these is Sarah Moon.

I remember years ago as a teenager in a remote town in Australia devouring all I could lay my hands on to escape to a world of fashion and glamour. Flipping through a magazine I came across an advertisement for the Jean Deprez perfume “Bal a Versailles”. The accompanying photo immediately captivated me. It transported one into a completely different world than what was normally found in fashion magazines and the like. An unusual thing was that, the photo was actually credited, Sarah Moon. Ever since I have been a fan!

Anyone who has opened a fashion magazine in recent years is likely to have seen Moon's work. She also shoots editorial features for Vogue, Marie-Claire and others; has directed commercials and short films and has even illustrated a John Deere annual report.

Born in 1941 she modeled for the likes of some of fashion’s most iconic photographers such as Helmut Newton, Irving Penn and Guy Bourdin. However she was never entirely comfortable in that role and first picked up camera in 1970.

Before long, she was working for Barbara Hulanicki, creating wistfully lovely images for Biba and, most famously, for 20 years, for the quintessentially French label, Cacharel. One of her most memorable images for the label is of a model lying across a Brobdingnagian sewing-machine, its giant needle poised for action. Most of you will recognize Moon’s photographs for Cacherel fragrances, notably Anais Anais.

Sarah Moon’ images are about an imagined world full of Romanesque heroines, who inhabit isolated, surreal and fictional worlds, straight out of dreams.

When men appear, her pictures move towards a more disturbing surrealism and a dangerous mystery is inferred. These are photographs in which the bizarre and unusual confront ordinary reality.

Moon over time has created some of the most heart-stoppingly beautiful fashion imagery that goes against every so-called commercial trend, from the need to establish eye contact – it is only rarely there – to the belief that the most alluring fashion photograph must be glossy, even hyper-real.

A sweet nostalgia invades Moon's magical universe, monochromatic and sometimes sepia-printed or vibrating with saturated colour, where time is the enemy.

"Of course, if something is really bad then I will retouch it," Moon says, "but only very little and never trying to make a woman more beautiful. I don't need to do that. They are beautiful and it is my job to work with the light. I don't feel it is my place to make any sort of moral judgment on people who choose to work in that way, but I suppose it does falsify the approach to a human being. It's a coded language of sex, glamour and gloss, a leveler, too, imposed for marketing reasons."

The Well Dressed Englishman

2011-09-14T20:00:00.000-04:00

The London men’s clothier Austin Reed was founded in 1900 and set up shop in Regent Street in 1926 as one the first men’s department stores. The clothes were aimed at the upper middle class male, and the firm commissioned some of the best illustrator-designers of the day to promote its brand.

Austin Reed currently the holder of two royal warrants was the perfect place to be outfitted for all of the occasions an upper middle class male might find himself in. From travelling to the far reaches of the Empire, a journey by Wagon Lit, weekends in the country or an evening on the town these were the perfect clothes.

Sports were well catered for, whether you were playing tennis or Hunting, all could be obtained at Austin Reed’s.

The posters used in advertising captured each situation our man with style might find himself in. Highly indicative of the era in which they were created in, the illustrations give us something to aspire to. Life was full of an elegance that was not forced. This was a style of clothing and illustration that seemed to be innate and bred into the gentleman who was completely outfitted at Austin Reeds.

Well known for their impeccable tailoring and clothes that quintessentially defined the English man at a fraction of the cost of Saville Row, they are still in business. Whenever in London, I always pop into Austin’s.
It is also reassuring to see that none of this elegance has left Austin Reed through the subsequent decades, as they still promote a well-dressed gentleman who has not got a personal tailor.

Savoir Faire with a Touch of White

2011-09-13T20:00:00.000-04:00

Savoir Faire is just loving the Elie Tahari fall campaign. All the originality and sophistication of high 1930’s glamour is captured here with Film Noir undertones, albeit updated for the 21st century.

The richness of the colours and darkness of the environment is offset brilliantly with the white arum lilies (which just happen to be a favorite of mine).

Its in the Bag with Enid!

2011-09-12T20:15:00.000-04:00

These days the ladies handbag or purse is a just another object turned out by the so called luxury market, usually adorned with a logo or some other recognisable feature that makes it instantly recognisable. For some if it does not have a logo it is not worth having. Coupled with the amazing amount of fakes and copies that flood the market it is very hard to tell in some cases whether you have paid thousands of dollars or a couple of hundred for the object of your desire. Used as a status symbol these bags are seen by the owners, as something which will draw envious glances from friends and passers-by.

There is no question that the material and workmanship in such bags can be of the highest quality, but do we really want to carry around a bag that is as exciting as a loaf of sliced bread, with someone else’s initials on it?

Not so in the mid 60’s if you owned and Enid Collins. For the young American woman in this era, an Enid Collins was the ‘must have” fashion accessory. They were fun and fabulous, the right bag for a casual mode of dress which the Americans championed. The very features and hallmarks of these bags, which spearheaded their popularity back then, are making them just the right accessory for today’s eclectic approach to dress.

Instantly recognisable for their artsy, whimsical handbags, these bags are highly collectible. Founded by Enid Collins and her husband in Medina Texas, they primarily made two types of bags - wooden box purses, and canvas bucket style bags. Each purse was hand decorated with paint, sequins and rhinestones in themed designs. As time went by more ornamentation was added, as this made them more popular.

The design aesthetic was very similar to items coming out of Scandinavia in the 50’s and 60s which gave them a sort of European cachet. Although logos and signatures did appear on the bags it was a discreet reminder that this was a bag by Enid Collins. It was more like the signature of an artist on a painting not the blatant advertising that is apparent today.

Never intended to be fad creations, Enid Collins finished all of her handbags with leather trim, mirrors, brass findings and fasteners. They were intended to be good quality, fun day bags. A bit of glitz on the way to the grocery store!

The designs all had names;--each told a story--each had something special or personal that the prospective customer could relate to. Some of Enid's classic designs are "Money Tree," "Road Runner," "Night Owl," "Carriage Trade," "Cable Car," "Sea Garden," "Love," and many more.

During the late 60s, the Collins company manufactured complete do-it-yourself kits called Sophistikits in which customers could make their own Enid Collins ‘original’.

Enid Collins purses and bags combined a love of art and fashion by their creator. Now one of the most instantly recognisable bags of the current retro/vintage craze, for the young lady about town these are a must.

Savoir Faire and the Cheetahs

2011-09-08T20:00:00.000-04:00

Ok, Savoir Faires, I admit it! I am on a bit of a Casati Binge at the moment!

Marchesa Luisa Casati will always be a constant source of inspiration, long after her death in the late 1950’s. Always ready to shock and surprise her public, she had an unusual menagerie of animals ranging from snakes, monkeys and birds surrounding her. These added to her exoticism.
Among this menagerie were two cheetahs. She became famous for her evening strolls around Venice, naked beneath her furs whilst parading these cheetahs on diamond-studded leashes. An unusual sight in Venice at the time, one that was devised to shock the residents and haute monde of Venice.

An unusual pet, no? Well obviously the Marchesa did not think so and neither do the women below!

And yourselves? What would you like as pet full of savoir faire?

We Take Our Hats Off To......

2011-09-07T20:15:00.000-04:00

Millinery these days is a rather forgotten part of the fashion scene, not every woman wears a hat and when they do, it is only for special occasions. Not too long ago they were once an essential part of a woman’s wardrobe. Famous milliners are far and few between, and except for Stephen Jones and Phillip Treacy, not many of us would be able to name any other milliners of note. It is also surprising that some of the biggest names in fashion such as Chanel and Halston both started off as milliners. In fact Halson started off his career with today’s milliner featured.

The most pre-eminent and famous milliner in the America’s from the 1930s through to the late 1960s was not even an American. Lilly Dache originally from France immigrated to America around 1924. Apparently arriving with very little money (hey don’t most immigrants), she embarked on a career which would see her become the most famous milliner in the America’s and if not the world for her time.

Her major contributions to millinery were draped turbans, brimmed hats molded to the head, half hats, visored caps for war workers, colored snoods, and romantic massed-flower shapes. By 1949, she was designing dresses to go with her hats, as well as lingerie, loungewear, gloves, hosiery, perfumes, cosmetics and a wired strapless bra.

Using her name as inspiration one of her fragrances was named Dashing and a later line of pret a porter hats marketed towards the young called Dachettes.

If anything a hat by Dache was distinctive. Never one to shy away from creating an impact, her hats were dramatic and were the final accessory to a woman’s wardrobe. Ideally, she believed that each hat should be custom fit for the woman and the occasion- It needed to enhance the wearer’s physical features, so size, style, and fit were important; but the hat also needed to show off each woman s personality and inner beauty.

Daché is reported to have said, "Glamour is what makes a man ask for your telephone number. But it also is what makes a woman ask for the name of your dressmaker."

Like Helena Rubinstein in later years Daché would often conduct business from her bed, "dictating letters, buying supplies, designing, and interviewing employees while wrapped in a leopard-skin rug." Occasionally meetings were held in her bathroom, where Daché would give orders from a deep bubble bath.

At her Salon in New York brunette clients were guided to a fitting room decorated in shimmering silver while blonde clients were ushered into a dressing room of gleaming gold. Wholesalers were treated to a circular room swathed in tufted pink satin. Bells adorned Daché's leopard-skin slippers, perhaps "to warn her girls of her approach, a job later undertaken by her armful of jingling bangles."

Daché retired in 1968, and her New York millinery business was taken over by her daughter Suzanne Daché.

"I like beautiful shoes in gay colors, with thick platforms and high heels. I like splashy jewelry that clinks when I walk, and I like my earrings big. I am Lilly Daché, milliner de luxe."

Vive la Montreal!

2011-09-06T20:15:00.000-04:00

Montreal is one of those unusual cities. For all intents and purposes it looks like a typical North American city, with towering office buildings and all the physical trappings that go along with this. However on the street you could be forgiven for thinking that you are in Europe especially in Old Montreal and other areas in the city. We try and get there at least once a year. It is the trip to Europe you have when not going to Europe.

We stayed at a fabulous new hotel called Zero 1, which was startlingly modern with black walls and white Saarinen inspired furniture.

A re-occurring theme which ran throughout the hotel was the below picture which appeared on a mural in the lobby and the Do Not Disturb signs. Tres Chic? no?

Montreal also has a fabulous array of restaurants. This was brunch one morning. Caussolet of eggs, tomatoes and chorizo.

Where else but in Montreal would people line up to dine at a chain restaurant? The food is that good! Specialising in Steak Frittes in a wonderful chic busy and vibrant atmosphere, Steak Frittes-St Paul is one such chain. Other restaurants could take a note out of their book. With 11 restaurants through Quebec, this is a must eat!

One of the main things on the agenda this trip was to see the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. In the wake of Savage Beauty the McQueen Exhibition in New York, the Gaultier Exhibition does not disappoint. I cannot help but think that the popularity of the McQueen exhibition was as a result of his tragic and untimely death last year.

The Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal may not have the reputation or fame as the Met in New York, which made this exhibition very personal. One could view the creations up close and personal, without other people jostling for position. If one wanted to break Museum rules, one could touch these magnificent creations.

One of the most striking features was the use of animated mannequins. They have faces projected onto their heads and at times appear to be speaking to the visitor. The mannequins wink, blink, move their jaws and speak. The effect is a little creepy at times, however brilliant. Life has been given to what would generally be a static display.

“What will happen, what will happen? What to do, what to do,” one mannequin murmurs. Another, in a parrot-feather bolero, sings an aria. We even have Jean-Paul himself introducing himself and welcoming visitors to the exhibition.

Another wonderful feature was a moving catwalk with mannequins moving along it just like in a real show.

The workmanship was just wonderful. Thousands of ostrich feathers, sewn onto net, appliquéd 3-d pictures on another, sequins sparking in the light, caught ones eye on various outfits. Hearts of sequins flowed red sequined blood down the fronts of dresses, fabric printed with flesh and muscles, sequined tartans for the punk deluxe. Post-apocalyptic bikers in studded leather, elegant travelling outfits delighted the senses. It seems that it was all here before McQueen.

If one does get a chance to see this exhibition on its stops after Montreal, do! You will not be disappointed. Then again if one gets a chance to visit Montreal do!

Making Movies with Savoir Faire!

2011-09-05T20:30:00.001-04:00

Well, Savoir Faires I have returned from Montreal and am compiling a report, and downloading pictures etc! So while you are waiting..........

Before we had video cameras, digital cameras and the high definition Flip, we had Super 8s and fashion!

And at the time advertising these cameras might have been a bit politically incorrect!

Jean Paul Gaultier in Montreal

2011-08-31T20:00:00.001-04:00

The word on everyone’s lips lately in the design world was the recent Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art says its recent exhibition of costumes by the late designer Alexander McQueen was among its top 10 most-visited shows, with 661,509 people traipsing past some of McQueen’s most beguiling creations. Alas I was not one of them.

However another opportunity to see a very similar exhibition this weekend in Montreal has presented itself. (Oh, did I not tell you we are headed off to Montreal this weekend as it is a long weekend?).

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, the first international exhibition devoted to the celebrated French couturier. Gaultier launched his first prêt-à-porter collection in 1976 and founded his own couture house in 1997.

This exhibition has kind of gone under the radar, eclipsed by McQueen. Dubbed fashion's enfant terrible by the press from the time of his first runway shows in the 1970s, Jean Paul Gaultier is indisputably one of the most important fashion designers of recent decades.

Very early, his avant-garde fashions reflected an understanding of a multicultural society's issues and preoccupations, shaking up – with invariable good humour – established societal and aesthetic codes.

Created between the early 1970s and 2010, these pieces have, for the most part, never before been exhibited. Many other exhibits are also being presented for the first time. Sketches, stage costumes, excerpts from films, runway shows, concerts, videos, dance performances and even television programmes illustrate Jean Paul Gaultier's fashion world.

So what exactly does fashion icon Jean-Paul Gaultier think he's learned most about himself after seeing 30-plus years' worth of his eye-popping creations together in a new show at Montreal's Museum of Fine Arts?

Looking as surprised as someone who's just seen their first cone bra, Gaultier has to think a minute about the question.

"To see all that work at the same time, it's emotional," he says, warming up to the topic. "It's emotion, what I have learned, that I am always sensitive to emotion.

Gaultier said he was pleased with the Montreal museum show, saying he was reluctant to have exhibits in the past "because for me, it's a funeral, an exhibition in a museum."

"I thought the shows were enough because I am alive," he added.

"I am very happy and proud of this exhibition. I feel at home," he said. "I could even sleep there."

Following its presentation in Montreal, the exhibition will embark on an international tour, with presentations at the Dallas Museum of Art (November 13, 2011 - February 12, 2012), the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young (March 24 - August 19, 2012), the Fundación Mapfre – Instituto de Cultura, Madrid (September 26 – November 18, 2012), and the Kunsthal Rotterdam, the Netherlands (February 9 – May 12, 2013).

Of course faithful Savoir Faires I will give a full report on my return. Have a wonderful weekend all.

Is this Where Lady Gaga Gets Her Inspiration?

2011-08-30T20:00:00.001-04:00

The door to the room where we sat chatting suddenly opened. A dead woman entered. Her superb body was modelling a dress of white satin that was wrapped around her like a shroud and dragged behind her. A bouquet of orchids hid her breast. Her hair was red and her complexion livid like alabaster. Her face was devoured by two enormous eyes, whose black pupils almost overwhelmed her mouth painted a red so vivid that it seemed like a strip of coagulated blood. In her arms, she carried a baby leopard. It was the Marchesa Casati. –

Gabriel-Louis Pringué -1914

Was she the Lady Gaga of her day?

Snakes Alive at Lalique or Tempting Savoir FAire

2011-08-29T08:08:00.000-04:00

Lalique, the expensive, ubiquitous, famed master glass maker famed for their fabulous glass, crystal, perfume and jewellery has had a fascination for snakes in their long history. Lalique and their slippery serpents have tempted me for years.

I love it when companies such as Lalique constantly delve into their company’s archives to update designs to reinterpret them for a changing customer base. Birds hiding amidst twisted foliage, snakes coiled around trunks of trees . . . fern-crooks . . . feathers . . . scarabs . . . naiads swimming . . . knights in full armor. ...have all had a place in past and current Lalique designs.

Starting off making jewellery with fabulous art nouveau designs Rene Lalique moved to the production of glass objects after the WW1. His company produced an array of items, from decorative pieces for the home through to light fittings and panels for ocean liners.

Snakes have been a theme in jewelry since, well since people started making jewelry. Every culture and every generation has translated this creature into rings, earrings, pins and bracelets. Lalique carried this over to his glassware producing and an amazing array of vases and perfume bottles with the snake as a main decorative feature.

Objects of fashion such as the evening bag below were not exempt from this decorative treatment. Lalique’s use of fighting snakes as guardians for the contents of a purse references not only the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but the general mood of titillation that was central to Art Nouveau. The work’s realism is underscored by the slippery-looking snake skins embroidered into the bag’s surface with silver thread.

The snake has been updated in Lalique’s portfolio in these serpent pendants with onyx and carnelian stones and other fashionable pendants for the woman with a bit of individual style.

However perhaps the ultimate was the release in December 2010 of theSerpent Necklace, based on an original René Lalique design dating back to 1898. This one-of-a-kind necklace, shaped like a coiled serpent and studded with diamonds and emeralds, pays homage to the 150th anniversary of René Lalique’s birth by bringing his original design to market now for the first time. The Serpent Necklace, a fine example of Lalique’s commitment to craftsmanship today, required more than 700 hours of work.

Are you tempted yet?

Thinking Outside the Box

2011-08-28T20:15:00.000-04:00

I have always been influenced by packaging. For years ever since I was small I would save the boxes with which things would come in especially perfumes and luxury goods. I have amassed a collection which is quite large much to the chagrin of those around me. Living in a rather isolated community when young these were the links to a world of style and glamour that was beyond the boundaries of our small town in Australia.

So lately we have seen certain orange boxes being taken to new heights and used as a decorating feature.

One has to admit that Hermes boxes are a perfect shade of orange. I do not have one, however what a thrill it must be to have one in your hands direct from the store and opening it to see what is inside! I guess there is a reason that they have been called one of the most desirable boxes to receive.

As packaging design goes I do think it is brilliant. The most perfect shade of orange teemed with the chocolate brown details and logo, is a tour de force in understated chic.

Ok, now we come to the decorating thing. While any box is a great storage item, these are gaining popularity as decoration within themselves. Iconic orange Hermes boxes used for display storage: cool or contrived? Are they inspiring or a cliché? It depends on who you are talking to.

Why are we not decorating with red Ferragamo boxes? Or Lanvin or H&M?

I guess because no other box except maybe the Tiffany blue box are tell tales of the wealthy. For those of us who cannot afford to go shopping at Hermes, an empty box is the next best thing and equally as satisfying. At least it is something from Hermes.
The main thing here is a box that is too pretty to throw away, should be put to a good use while being decorative. Do you think the use of boxes such as these could become ubiquitous, like status shoes "casually" dropped on the floor, or are they just a classic element of design?

Just Because

2011-08-27T20:40:00.000-04:00

Does one really need to explain or write commentary when one comes across a photo like this?

I think not!

Living With Cavalli

2011-08-25T20:00:00.001-04:00

There are several reasons why I love blogging. Of course there is the obvious reason, which is interaction with like mind people around the world who share common interests, and the amazing friendships that build over time by following each other’s blogs. Another reason is that while researching information for particular posts, the amount of information that pops up on related or similar topics. We well truly live in the age of information, which suits me fine.

While doing such research I stumbled upon the home of Florentine designer of Roberto Cavalli. Ok, I admit it I am not a fan of Cavalli’s work, while appreciating the colours and patterns, his clothes are a bit too in your face for me. However that is not to say that his abode is not in your face albeit in a different way.

The house created by Italo Rota sits in the hills overlooking Florence, is coated in metallic lace and ivy. This creates a visual that is constantly evolving and changing, thanks to the light filtering through the iron work and the natural wildness of the ivy covering.

Coupled with the ability at the flick of a switch to change colour this is definitely a show stopper. According to Mr. Cavalli’s whim or current mood the house will change colour. So if the day goes good, you’re happy and cheery…. you want bright colors to surround you. The showing in Milan goes bad; you’re gloomy; and voila you’re surrounded by dark hues.

I do love the clean lines and the metal lacework, as it is totally unexpected in this context. The climbing ivy and other plants help to ground the structure into the land it is built on.

Have a fabulous weekend all!

Carve Your Way With Carven in Spring 2012

2011-08-24T20:00:00.000-04:00

It is no secret that I just adore the old names of Paris Couture! From Molyneux to Fath and Balmain, They all have a place in Savoir Faire’s realm of consciousness. I also know that I have beaten Savoir Faire’s followers around the heads umpteen times of the classic forgotten fragrances of these houses, most recently with Carven’s Ma Griffe.

Having had several resurrections in the past Carven is back on the scene with a men’s collection that moves the house out of the office and onto the streets. This new venture for the revived couture house now focuses on ready-to-wear with seeds of couture thrown in for good measure. After the bang-up, back-from-the-dead revival Guillaurne Henry has effected with the house’s women’s wear, the brand’s owners have added a menswear relaunch to the house’s portfolio

Guillaume Henry is the responsible for Carven's new and fresh face for both women's wear and menswear.

Carven is offering a sophisticated take on the schoolboy look with the label's Spring/Summer 2012 collection. Complete with with cropped collared shirts, rolled shorts, and lightweight sweaters all in the mix, it's easy to see the schoolboy touch. There is also a touch of the geek thrown in with pocket protectors!

Usually known for outfitting France’s middle class male in business attire, tradition has been maintained albeit with an updated line. These jackets, shorts, dress shirts, and flat-front chinos with rolled cuffs have a bit of the boy in them but are nonetheless essential for every man's closet.

Colour palette is quite muted and natural, which makes it more casual and daywear orientated: olive, copper and navy colours predominated in this easy to wear and I must say affordable collection.

With the silhouette there is just enough oomph to elicit envy from the friend who is not wearing Carven.

Taking a Seat with Jean Paul Gaultier

2011-08-23T20:00:00.000-04:00

While we are all used to seeing Jean Paul Gaultier’s iconic looks strutting down the runway, into people’s closets, now we are seeing some his iconic trademarks marching their way into client’s living rooms and bedrooms!

Gaultier has been busy this year translating his distinctive, iconic, daring brand of fashion into interior decoration and furniture with the help of upscale furniture retailer Roche Bobois. The furniture outfit enlisted the infamous fashion designer to create the new pieces, called Jean Paul Gaultier Pour Roche Bobois Paris, to commemorate its golden 50th anniversary.

For the fashionista and interior designer that is lurking within all of us this is a match made in heaven. This eclectic, contemporary and curious collection, mixes some of the iconic trademarks of Gaultier, such as, stripes, vibrant colours and patterns in a chic aesthetic that is perfect is perfect to mix and match, just like his fashion.

Gaultier has proved his distinctive vision with his own designs as well as some reworking and dressing up of some classics which he has reinterpreted. The visually stunning array of items embodies the designer’s unique fashion ID (marine prints and tattoos) as a modern and high fashion approach to iconic concepts, such as the Mah Jong modular sofa.

Designed by Hans Hopfer in 1971, this unique piece of furniture still represents one of the most distinctive and most wanted exponents of Roche Bobois portfolio. Gaultier paid tribute to the Mah Jong’s designer by keeping its modular seating shape while creatively updating the look with upholsteries featuring typical prints: marine stripes, calligraphy, tattoo patterns, glamorous celluloid kissing, pop culture iconography and red pom-poms.

The highlights of the collection also included the Paravent Bed, a distinctive furnishing featuring avant-garde upholstered headboard, chic silver and chromed finish and a pink silk bedding complemented with a fold-out paravent wardrobe.

Is this something you could see yourself taking inspiration from for your own slice of Parisian Chic in your living room?

Inspired by the Marchesa

2011-08-22T20:00:00.000-04:00

Throughout the ages there have always been particular photographs that have become well known classics for one reason or another. They record a snapshot of posterity for the subject and any personage that is included.

Here we have a photo that transcends time and includes several icons of the 20th Century artistic, social and fashion worlds! Although of different times they all come together in perfect harmony.

The photo in question appeared in Life Magazine in September 1960 and pictures Norman Norell with his 1960 Fall "van Dongen Collection".

The collection was inspired by the portrait of the Marchesa Luisa Casati The Quai Venice by Kees van Dongen owned by Norell. Norell originally acquired the van Dongen portrait of Casati at auction for $125 US dollars from Parke-Bernet, New York, in the 1940s.

Norell was perhaps one of the greatest American designers and it is fitting that for inspiration he chose Casati to inspire a collection. Casati was one of the most talked about and painted woman of her age.

The portrait now belongs to the Milwaukee Art Museum.

The inspiration has kept on flowing until it reached Tom Ford and the photograph below shot by Stephen Meisel. Eerily similar to the portrait of Norell, in styling and mood, it seems that we are still being inspired by the Marchesa Casati.

Taking Off With Pan Am

2011-08-20T20:00:00.000-04:00

I am in a mixed bag about the forthcoming ABC series Pan Am. It is no secret that I am an airline nut, and basically the only reason why I want to watch this is to see how well ABC have recreated the golden era of flying especially with Pan Am.

Pan Am is credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, which we take for granted today. Identified by its blue globe logo and the use of the word "Clipper" in aircraft names and call signs, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century and the unofficial flag carrier of the United States.

To the travelling public Pan Am always represented a way of travel that has long since been forgotten. An era when the journey was anticipated as much as the destination. With Pan Am, "getting there" always meant unmatched civility pooled with the pinnacle of cool.

Nothing epitomised this experience more than the Pan Am bag. When Pan Am introduced the world to the jet age, the Pan Am bag was seen as more than just a carry on; it was a proudly carried symbol that represented a once in a lifetime experience.

Everyone from Presidents to rock stars were proud to be seen with their Pan Am bags.

A couple of years ago Marc Jacobs released limited editions of these bags, which luckily I have one of.

Now a plethora of bags and accessories are available on the market for our jet-setting fashionista, who wishes to recapture the golden age of flying. The company producing these objects state “It is our objective to utilize Pan Am's colorful history to bring back the original Jet-Setter values and restore civility, adventure and fun to the travel experience”

Although you cannot fly Pan Am the airline is a hot commodity once again. Let’s hope that the TV series as well will bring back some of these values as well, that airlines can sit up and take notice.

Can I Blog on This?

2011-08-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

For many of our youth mention the word typewriter, and they probably would not have any idea of what you are talking about, let alone having actually seen one. In today’s world of technology the word typewriter seems almost obsolete. In its place we have PCs, Macs, notebooks, and tablets. All these can be highly mobile devices so that we can remain connected and even blog no matter where we are.

Before these items became the norm if we wanted to express ourselves while on the move, paper and pen came out and we actually wrote down our ideas.

When it came to the manufacture of typewriters nobody did it better than the Italians and especially Olivetti. Vintage and antique typewriters have become quite the craze over the past few years and Olivetti is right in the thick of it, especially the stylish Valentine! This typewriter made history in 1969 as soon as it came off the assembly line.

Designed by Ettore Sottsass and Perry A. King, this small, lightweight and bright red typewriter quickly developed into a cult object with its own dedicated following. For the fashionably hip this was the ultimate accessory (like today’s ipads). It was a design statement more than an office machine.

Sottsass designed the Valentine to be an "anti-machine machine," for use "anyplace but an office. Advertising put the machine at the beach, airplane cockpits, in the ski fields, anywhere but the office.

Undoubtedly one of the great design classics, the Valentine expresses the mood of its time: goodbye to the bulky cast-iron housings of old typewriters, hello to the new mobility of a light, modern, plastic casing made from ABS.

It was the unique and sleek design combined with clever advertisement of the Valentine that brought Olivetti to new heights. Aimed primarily at the youth market, with psychedelic advertisements this was no ordinary typewriter.

Here’s what its designer Ettore Sottass said about it:

“The Valentine was designed to keep lonely poets company on weekends in the country.”

In comparison here is what the makers of the Blackberry Playbook said recently about their product.

“We remain excited and committed to delivering innovative and powerful 4G tablets to the U.S. market together with our carrier partners,” the company said. “Testing of BlackBerry 4G PlayBook models is already underway and we plan to enter labs for network certifications in the U.S. and other international markets this fall.”

Enough said!

North by Northwest With Savoir Faire!

2011-08-17T20:00:00.001-04:00

Who can forget the classic scene in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest of Cary Grant being ran down by a biplane in a dusty field?

This is an enduring scene which comes to symbolise Hitchcock at his best.

The scene itself will never date, however here are few more different interpretations of the scene all filled with savoir faire!

My thoughts are if you are going to be chased down, do it with Savoir Faire!

Waiting for the Bus

2011-08-16T20:00:00.000-04:00

I am not sure how many of you will remember the old scroll type destination signs that used to inform of patient commuters of a buss’ destination? Or am I showing my age?

Fabric route signs used on busses in England from the 1920s through to the 1970s are a new decorating buzz. Bus stop locations used to be printed on rolls of calico fabric, and the drivers cranked the rolls to the appropriate stops by hand.

I can remember them on buses in Sydney right through to the early 80s, until electronic destination signs took over.

Now these old rolls are being turned into an amazing array of decorating uses. I am always a big fan of recycling and taking a completely utilitarian item and elevating it too another use including as an art form.

So let these inspire you to look around you to see something which could be put to another use other than what it was intended for.

Do You Pay Full Price?

2011-08-15T20:00:00.001-04:00

I have always made it a point of when shopping never to pay full price for anything. I wouldn’t class myself as cheap, just economical. It is almost a given that what you see at full price today, will at some stage be put on sale in the future. So, you have to take a gamble that your size is available, however the rewards can be worth it.

I like the clothes of Andrew Buckler however they are a bit pricey. So I wait for the sale and voila,I picked up the below sweater in a combination cashmere and cotton reduced from $235 to $95!

Of course that is not me in the photo, so I hope I do the sweater justice!

Leave Your Mark This Summer

2011-08-14T19:00:00.000-04:00

One of my favourite scents to wear during summer is a long forgotten treasure that was once categorised as one of the top 5 classic scents of all time. Also it had the distinction of being composed by one of the great perfumers of the twentieth century, Jean Carles, who was tragically anosmic (unable to smell anything). Sort of like Beethoven composing symphonies while being deaf.

The scent “Ma Griffe” by Carven, which is a sparkling green concoction full of such wonderful things as gardenia, greens, galbanum, citrus, clary sage, jasmine, rose, sandalwood, vetiver, orris, ylang ylang, styrax, oakmoss, cinnamon, musk, and labdanum. For me it smells likes like freshly mown grass with a hint of fruitiness, which is why I love it!

Mademoiselle Carven defined her fragrant prototype as "an outdoor perfume that needs to give up its heady character", resembling her, hence the name and the packaging: "white for innocence, youth, and freshness; green because to me it's the most beautiful colour in the world". The green and white striped box was a brilliant graphic concept, that went on to do double duty as the packaging for a myriad of Carven perfumes.

On its launch in 1946 a startlingly different advertising campaign was devised: parachuting the Trocadero in Paris with thousands of sample bottles! What a fabulous sight of thousands of little tiny green and white boxes on little parachutes this must have been! Just on the heels of the end of World War II this was a sign that Paris was getting back to its frivolous best.

Ma Griffe has two translations, one being “my signature” and the other being “my claw”. For me the translations are perfect, as it is a signature, an indelible mark, which carries more meaning when worn by a man.

Alas over time and changes of fortunes the scent on the shelves today, pales to insignificance when compared to the original however it is still a gem amongst all the hideously smelling perfumes being launched today.

Originally Ma Griffe was marketed as a young scent at a time when the youth segment had not been catered for. Ironically one of the most common complaints now, is it smells old. Myself, I ascribe that only to changed perceptions and vogues.

Fringe Benefits and Purple Reign at Dior

2011-08-11T20:00:00.000-04:00

Now I am not talking the perks of the job or Prince here, but the purple reign of fringes happening at Dior. From necklaces to handbags, the most amazing fringes appeared this season.

The hues and shades of these purples and oranges are so rich and exotic.

These would have to be the coolest, brightest elements of hippy chic we have seen for a long time!

Sacrificial Savoir Faire

2011-08-10T21:00:00.000-04:00

It is wonderful to see these innovative and interesting pieces design in men’s jewellery.

Basically limited to the usual chains, bracelets, rings and cufflinks, it seems that where men are concerned designers sometimes forget that we also like the allure of gold.

Now that gold prices are reaching all-time highs, maybe it is time to invest in a few of these conceptual statement pieces from Bevel in New York.

I am calling this Sacrifice before the fall, as the broody-boyish model is befitting of a sacrifice adorned in this somewhat macabre jewellery.

The line features ornate head pieces and necklaces that recall animal spines, and earrings that look like some wild breed of gilded insect crawling up your ear. As fine and delicate as the vertebrae of a sparrow, these shapes are melded and merged into what could possibly be occult ceremonial jewels.

We won’t be seeing these on the street I am sure, however as museum art they are fabulous!

Paris in New York

2011-08-09T20:00:00.000-04:00

Now isn’t this just one incredibly stylish and fantastic home in New York. Herve Pierre creative director of Caroline Herrera although being a thoroughly modern man, has created within a New York a thoroughly Parisian and French home with an utterly romantic eighteenth-century sensibility.

Having once being the head of haute couture at Pierre Balmain at the tender age of 24, he has lived in New York for the last 15 years and he has created an environment which would combat any Parisian’s sense of homesickness. “I am in New York during business hours,” Pierre explains, “but at home I need to be in Paris” and this sums it up perfectly!

The home is is filled with unusual accessories, hat boxes stacked haphazardly, sculptures, and works of art. (tip: to achieve the look you can buy Schiaparelli hatboxes on ebay quite reasonably)

The coffee table is currently buried under pile upon pile of fashion and design hardcover books and magazines, rather than stowed away on shelves or in amoirs. Also a wonderful afternoon tray awaits.

I am a lover of perfume and perfume bottles in particular and love seeing those huge old dummy perfume bottles in stores and always lusted after them. I used to have a friend who had several and filled them with spirits such as gin etc, for the coolest cocktail tray you ever did see. Well, Mr. Pierre, must share my love as his bathroom contains a few wonderful examples.

Drapery is used with maximum effect for theatricality on beds, windows and any other area that can support it.

The apartment is positively overflowing with beautiful details, such as a curtain tieback made from a Balmain glove. It is the little details that count!

I must say I do like his philosophy, if you cannot go to Paris, bring Paris to you!

Green With Envy

2011-08-08T20:00:00.000-04:00

Emeralds have been favored by many of the world’s most notorious and richest women, from Cleopatra to Catherine the Great and Elizabeth Taylor.

If you are not green with envy, maybe these will stir your emotions as they did Ms. Taylor’s.

Commissioned from Bulgari in 1962 Elizabeth Taylor’s emerald and diamond necklace with detachable pendant-brooch is one of the finest modern day examples around.

She first received the pendant from her fiancé Richard Burton as an engagement gift and then later he gave her the necklace for their wedding.

Taylor was given a choice between two spectacular emerald necklaces. "I tried on the huge one, then the smaller one, the huge one, then the smaller one. By this time we had been joined by Bob, a dear friend and Richard's dresser for years. Richard asked him which he preferred. Bob couldn't decide either. I tried them on one more time and said, 'Richard, I think I like the smaller one.' Bob said, 'Mr. B., you can hardly get girls like that no more!

The piece became one of the actress’ favorite jewels, wearing it on numerous significant occasions.

Richard Burton could be seen visiting the famed jeweler in Rome during the filming of “Cleopatra.” He joked that the only word Taylor knew in Italian was Bulgari.

Another exquisite emerald for which Taylor is famed is the emerald and diamond cluster engagement ring which she received from Richard Burton.

Other Taylor emeralds include the earrings and the brooch below.

Are you green with envy yet?

Think Within the Square

2011-08-07T20:00:00.000-04:00

What sets you apart as a man of savoir faire and style? Where would Gary Cooper and Bogart be without that one small detail to their wardrobes that you too can adopt?

A pocket square’s subtle presence speaks volumes about a man and makes a powerful statement about your personal style. Whether they are plain white linen, bold checks or the finest of silks, these modest additions come in an endless variety of colours, fabrics and patterns, which can add just the right amount of panache to you and your outfit.

For the last couple of decades men around the world have hardly given the breast pocket on their suits or sports jackets any attention at all. To the modern man it has always an extra place to store sunglasses or business cards and some men have just never even bothered to undo the stitching in the pocket when they have purchased a new suit.

However, men are once again rediscovering the art of sporting a pocket square.

The origin of the pocket square goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks. Wealthy Greeks carried around perfumed handkerchiefs as early as 500 B.C. English and French noblemen carried perfumed and embroidered handkerchiefs in order to cover their noses from the stench of the streets and other people.

In the early 1900′s, a dapper gentleman would never leave the house without a pocket square tucked neatly into his suit’s breast pocket. Yet by the latter half of that century, the pocket square began to go the way of the hat. No it is nice to see younger men adopting this as an integral part of their wardrobes.

When wearing a pocket square, remember that it must add just the right amount of contrast but should not be so bold as to clash. From suits to sport jackets, they are a stylish accessory.

Practically anything is the go, however don’t go too matchy matchy as it looks as if you are trying too hard.

Those Friendly Finns!

2011-08-04T20:00:00.000-04:00

Needless to say, on our recent jaunt around the Baltic, we just could not get over how friendly the Finns were!

Except for the girl at Marimekko who told me to stop taking photos (Ok, so I didn't ask permission, when I should have).

Helsinki was one of our favourite cities!

Have a friendly weekend all!

Savoir Faire with Stella

2011-08-03T20:00:00.000-04:00

Beer has never been one of those products that one usually associates with Savoir Faire, except when it comes to Stella Artois! The Belgian beer maker has consistently come up with memorable marketing campaigns that promote their product as one full of Savoir Faire.

One of the more memorable and stylish print campaigns of this year are the 60’s inspired ads that take us to the jet set lifestyle of the French Riviera of the 60’s.

Initially, when I first saw these I had a hard time deciding whether they were actual vintage ads from the 60’s or a newer incarnation of vintage ads, updated for a 21st Century audience. Why do they look so authentic?

It is because they are! They are illustrated by paperback and movie poster illustrator Robert McGinnis. McGinnis' portfolio is seemingly endless and includes cover art for all of the Bond books and pin up art that has come to represent an iconic 60s and 70s aesthetic. McGinnis was persuaded to come out of retirement to do this campaign.

The ads (true to form) feature a Bond-like character and his slinky female companion enjoying the good life in what appears to be St. Tropez. However uncharacteristic of the Bond we know, our hero is drinking a beer!

I have always admired the graphic stylized content of 60’s style drawn advertisements and these do not disappoint!

Rebel on the Row

2011-08-02T20:00:00.000-04:00

While the women of the swinging sixties in London were decked head to toe in Biba, the men were wearing Tommy Nutter.

Nutter was the avant-garde Saville Row Tailor (who originally started off studying plumbing and architecture), who in the sixties single-handily reconciled the centuries old traditions of Saville Row tailoring with the so-called “peacock revolution” sweeping men’s fashion at the time. Nutter and the men he dressed were the new dandies of the twentieth century.

His initial business took London and the preconceived notions of how men should dress by storm. Tommy Nutter produced lively, contemporary tailoring whose roots were deeply embedded in the craftsmanship and knowledge of Saville Row. He designed for the Hardy Amies range, and then for the man himself. His clients included his investors, plus Sir Roy Strong, Mick Jagger, Bianca Jagger and Elton John.

Nutter’s clients apart from the rich and famous also included the aspiring dandies from London’s East End who aspired to nothing more than owning a suit from Tommy Nutter.

Nutter also applied his craft to dressing female icons of swinging London society at the time, including Cilla Black, a close friend, and Bianca Jagger, who was much photographed at the time in a white dinner jacket with white satin facings. Nutter also made a red velvet suit for Twiggy which became a celebrated and much-copied look when she was photographed wearing it in the early Seventies.

In 1971 he was elected to the Best-Dressed List in the United States, along with the Earl of Snowdon and Hardy Amies. At the time, American Menswear magazine said of Nutter that he was 'tradition spiced with daring'.

'He never got things wrong about clothes,' said the restaurateur and bookshop-owner Stuart Grimshaw, who was a client of Tommy Nutter's from the late Sixties. 'He really knew what he was talking about. One would go in and say, 'What do I wear to go on safari in Kenya?' and Tommy would make one an absolutely correct safari suit, a proper one with all the pockets in exactly the right place’