Gem Stone Savoir Faire

Inspired by Jill over at Stella’s Roar and her latest post of the fabulous jewellery by Lanvin, I immediately thought of Helena Rubinstein and her passion for jewellery.

The below photographs say it all for Helena Rubinstein’s obsession for jewellery! She liked it big and a lot of it! Rumoured to have one of the most fabulous collections in the world, hers was not the stock standard diamonds one would find within other collections. Such was the fame of the collection that at one stage there was an attempted heist, with the thieves getting nothing but $200. (see previous post "Savoir faire with Pluck". She always wore masses of jewelry in public—especially rubies with ruby red lipstick and nail polish to match them.

Her collection was an Aladdin’s cave of the unusual, the oversized and valuable. Rubies the size of pigeon eggs vied for attention with cabochon stones of all shapes and sizes. Being so small in statue Madame relied on her jewellery to create an impact. Oversize pieces were the norm with her, which emphasised her presence, and eclipsed all other jewellery present. Combined with the simple suits she wore later in life one could not help but notice the jewellery. Necklace upon necklace was worn around her neck, while her wrists were weighed down with all manner of bracelets.

One can accuse Madame of only collecting for quantity over quality, and this to a certain extent is true. However, she had some important valuable pieces in her collection, such as a set of rubies that were rumoured to have belonged to Catherine the Great of Russia.

A great public relations trick Madame would play when entertaining the press or anybody for that matter would be to wear lots of cheaper items of jewellery. This would create an impact, that when admired by an admirer Madame would whip it off and give to the person in question saying that they must have it and that it was nothing!

At one stage she complained that the storage of the collection was giving her grief, so the story goes that her assistant bought her a filing cabinet (in the photo’s ?) and that diamonds etc were filed under the appropriate letter of the alphabet. She looks like a child sitting on the floor with her favourite toys spread all around her.

Madame definitely knew her style and what suited her. For what she lacked in beauty and stature she adorned herself in such a way that people could not help by notice her.

Sterling Savoir Faire

Nothing beats great sterling silver and some of the best comes from Mappin & Webb in London. Silversmiths to the Queen, Mappin and Webb have been producing quality silver since 1810.

Here is some silver from Mappin and Webb which savoir faire is seriously coveting, to make my life even more complete with savoir faire!

In my formative years I could have been educated, entertained and nourished with this porringer from 1938.

If I coddled eggs for breakfast I would definitely be using this fabulous sterling egg coddler.

Then during the day I would be storing my biscuits in this fabulous biscuit barrel from 1890.

I could also pass the time of day just looking at the below enamel box from the 1930's

Come time for champagne before dinner, nothing else would do other than this silver wine cooler.

Menus for dinner held within these fabulous little menu holders.

And to finish all off if I was to be drinking brandy and smoking a cigar after dinner, the fabulous cigar lighter shaped like a hand grenade from 1918 would be it!

2500 Years of Savoir Faire

Well, due to popular consensus it seems that the party of the century rates another entry on Savoir Faire! This was so over the top that as I said in my previous post it almost fell into the realm of being just down right tacky. Arguably it was the most notable event of the century involving royalty and heads of state. The original plan was for a grand party with around 30 heads of state, when the news of the organization of the event spread, dozens of embassies clamoured for invitations for their countries, enlarging the number of guests in a dramatic way.

The party was to celebrate the 2500 years of the Iranian Monarchy by Cyrus the Great in Persepolis Iran. It was an elaborate set of festivities that would showcase Iran’s long history and to showcase its contemporary advancements under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the former Shah of Iran. Backlash from the celebration would eventually lead to the overthrow of the monarchy in 1977. Even though celebrating Iran and its history nearly everything from food, wine, gardens and tents were provided by France.

The planning for the event took more than a decade with an elaborate tent city being erected next to the archeological site of Persepolis, with the area being cleared of snakes and other vermin. The French interior design firm of Jansen was charged with the creation of a tent city modeled on that of King François I’s sumptuous camp erected in the west coast of France in 1520 to entertain Henry VIII of England. 50 air conditioned tents were built, surrounded by lavish gardens full of trees and plants imported from France.

Chandeliers of Bohemian crystal woven with plants hung in the official tents and vied for attention with the Italian drapery and curtains. Limoges and baccarat created countless items of china and glassware for the occasion. Hairdressers and beauticians were provided by Alexandre of Paris , to attend to female guests and Elizabeth Arden created a makeup range called “Farah” (In honour of the Empress) to be given for female guests. To cater for arriving guests 250 red Mercedes Benzs were ordered to ferry guests to and from airports and the celebrations.

Royal guests included Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (whose pet dog had a diamond lead), King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark, King Baudouin I and Queen Fabiola of Belgium, King Hussein and Princess Muna of Jordan, King Olav V of Norway, King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Prince Abdul Wali Khanand Princess Bilqis Begum of Afghanistan, Prince Franz Josef II and Princess Georgina of Liechtenstein, Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace of Monaco, Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofia of Spain, Princess Mikasa and Princess Yuriko of Japan, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne of the United Kingdom along with countless others. In addition Viceroys, Presidents and Prime Ministers added to the guest list.

One of the highlights of the celebrations was the banquet held in the main tent, catered for by Maxims. Six hundred guests dined over five and a half hours thus making for the longest and most lavish official banquet in modern history. The menu includes such things as quail eggs stuffed with caviar, mousse of crayfish tails with nantuna sauce, roast saddle of lamb with truffles, and countless sorbets etc, washed down with the finest of French wines, champagnes and spirits.

A son et lumiere show and fireworks, accompanied by a specially-commissioned electronic music piece Persepolis concluded the evening. The next day saw a parade of armies of different Iranian empires covering two and half millennia by 1,724 men of the Iranian armed forces, all in period costume. In the evening a less formal "traditional Persian party" was held in the Banqueting Hall as the concluding event at Persepolis.

It is a very fine line between over the top excess and savoir faire, however I will let you be the judge however I am sure many were saying “What a swell party it was”

Shocking Pink Savoir Faire

MMmmm, Shocking pink the colour immortalised by Schiaparelli in the 1930’s is one of my favourites.A colour so bold and enticing that it slaps you in the face! Such influence did Schiaparelli have that on the pink, is that it is known as Shocking Pink as everything was shocking for her. Her autobiography was named “Shocking Life”, her perfume “Shocking” and skincare ranges “Shocking Radiance”.

Shocking Pink has had a prominent place in fashion over the decades however lets not forget that the colour appears quite often in nature in the most unusual places.

The Shocking Pink Milipede from Thailand. I actually think that the whole shape of this would make the most wonderful bracelet!

Shocking pink striped agate!

And what would summer be, without bouganvillia!

The Louboutins below

If you are brave enough, something mught suit you inside below.

Who can forget Zandra Rhodes, who took it one step further and dyed her hair Shocking Pink! (One of the first to do so)

More Poiret Savoir Faire

In incredible stark contrast to his fashions and design aesthetic Paul Poiret commissioned the Villa Poiret from the architect Robert Mallet-Stevens in 1924 -1925.

This seems to be a complete departure from everything that we tend to associate with Poiret and is a testament to his innate sense of style and savoir faire. It seems hard to even contemplate that Poiret had any serious intentions of even living here considering that the building is pure simplicity in itself, something which Poiret seemed to scorn. Everything for Poiret was over the top rich and vibrant and in excess. He excited in eastern exoticism, with colours and richness running headlong in abandon in clothing and interior design schemes.

However Poiret described the design as “United surfaces, sharp edges, sharp curves, polished materials, angles, clarity, order. This is my home and geometric logic " Seems hard to imagine Poiret ever saything this.

Unfortunately Poiret never occupied the villa as he and his company fell into bankruptcy. Only occupying the lodge pending completion until 1928, the villa was finally sold in 1930 (to pay debts) to the actress Elvira Popescu, who hired architect Paul Boyer to complete the project, distorting the original plans. Popescu occupied the villa until 1985, from when it was abandoned.

Luckliy it had been bought by a prominent industrialist and is being restored to its former glory. One can only imagine what Poiret would have done with the interior had he been financially able to live there. It could have been a turning point in his design aesthetic, which might have seen his fashion also evolve with the times, instead of dying an inglorious death.