Savoir Faire on the 9th Floor

A couple of weeks ago in one of the local newspapers here in Toronto was an article featuring Eaton’s Ninth Floor restaurant atop their department store in Montreal. I was intrigued as I remember department store restaurants back in Australia when I was just a young wee thing, however nothing as opulent and luxurious as this! This is an art deco masterpiece, which sadly is off limits to the public and sitting shrouded in decay, since the Eaton’s chain when bankrupt in the late 1990’s.

The restaurant drew its inspiration from the 1st class Salle a Manger on the French Line’s transatlantic liner the Ile De France (see pic below). The company’s matriarch Lady Flora Eaton travelled aboard the luxury liner in the 1920s, and was so impressed by what she found on the liner that the dining room was incorporated into the plan when Eaton's decided to expand its Rue St. Catherine store to nine floors from six in 1928.

The 650-seat dining room opened on Jan. 25, 1931, as Le François Premier, but the ladies who lunched there never called it that. It was always known as "The Ninth Floor."

The room is the work of interior designer Jacques Carlu, the French-born professor of advanced design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also responsible for the celebrated Trocadéro in Paris and the Rainbow Room in New York's Rockefeller Plaza. Carlu was also responsible for Toronto equivalent at the Toronto store, which I am happy to say, has been restored and functioning as an event space.

With opal glass, nickel steel railings, and pink marble columns with black Belgian marble accents, and monumental space the dining room remains one of the most staggeringly beautiful art deco rooms in Montreal, if not the world. This was a luxurious escape for lunch where with a bit of careful imagination we were on our way to Europe cocooned by the luxury around us.

Luckily it has been given heritage status by the Quebec government, however it is still mothballed. When and if its doors ever open again, the devotees of savoir faire will be lined up just to experience the cachet of dining in a space that harked back to days of style.

Space Age Savoir Faire

Pierre Cardin. One almost shudders when we hear the name, but there was a time when it wasn’t so. I still have hopes for Monsieur Cardin, and believe him to be one of the most influential designers of the 20th century. Way before he sold his name and licensed everything from socks to linoleum this man and his designs had style and panache. Sure he paved the way for nearly all the major couturiers to launch prêt a porter collections, and made certain elements of style available to the masses, however he goes far beyond that.

In the late 1960’s Monsieur Cardin was heralding in the Space Age, when everything spacey was becoming fashionable, from movies, to furniture. His fashion designs from this period are heralding the beginning of a Brave New World, which had the public dressed to kill in vibrant and functional designs, which the whole family could wear.

Clothes appeared almost unisex with the same design with only a few tweaks being worn by both men and women.

Not only were clothes functional, but there was a certain amount of sexiness too. These were modern day amazons and gladiators ready and willing to fight the establishment, with savoir faire. Normal suits were hastily reduced to being so out of date when compared to a Cardin design.

Monsieur Cardin had definite ideas as to what the public and those in professions serving should be wearing including nurses as shown below.

Just imagine if Monsieur Cardin had had his way? One thing for sure, was that he was always at the forefront of innovation.

Airline Advertising with Style

I am always constantly amazed at how much style and savoir faire existed late last century where air travel is concerned. Even though air travel and jet travel especially, has always been the domain of the high flying executive or business man jetting around the world, there was a time when the travelling vacation public was just as important. This was reflected in the advertising posters that adorned travel agencies, airline offices and airports. They promised exotic locations, a fun time and most of all a chance of escape as envisaged by the best graphic artists of the time.

TWA enlisted American Artist David Klein to create a series of iconic posters that convey all the excitement that each destination could offer. Colours were bold, bright and beautiful which provided the viewer with a visual feast that was an escape from his own humdrum existence. He used landmarks from each city and paired them down with modernist ease, so that they were still instantly recognisable.

Pan Am used strong graphic cultural images of each destination, to convey the message that each destination was definitely different from the one that Middle America was escaping from. Swissair and Sabena of Belgium used the same technique with images portraying the exotic and cultural delights of each destination.

United and National were promoting travel at home, with posters that would entice you with the promise that you could jet to an exotic location with in mainland USA, where horseback riding or the French flavour of New Orleans would greet you.

Posters were fun, that immediately made us think, mmmmm Las Vegas, now that looks glamorous! They were also about national identity, especially for the airline involved. As long as the reassuring words of Pan Am, United, TWA or Braniff was somewhere on the poster, we knew that we were in good old American arms and culture shock would not be too hard to cope with.

So, please let me walk past a Travel Agency or Airline office, and see what travelling was all about. The exotic, the glamorous and the exciting all in the comfort of my 707, operated by a national carrier, with some savoir faire!

Savoir Quotes with a Desert Theme

Two of my favourite quotes from the movies with savoir faire unfortunately come from two movies that are not well known. Funnily enough they both concern alcohol and the desert

Most colourful is Dyan Cannon who plays the talent agent in that little known gem “The Last of Sheila” from 1973. When needing a drink Dyan murmurs.

"My mouth is so dry they could shoot 'Lawrence of Arabia' in it"

She also goes on to say at another stage in the film.

"I hate my luggage more than life itself" (Obviously she didn’t have any Vuitton in tow)

The next one is from “Modesty Blaise” from 1966, based very loosely on the comic strip of the same name. (Bad movie but very camp and enjoyable)

Dirk Borgarde (Mmmm!!) plays the high camp villain Gabriel who towards the end of the movie is lost in the desert, and murmurs;

“Champagne, Champagne”
Other mere mortals would be murmuring “water, water”

Schiaparelli Savoir Faire Relaunch?

Constant rumors are abounding over the possible relaunch of the House of Schiaparelli after a hiatus over 50 years. In fact I am sure in some circles it is the only thing on everyone’s lips, if not only for the correct pronunciation of her name.

There is a website floating out there in cyber space http://www.schiaparelli.com/ that does hint of a possible relaunch however there are no links. It is a visual feast of all the things Schiap became known for, however that is it. Owner Diego Della Valle is being very tight lipped.

So the question on everyone’s lips is who? Which designer is going to be given the heavy task of the reinterpretation of Schiaparelli’s style into the 21st century, with enough savoir faire, so that it doesn’t seem a parody of its original self?

The possible relaunch comes at a time when surrealism is hot. The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto is currently running an exhibition called “Surreal Things”, which prominently showcases some of Schiaparelli’ work from dresses, accessories and perfumes, even recreating (with the original, no doubt) the gilded birdcage that displayed her perfumes in the 21 Place Vendome boutique in Paris. Also on display is the iconic Dali Tear dress of the 1930’s, Dali's lobster dress worn by the Duchess of Windsor and the famous shoe hat.

Gossip has it that Olivier Theyskens is tagged to be named creative director. After stints at reviving Rochas (a bit short lived) and Nina Ricci, we wonder if this is going to last if he is the chosen one.

So style mavericks keep your fingers crossed that this is true and we will see Schiaparelli live again and that it won’t be a complete disaster!

Grand Savoir Faire

Cocktails at the Menzies Hotel Melbourne circa 1965, certainly reeked of Savoir Faire. Take a behemoth Victorian Hotel decorated to excess with all the trappings and grandeur that the era could offer (and that the building could endure), update it with a 60’s style bar and furniture, populate artily with models with cocktails and cigarettes in hand and voila! Instant chic and savoir faire.
Take the same models dressed in the best fashion that Australia could offer in 1965, this time in a stairwell, and again instant chic! I love how models were used to convey the sense of how hotels, airlines wished to portray their image. In this case even though the building and interiors were something of an anachronism, the image portrayed is one of casual modern elegance, something a potential guest could aspire to and even have the chance to rub shoulders with the rich and beautiful.

Built in 1867 in time for the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh. Remodelled in the high Victorian 1880s to an unusual eclectic Second Empire ornamentation. Built in 6 months, the hotel was one of the worlds foremost and finest. Host to Alexander Graham Bell, Herbert Hoover, Dame Nellie Melba and General Douglas Macarthur. Sadly demolished in 1969 to make way for a modern office building.

Each city needs a grand hotel as such, and luckily Melbourne still has the Windsor!

Catwalk at 35,000

You all might think that when it comes to air travel that I am living in the past, and yes I admit it, I am. Before the advent of no frills airlines, cost cutting, larger planes, and stringent security measures, flying was indeed an event that one could look forward to and just reeked of savoir faire.

One of the things that we could indeed look forward to was to see how our lovely air hostesses were outfitted. Be it the latest styles from the couturiers and designers in Europe to costumes that reflected the local dress of the national flag carrier. The aisle of the airplane was a virtual catwalk, with daring designs pushing the drinks trolley with aplomb. Nowadays uniforms are bland, generic styles that might be built for comfort and ease but do they really create a lasting impression? Of course there are a few exceptions to the rule, one being Singapore Airlines, whose uniform has not changed since its inception.

If there was one thing that added to the prestige and image of an airline, was the fact that a leading fashion designer had designed their uniforms. Emilio Pucci for Braniff is a prime example. The designs were eye catching reminders of the corporate image of the airline that constantly reminded us we were flying Braniff.

Pucci was also busy on the other side of the world, down in Australia, designing uniforms for Qantas. Totally different than the Braniff line, the print used reflected the native flora of Australia, with even a bikini being made for idle sunning by the pool in an exotic location.

Pierre Balmain was busy in Asia designing the Singapore Airlines Uniform. In 1968, the former Malaysian Singapore Airlines called upon Balmain to design uniforms for their cabin crew, with just a minor tweak to the collar in 1974 they have been in continuous service ever since. Balmain based his design on the traditional Malay sarong-kebaya. Part of their continual allure is down to Balmain insisting that the uniforms were fully tailored (rather than off the peg), and to this day Singapore Airlines’ in-house tailors have a minimum of two fittings with each crew member and provide her with 4 new uniforms each year.

Another notable design by Balmain was for Trans World in the 1950’s.

Hardy Amies in the sixties designed a wonderful uniform for BEA which was full of understatement and un-mistakingly British. Amies was also commissioned by Pakistan International to outfit their cabin crew in the early 70’s and came up with a uniform (even though a bit dowdy) that worked within the brief he was given.

Pierre Cardin on the other hand came up with a space age tour de force for Olympic of Greece.

Other designs by Cardin included PIA and UTA of France

Christian Dior for SAS

United.

Bring back the fashion. the style and the savoir faire! While I am sipping my Gin, give me something to look at.