Savoir Faire in Venice

One may be forgiven thinking that Truman Capote’s infamous Black and White Ball in November 1966 as the party of the century. Capote dangled coveted invitations for months under the noses of the celebrity of the day as he determined who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out’.

However, I would have to believe that our young upstart who clamored for social acceptance got his inspiration from one Don Carlos de Beistegui de Yturbe. Beisegui’s Le Bal Oriental held in Venice at the Palazzo Labia in 1951 makes Capote’s ball look like a provincial sweet sixteen year olds birthday party.

*Orson Wells

Spectacular in its incarnation, guest list, costumes, extravagance and subsequent publicity the guest list was a who’s who of post war Europe. Cecil Beaton's photographs of the ball display an almost surreal society, reminiscent of the Venetian life immediately before the fall of the republic at the end of the 18th century.

Invitations composed six months in advance included the Aga Khan III, Barbara Hutton, Gene Tierney, Countess Jacqueline de Ribes, Jacques Fath, Duff and Lady Diana Cooper, Orson Welles, Daisy Fellowes, Salvador and Gali Dalí, Christian Dior, Arturo Lopez-Willshaw, Patricia Lopez-Willshaw, Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley, Hélène Rochas, Princess Caetani, Princess Colonna, Prince Mathieu de Brancovan and countless others .Winston Churchill and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were invited but did not attend. (I bet they were kicking themselves!)


*Gene Tierny

On the day of the ball, the host retired to a suite at the Grand Hotel in order to avoid frenetic scenes as those whom no invitation had been forthcoming claimed their invitations had not for some reason arrived.

*Bestegui

Numerous Couturiers were involved in the design and making of costumes for the rich and famous who were attending, with Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin and Nina Ricci designing the majority of the costumes. It was said that several days prior to the event that there was an extraordinary procession of chauffeur-driven basketwork Rolls Royce’s through the Simplon Pass in the direction of Venice, with large Dior boxes strapped onto their roofs.

Venice was captivated with the ball and the general public waited for hours along the Grand Canal to catch glimpses of the rich, famous and titled arriving.


One party imitating the splendors of China arrived in a Chinese Junk. Baron Alexis de Redé who was part of the group remembers "I was an attendant in their suite, with a fantastic Chinese crown, staff and sword, looking, I confess, rather like the last 'boy' emperor. Our costumes were exact copies of those in the famous tapestries, 'the Voyage of the Emperor of China'.

The couturier Jacques Fath and his wife, with Fath dressed as the Sun King, had to remain standing in his gondola because “his posture [was] dictated by a costume so perfectly fitted and heavy with embroidery that he could not sit,”

*Fath

Chinese Junks aside another spectacular entrance was made by Lady Diana Cooper dressed as Cleopatra in a costume designed by Cecil Beaton. Her entrance which "people thought was the loveliest sight with the light from the windows of the palazzo falling on her face and pearls and blonde wig" was inspired in the Palace's Tiepolo superb fresco The Banquet of Cleopatra that was the central theme of the ball.

Daisy Fellowes came as the Queen of Africa dressed by Dior. She was not feeling well the night of the ball, so she rested beforehand on a sofa before making her entrance. When time to enter, she rose from the sofa and made an entrance that would leave all green with envy. "She was by far the most elegant person at that ball. I have never seen anyone walk as beautifully as she did. She had in-born style." Baron de Redé said.



Just the sight of all this Savoir Faire must have been overwhelming and tiring within itself, without the prospect of being social for another 5 or 6 hours! Nobody does it like this anymore!

A Vacation in March!

Savoir Faire has booked their little mini March vacation and we are so excited! Can you guess where we will be vacationing?

St. Valentine's Day 1900

While it is St Valentine’s Day I would love to post about one of my favourite books, which is set on St Valentine’s Day. Made into a movie it became the one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of cinematography I have ever seen.

Written by Australian Joan Lindsay PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK tells the mysterious tale of a group of schoolgirls and one teacher who, on Valentines Day 1900, disappeared up on Hanging Rock (a mysterious rock formation) in Victoria Australia , never to be seen again. To this day, there is still a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding surrounding the story by the general public.

Although she commands little more than half an hour of screen time, the film's central character is Miranda, a young student whose beauty is compared by Mademoiselle de Portiers to one of Botticelli's angels.

Sinister undertones, a stunningly beautiful soundtrack, romance and the great cinematography leave an indelible impression on reader and movie viewer alike.

Now that is all I am going to say, as the book and movie are well worth reading and watching. Subsequently with the way the book has been written one wonders if the events actually took place or not! It is mystery for all.

Just Because!

Just because it is cold an dreary here, I think these two young lovelies are sightseeing somewhere warm and exotic! Egypt?

Will the Real One Stand Up?

I have been wrestling with this post for the last couple of days, becoming increasingly frustrated with the soppy, dollar store ideas out there for Valentines Day.

With Valentine’s day fast approaching the commercial world, are probably collectively rubbing their hands together with glee. Another day/holiday when lots of money is to be made, playing on the heart strings of us mere mortals.

It is generally believed that Saint Valentine was the patron Saint of Lovers, however really this is debatable. Many martyred saints by the name of Valentine (in Latin Valentinus) existed in Ancient Rome; however which one is our guy? The name of “Valentine”, derived from valens, meaning strong, worthy and popular was extremely popular in late antiquity. However of the Saint Valentine who we celebrate on February 14th, not much is known, except that there are several caskets/boxes of relics floating around in the world’s churches.

Santa Maria in Cosmedin Rome has his skull for posterity. No doubt the relic attracts countless lovers on February 14th, for his blessing.

There is another set in the Blessed John Duns Scotus' church in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Scotland, my guess is as good as yours as to what is in this box.

Still in the region of the British Isles, the Irish also have a set. In 1836, some relics that were exhumed from the catacombs of Saint Hippolytus Rome, were identified with St Valentine; placed in a casket, and transported to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland, to which they were donated by Pope Gregory XVI. At least this set has official approval.

Alleged relics of St. Valentine also lie at the reliquary of Roquemaure in France, and also in the Stephansdom in Vienna. (The Viennese seem a little secretive about their lot, as I could not find a photo).

So not only being the patron Saint of Love, it seems that Saint Valentine could also do double duty as the patron Saint of Travel as well, because he sure does get around!

Regardless of the origins and whose bones all of the above may be, let’s dispense with the commercialism and the soppy kitsch of the day and celebrate love every day with savoir faire!

Off the Beaten Track with Savoir Faire

While not looking much from the outside and probably to a lot of people not looking much from the inside either, the Baron Hotel in Aleppo is one of those hostelries that is stepped in history and savoir faire. A stop on the famed Taurus Express that connected to the Orient Express in Istanbul it was a rest post for the many ex-patriots living in Baghdad and archaeologists who made the yearly pilgrimage to the Middle East. An endless parade of army officers and their wives, governess’ and the like crossed the threshold. The thing is in over 80 something years little has changed.

Aleppo Syria’s largest city was in the late 19 century a veritable crossroads of the world for the traveller of the era. Sometime around 1870, an Armenian by the name of Mazloumian was on his way to Jerusalem for a pilgrimage. While passing through Aleppo which was,even at that time, a cosmopolitan centre of commerce, he noticed how uncomfortable Europeans felt when staying at the traditional caravanserais. Eventually, he decided to build something modern in Aleppo and the result was the Ararat hotel, the first hotel in the region, at the end of the 19th century.

In 1909 the along with his brothers he enlarged his business by setting up the new Baron's Hotel amongst the gardens on the outskirts of old Aleppo. They built the first floor of the current building; the second floor followed in 1911, and the third in 1940.

Up until World War II the hotel was inundated with guests who were British agents posing as archaeologists spying on German generals, who arranged opulent banquets for their Ottoman allies while German engineers built the rail line from Berlin to Baghdad.

The hotel’s ledger reads like a Who’s Who of culture and politics. Lawrence of Arabia slept in room 202; King Faisal declared Syria's independence from the balcony in room 215; Agatha Christie wrote the first part of "Murder on the Orient Express" in room 203. The Presidential Suite was occupied in turn by Charles de Gaulle, King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, , Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (the founder of the United Arab Emirates), and the American billionaire David Rockefeller. Other notable guests included Julie Christie, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Lady Louise Mountbatten (Future Queen of Sweden), Charles Lindberg and Yuri Gagarin.

*Agatha Christie's room and desk

The décor is wondrously faded, with antique maps and travel advertisements plastering the walls. There is even a framed bar tab of Mr. Lawrence’s on the wall of the bar displayed with pride.

Plumbing is erratic, paint is peeling and the rugs threadbare, however for the romance of a bygone era and charisma this cannot be beat. There are not many "golden age of travel" hotels that haven't suffered a makeover at the hands of a big chain, but you can rest assured that the Baron Hotel remains unchanged. The furniture looks as if it belonged to a boarding school common room circa 1930 and it seems that some of the staff have been on site for almost as long. You almost expect to see Mrs. Christie in the corridor!

Of course one could stay at far more luxurious and modern establishments when visiting Aleppo, but if you are anything like me, I would rather the somewhat genteel shabbiness of a bygone era!