The Party Planner for Cafe Society
Party planner or event designer? Frankly, neither title seems elegant enough for the late Jacques Frank, a Paris-based designer who conceived and decorated parties for the crème de la crème of café...
View ArticleThe Maria Theresa L. Virata Collection at Christie's
A highlight of Christie's upcoming Asian Art Week is The Maria Theresa L. Virata Collection of Asian Art: A Family Legacy sale, which will take place in New York on March 16. The Virata family...
View ArticleMaking a Hash of Things
Isn't odd how certain things that have never before been on your radar suddenly push their way into your consciousness thanks to their repetitive appearances in the most random places? Take, for...
View ArticleNew Offerings from Jim Thompson and No. 9 Thompson
I recently spent a pleasant morning at the Jim Thompson showroom at ADAC, perusing the new collections from both Jim Thompson and No. 9 Thompson. Both collections featured such vibrant colors and...
View ArticleThe Joy of Flowers
Spring is here, the flowers and trees are in bloom (and have been for quite some time here in the South), and that annual layer of yellow pollen covers everything, my dog's feet included. Irritants...
View ArticlePrinted Fashions: Textiles for Clothing and Home
The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum at Colonial Williamsburg debuted a new exhibit last week, one that should appeal to anyone with an interest in fashion, fabrics, or design. Organized by Linda...
View ArticleJoin Alex Papachristidis and Me at Design aDAC
I hope you'll join designer Alex Papachristidis and me at Design ADAC, where, on Tuesday, April 25th, we will be discussing "The Eye of the Collector". An inveterate collector himself, Alex has much...
View ArticleA D.C. Delight
To me, some of the most memorable homes featured on the pages of Architectural Digest are those Seventies and Eighties-era nighttime apartments. I call them nighttime apartments, because not only were...
View ArticleThe Bunny Williams Collection for Currey & Company
The are a number of major launches scheduled for High Point Spring Market, including the already much buzzed-about debut of the Bunny Williams Collection for Currey & Company. Masterful at...
View ArticleBurleigh Pottery
Since I started my blog ten years ago, Tiffany & Co. discontinued most of its china as well as its much-loved Bamboo sterling flatware, Steuben went out of business (although the Corning Museum of...
View ArticleThe Decorators Club, circa 1931
The Decorators Club is one of the design industry's most storied organizations. Established in 1914, the group, which is made up of female designers, architects, educators, and other members of the New...
View ArticleSpring Book News
In between visits to the Southeastern Designer Showhouse, High Point, and Design ADAC, I have managed to carve out some time to enjoy Spring's bumper crop of new book releases. Below are a few of the...
View ArticleKirill Istomin and his World of Fantasy
One of my biggest complaints about social media is the sometimes deleterious effect it seems to have on creativity. On the one hand, it could be argued that Instagram, Pinterest, and blogs have...
View ArticleMario Times Two
And while we're on the subject of High Point, another favorite introduction of mine are the Mario Twins, a set of bunching tray tables designed by the great Mario Buatta. Part of Kindel's Designer...
View ArticleThe Return of the Canopy Bed
There were many highlights of last month's High Point Furniture Market, but one in particular made quite an impression on me: the gratifying appearance of canopied beds at a number of furniture...
View ArticleI Need Your Help!
You may not hear from me frequently this summer as I’ve just started work on my next book, which I’m happy to announce will be published by Vendome Press and edited by Stephen Drucker. Commissioned by...
View ArticleWhat I've Been Up to Over the Past Year: Inspired Design
Goodness. It feels strange writing a blog post after a year-long hiatus. I was worried that I may have forgotten how to blog, but it seems that after eleven years of writing The Peak of Chic, blogging...
View ArticleChez Princesse Ghislaine de Polignac
A friend recently gave me the most interesting book about Marie Antoinette: To The Scaffold, by Carolly Erickson. To borrow my friend's description of the book, it is gripping. Although I knew well the...
View ArticleWhat's New What's Next
I hope you'll join the Kravet team and me this week at What's New What's Next, where I will be interviewing three of my favorite designers, Alexa Hampton, Markham Roberts, and Tom Scheerer, on who and...
View ArticleKenneth Battelle at Home
"The top". "An institution". The "Secretary of Grooming". These were just some of the titles and accolades given to Kenneth, the legendary hairdresser who tended the locks of Jacqueline Kennedy, Lee...
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