Happy Monday! Porthault Sale is On!

I love Porthault sheets and towels.  In my last post on Givenchy's guest bedroom for Mrs. Mellon, Givenchy had Mrs. Mellon's bed ready and waiting with white Porthualt sheets sprigged with blue flowers.  The Duchess of Windsor loved Porthault sheets adorned with a generous amount of embroidery and a copious amount of coronets : )  The artist Jacqueline Duheme painted Jackie Kennedy resting up in London ensconced comfortably in a lovely set of pink and white Porthault sheets.  And lest you think Porthault is just for grande dames, those arbiters of cool, Inez van Lamswerde and Vinoodh Matadin love Porthault sheets for their home and even for their ad campaigns.

And I especially love Porthault sheets and towels on sale!

Jacqueline Duheme 'Resting Up, London'

Duchess of Windsor's Porthault sheets

Photo from Inez's Instagram

Inez and Vinoodh ad campaign for their jean collaboration with Frame Denim.

xo, Juliana

The Duchess of Windsor's Cartier Cats

I love this photo of the Duchess of Windsor taken at the opening of the Lido Revue in Paris in 1959.

She is wearing quite a bit of major jewelry but somehow it all works and does look like too much.  The dress with its tight lace bodice and her hair are all a perfect frame to highlight her jewelry.  On her right arm is a stunning Cartier tiger bracelet that the Duke of Windsor bought for her from Cartier in the 1950s.  

The Duchess of Windsor's Tiger Bracelet and matching brooch were sold in 1987 to Andrew Lloyd Weber who bought them for his then wife, Sarah Brightman.

I don't think they look quite as good on Ms. Brightman as they did on the Duchess of Windsor.  The tigers look a little sad, a little lost on Ms. Brightman.  The Duke of Windsor had a good eye and knew what suited his Wallis.  Now, they are set to go to auction in Geneva in November at Christies.  

I hope the tigers come to New York for a visit before the auction...  

xo, Juliana

RARE vintage is in The Bathroom of the Duchess of Windsor

One day, a long time ago, I had the brilliant idea of devoting the RARE vintage blog on Sundays to home design.  Well, the best laid plans... but I have decided to rally and promise you a regularly irregular segment of RARE vintage is in the house of...

Today we are in the bathroom of the Duchess of Windsor.

I am a firm believer in separate bathrooms for husbands and wives.  Hello!  Creams!  There is nary a spot for my husband to place even a single razor amongst my plethora of potions, concoctions and who-knows-what-else.  

The Duchess of Windsor's bathroom is a whimsical and dreamy place for a long soak, a leisurely  face washing, in other words an ideal space to enjoy being a woman and all of the accoutrements that come with being a woman (creams, make up, perfumes, you know the drill...)

I love the blue and white "tented" ceiling painted by Dimitri Bouchene 

 The surrealistic 'view' was also painted by Dimitri Bouchene.

The mirrored bath alcove with a painting of the Duchess of Windsor by Cecil Beaton:

A blue Porthault bath mat monogrammed (of course!) with the royal ducal cornet hangs over the tub.

Gilded arum Lily tie-backs:

Candle sconces (I love candle sconces in a dining room and had never thought of them for a bathroom) in trailing ivory with more trompe l'oeil painting by Dimitri Bouchene:

All photos by Fritz von der Schulenburg from The Interior Archive

RARE vintage Weekend Style and Inspiration: Two Mitfords, Two Duchesses and One King

Crawford Doyle Booksellers is a very wonderful little bookstore on Madison Avenue.  It is a great antidote to the superstore bookstore which is often not so super.  The selection is highly edited and just by looking around, you discover many books you want to read.  

My discoveries...

The Sun King by Nancy Mitford

"Have you been to Versailles yet?"  Nancy Mitford wrote to her brother Tom in 1928.  Nancy Mitford is, of course, one of the fascinating Mitford sisters.  Her biography of Madame de Pompadour has been on my reading list for a long time but I have not found it yet.  But I was happy to find The Sun King yesterday.  

"It is my spiritual home and at this time of year it is the most melancholy place in the world."  Mitford continued in her letter to her brother.  Now, I don't know about you but I too have always felt that Versailles is my spiritual home.

Maybe it is because it is just so cozy, I naturally feel at home there : )

The book promises to be "brimming with detail and delicious bon mots and written in a witty, conversational style, The Sun King restores a distant glittering century to vibrant life."

All in One Basket by Deborah Mitford, The Duchess of Devonshire

Maybe it is because I have been reading books on raising chickens and studying chicken coops (have you seen the $100,000 Petit Trianon inspired coop in the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog?  If not, you can see it here.) for the spring arrival of my "girls" that I have had a desire to reread the Duchess of Devonshire's Counting My Chickens.  So, I looked to see if Crawford Doyle Booksellers had any of the Duchess of Devonshire's witty and entertaining books and found All in One Basket which is a compilation of the books: Counting my Chickens and Home to Roost with a few "newly laid" stories.

The Last of the Duchess by Caroline Blackwood

If you were to make a competition to see who more books have been written about: Coco Chanel or The Duchess of Windsor, I am not sure who would come out on top of the book pile.  I have no idea what could possibly be left to say about either Coco or Wallis but then I found a little book by Caroline Blackwood published in 1995.  It is actually less about the Duchess of Windsor then her lawyer, Maitre Blum, who kept her isolated and vodka-less (!) in the last years of her life.  Should be rather fascinating.

And speaking of the Duchess of Windsor, I did not notice this photo right away but in my father-in-laws apartment there is a photo of Letizia Buitoni's husband Giovanni Buitoni with "That woman".

I hope I have given you some stylish reading inspiration for the weekend!

Do as the Duchess

This holiday why don't you do as the Duchess of Windsor and swan about in a well, a large swan brooch from Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel.

The Duchess of Windsor had the most spectacular jewelry collection and a definite sense of style.  Wallis Simpson was not a great beauty but absolutely made the most out of what she had by being true to herself and what looked good on her.  It was a look Bettina Ballard would have described as defining the "hard chic" of the 1930s.  But in Cecil Beaton's 1937 romantic photos of her wedding trouseau for Vogue in which the bride to be wore an ethereal (and my dream gown I might add.  How I would love to find this dress for myself.  Ooops!  I mean for RARE☺) fluttering organdy lobster print dress by Elsa Schiaparelli at the Chateau de  Candé.

In Cecil Beaton's book 'Photography' he remembers Wallis Simpson at this time having "the trim  silhouette of a Chinese figurine".

Recently someone made a very good return on their investment with the sale of some of the jewelry formerly from the collection of the Duchess of Windsor.  Included was this exceptional flamingo brooch made for the Duchess by Cartier in 1940.

So why don't you do as the Duchess and wear this impressive large scale three-dimensional swan brooch from Chanel.  It is spectacular and special as well as very rare and an excellent collector's piece.  (Wouldn't this make an incredible gift for the Duchess in your life?  And that Duchess may be you!!)

The swan is covered in faux pearls and has a jeweled blue eye.  Attached to the swan is a jeweled cruciform shaped medallion with ruby, pearl and turquoise cabochons and attached to that is a drop pearl.  More, more, more is how Karl likes it!

A flight of fancy.

Signed Chanel.  Made in France.

Early 1980s Chanel Swan Brooch.

You can also do as the Duchess by wearing this anonymous gold panther belt from the 1960s.

From the Sotheby's catalog:  "The Duchess of Windsor had several 'cat' jewels in her collection which began with the emerald brooch in 1948 and this particular area of her collection was continued to be added to over the next twenty years."

Images from Sothebys

I know, I know you were just outbid at the last moment on the Duchess of Windsor's articulated Cartier panther bracelet.  ☹ $4,200,000 was my cut off too (☺)

But don't be depressed because we have this very fab gold coil belt with two gold panther heads.  Most of what we have at RARE is designer but I especially love finding anonymous pieces like this that are cool and fun.  And cost WAY less then a Cartier panther! 

Maybe the cat jewelry was Wallis Simpson's way of saying, I am the Duchess of Windsor, hear me roar!

Anonymous 1960s panther belt.

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