Givenchy's Bedroom and the Bunny Guest Room

I don't know about you but I spend a lot of time in my bedroom.  It is a peaceful place, next to my bathroom where my every morning and every evening is spent amidst elixirs and creams and it is near to my closet.  Bedrooms are important, it is where kids, dogs and bunnies all pile onto your bed, you can read a book, catch up on magazines, cuddle next to your husband, putter around in your closet, discover things you had forgotten about, and at the end of a long day tuck yourself into bed in between Porthault or John Robshaw sheets, relax and dream...  one of the things I dream about and read about are bedrooms.  Two bedrooms I love are in the South of France in Le Clos Fiorentina.

Le Clos Fiorentina has a very storied past which I am sure you know all about.  Since 1985 it has been owned by the retired couturier, Hubert de Givenchy.  Givenchy's bedroom is an oasis of beautiful calm in shades of white, a pale light floor and one of my favorite things about this room is the bench at the end of the bed covered in books.  C'est parfait!

The photo above is a little too yellow and I think the one below is probably a little more accurate.

The other bedroom I adore for its pretty calm and beauty is the guest bedroom Givenchy had made for his great friend and fellow tastemaker, Mrs. Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon.  Mrs. Mellon's room has a canopy bed with crisp blue and white Porthault sheets and a pretty pink chair with a blue pillow.

It is a restful calm place - just as a bedroom should be.  And it has a lovely bath too!

Don't you just love the lion head faucet, the unusual blue and white rattan basket and the linen closet lined in wallpaper with neatly folded stacks of linens and towels.

xo, Juliana

Monsieur Givenchy and Miss Hepburn

Daisy and Elsa.  Mona and Cristobal.  C.Z. and Main.  Nan and Yves.  Famous client/designer couples.  The designer met their match in those women who made their clothes look even better.  Did I forget any famous designer/client couples?  Millicent and Charles?

And then there was Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn.  Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, Love in the Afternoon, Funny Face, Paris When It Sizzles, How To Steal A Million, and Love Among Thieves.  All the films Givenchy dressed Audrey Hepburn for.

Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn at a fitting.

I adore Monsieur Givenchy.  I especially adore the early pieces so I was thrilled to find this fitted black velvet coat from the 1960s with high armholes, narrow sleeves and beaded buttons.

Can't you just see Audrey Hepburn in it?  Perhaps with this hat?

I love the beaded dome shaped buttons.

1960s Givenchy Couture fitted black velvet jacket.  Size 4.

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Being There: Versailles and Hubert de Givenchy

Hubert de Givenchy retired in 1995.  Saying au revoir to all that, he was commissioned to redesign the gardens at Versailles.

Jacqueline Kennedy at Versailles in 1961 for the Kennedys' state visit to France.  Mrs Kennedy chose to wear Givenchy.  Mon Dieu!  What would Oscar de la Renta say??

Mrs. Kennedys' Givenchy ivory silk ziberline gown embroidered with flowers in silk, silk ribbon and seed pearls by Hurel.

Marie Antoinette's petit appartment de la reine and the cabinet de la Méridienne (her dressing room) in Versailles at night as visited by Alix, the cherry blossom girl.  I love visiting museums in the evening when they are quiet, nearly empty and the collection becomes almost personal and you are transported to another place, another time, another state of being.  Alix said, "at the end of the day, we were a small group in the dark and empty castle.  I still have goosebumps!"  Me too.

Photos from thecherryblossomgirl.com

Back to our Givenchy haute couture red silk cocktail dress covered in black flowers with seed pearls from the garde robe of a well known couture client which could very well have been worn to some intimate event at Versailles.  The dress is fitted at the waist and the skirt is lined in horsehair.

Cocktails in the garden anyone?  Or in the salon under candlelight?

Hubert de Givenchy haute couture red silk cocktail dress.  Size 4.

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Feeling Audrey

Hubert de Givenchy joked that Audrey Hepburn would be elegant in a potato sack.  And she probably would have  been.  Her own innate sense of style met its equal in the talents of Givenchy. They complimented one another.  So when I discovered this dress from the garde robe of a well known couture client, I knew immediately that this was Givenchy at his most beautiful, most elegant, most alluring.  He understood the woman should wear the dress and not the dreaded other way around.  

This Givenchy haute couture dress in a fluid soft velvet has clusters of gold organically shaped sequins trimmed in patent leather.  The front is simple and classic and the back dips suggestively low.  

It is very Audrey Hepburn.

Early 1980s Givenchy haute couture black gown with gold sequin details.  Size 4.

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