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

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

Mary de Rothschild. Part Two. Henri Samuel

"Where clothes are concerned, the only person I trust is Balenciaga.  The same goes for Henri Samuel for decoration."

Mary de Rothschild

I could not find any photos of the interior Henri Samuel did for the Baroness Alain de Rothschild (Mary de Rothschild) - but truthfully I did not look too hard after I found the images of Henri Samuel's own apartment on the rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

His home was, as Carlyne Serf de Dudzeele, would say in her Marlboro lights, enthusiastic voice, a salade.  A mix of styles.  A mix of periods.  A bit like Carlyne Serf de Dudzeele's first cover of Vogue under the editorship of Anna Wintour: a grand Christian Lacroix haute couture embellished jacket paired with jeans.  Well, jeans might be going too far for Mr. Samuel, or perhaps not, but his apartment was wonderfully relaxed not trop, trop like the rooms he did for another Rothschild, Marie-Helene, which although stunning, I would feel the need to come out for air.  

There was an airiness in Mr. Samuel's own home.  There was space, there was light, there was translucence in Guy de Rougement's cloud table, there was the smooth sensuousness of bronze pieces by Philippe Hiquily, a darkened bronze table by Diego Giacometti, African pieces...  it is perfect and timeless...

see for yourself.  

Inspiring rooms: Henri Samuel on the rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré...

The ground floor of a hotel particulier opens to a large garden.  

On the far wall a bronze console by Cesar under a painting by Balthus.  There are brass and lucite chairs by Philippe Hiquily created for Henri Samuel, a Diego Giacometti table sits by the window covered in books and magazines, a trio of brass and fossilized wood tables also by Hiquily sit by the very comfy looking double sofa.  The de Rougement cloud table in bronze and a claret colored plexiglass, objets, a small bar by the window...

It is remarkable how well the 1970s pieces go with boiserie and gilt furniture...

love and kisses, Juliana

La Bella Vita di Federico Forquet

I was so happy to see the article on Mr. Federico Forquet in Sunday's NYTimes T magazine.  It offered a small but tantalizing glimpse into the beautiful world of Mr Forquet, a fashion designer who left fashion in 1972 when he no longer felt he could make the kind of clothes he wanted to (haute couture not pret a porter).  Oddly enough 1972 is the same year Cristobal Balenciaga, Forquet's mentor, also decided enough was enough and closed his doors too.

But when one door closes, another door opens and Mr. Forquet found the thousands of the tiny lily of the valley flowers he had once hand sewn onto a dress for the great beauty Allegra Caracciolo Agnelli, not in silk anymore but in a scented garden he designed in the verdant hills of Tuscany.

Mr. Forquet also designed the interiors of his home in Tuscany - as well as homes for friends like the apartment in Rome he recently decorated for Ginevra Elkann, the grandaughter of Marella Agnelli, which was featured in T magazine in February.

I have counted myself very fortunate to have had some very special, very rare, Forquet gowns from the 1960s at RARE vintage too...

A door opens onto the garden from the summer living room at Forquet's home near Cetona, Tuscany .  Note the beautiful gilded table with the ceramic vegetables near the door...

Forquet designed the wicker furniture, the sofa and the folding screen all of which are on a floor of cotto, a type of Italian brick, for the summer living room...

19th century still lifes and garden landscapes over a Neapolitan daybed Forquet inherited.  I love the sage and cream ticking on the daybed, the wicker chair, the simple white bench with a white cushion tied at the legs...

The master bedroom with its vine covered coverlet and a desk where Forquet drew his fashion sketches as a child.  Home and garden seem united, the view from a window or a door always seems to be framed in a shade of green, bringing the garden into the rooms...

The outdoor rooms of the garden...  isn't this terraced garden remarkably beautiful?!  The great Russell Page, suggested paths and walls of tuffo, a stone commonly found in Tuscany...

A pergola covered in roses and fallen petals on the path...

Federico Forquet's home and garden in Tuscany.  All photos from NYTimes.

and that is all of our glimpse into the private world and la bella vita di Federico Forquet...

love and baci, Juliana