Steller

Stella McCartney has always been an all time favorite of mine - as both a person and a designer. I appreciate her subdued feminine aesthetic and continually work towards recreating the sharp, tailored extras that provide a bit more edge to the lace and dainty details of some of her RTW. Ms. McCartney's Fall 2009 Collection was certainly no exception, proving that a little bit of lace goes a long, long way. I certainly haven't been one to shy away from a garment due to the price tag, but this was the first collection (with singular looks or pieces) that I could rationalize spending over 3K for. I know it sounds like a lot of money - but to me, it's an investment of a lifetime.

Marc - y Marc does Paris

Marc Jacobs seated in his Paris apartment - a cozy den filled with his contemporary art collection, furniture and sleek design.

GARANCE DORE

GARANCE DORE



GARANCE DORE



GARANCE DORE




(start chanting it, it gets pretty catchy) ...


GD does the CITY OF LIGHTS!

Super size it! Molyneux designed Paris Apartment

“It’s a powerful blend of antiques and art,” designer Juan Pablo Molyneux says of the Paris apartment of antiques dealer Benjamin Steinitz and his wife, Nadia Fakhoury, on the rue du Cirque. This single photo alone reveals a pair of Greek Revival French chairs, a Korean jar and leather armchairs from the 1930s stand in the living room in front of a circa 1980 diptych, Threshold, by Harland Miller. The marble-top table, which is inlaid with onyx, is 17th-century Italian. (AD, April 2001)

Hubert de Givenchy's Paris Apartment

In the late 1960s Hubert de Givenchy renovated his Napoleon III Paris apartment with designer Charles Sévigny. Givenchy moved the salon’s Louis XV marble mantel to the dining room, where mirrored panels—some concealing cupboards and doors—provide a backdrop for collages by Braque, right, and Nicolas de Staël, left. A Robert Courtright mask faces a table encircled by Jacob chairs. (AD, October 2002)

Jean-Paul Beaujard's Paris Apartment

In the airy living room of Jean-Paul Beaujard's Paris apartment—a 1910 building in the seventh arrondissement—whose ceiling reaches 25 feet, stands a Jansen daybed. The chandelier is 1950s French; the rug, from the same era, is American. (AD, September 2007)

Paris Apartment of Jacques Grange

“The architecture is very classical 18th century—exactly matching the Palais Royal garden outside—but the furniture, lighting and decorative objects are a mix of pure Art Déco, contemporary and 18th century,” Jacques Grange says of his Paris residence. Woven horsehair covers the walls of the bedroom, which has a “Neoclassical” sensibility, the designer explains. The lamp at left is by Jean-Michel Frank; at right is a lamp by Alberto Giacometti. (AD, September 2007)

18th Century Paris Apartment of designer Thomas Pheasant

“What attracted me to the master bedroom was that it was light-filled—a rarity in Paris—and that it had wonderful proportions. It was the easiest area in the place to restore; I didn’t have to do much to it at all.” The 1998 photograph is Caldwell. (February 2003)

Versailles

Subtle Suprises

Les Fleurs

Notice the scale! Where's Waldo?

The Hotel Bellechasse re-imagined by Lacroix

_________________

The Marais District of Paris has always attracted a colorfully design-minded set. Filled with artful additions such as the Hotel du Petit Moulin, whose interiors were imagined by Christian Lacroix, there has been no sign of fading affection for the region. Now, in addition to the Petit Moulin, Lacroix has put his personal affection for design into a second endeavor, the Hotel Bellechasse in Saint Germain. With its kaleidoscope of colors, dainty stencil drawings along high sky-lights and surprising touches such as fabric lined walls, Bellechasse's boutique sized accommodations are attracting every sort of taste maker to Paris' left bank.



If you don't believe me, just ask these folks:

AD [http://www.lebellechasse.com/pdf/7.pdf]
Elle Decor FR [http://www.lebellechasse.com/pdf/13.pdf]
Times Travel UK [http://www.lebellechasse.com/pdf/5.pdf].

http://www.lebellechasse.com/

The House that Chanel Built

Madame Chanel's Apartment:



To the world of the fashion, the design and the globe-trotting elite, La Maison du Chanel never tires in its appeal. Whether it be commercial endeavors or photographic feats, the coverage never ceases and the allure never dims. Here are a few personal images from one of my various trips into the icon's gilded salon.

Take special care to note the prevalence of:

- pairs or sets
- gold
- wheat stems
- omens of luck and good fortune
- quilted fabrics
- chinese lacquered panels
- mirrors

It's like an eye-spy for the couture-cult.


Bisous, bisous.