HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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LES ROBES DE SOIREES EN 
NOIR ET BLANC

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New years Eve can be a very dressy affair. That's assuming you have the kind of celebration to go to which requires that type of apparel. I have not had that pleasure lately. The last time I got very dressed up was for an invitation to a Quadrille a while ago. So no, my New Years Eves do not qualified.

Why is my title Black and White Evening Dress? I am addicted to black and white movies (as yesterday's post will attest). Not the silent ones, I find them much too "unreal" for the most part. No, rather the films from the 30's and 40's where dressing up in ethereal dresses with feathers, multiple tiers of chiffon, ribbons and lace was the norm after 5:00PM. Of course we are talking about the MOVIES. Fantasy and pure fiction. Even then very few if any women dressed like that except for formal affairs, but good old Hollywood wanted you to dream. It seems that the recent evening collections are very reminiscent of the heavenly dresses from those glorious films in which the sets and the costumes were positively stunning.                      *

But what if we flipped things around?

Which couturier dresses of THAT era could have stood the test of time and be quite at home on a 2011 runway? Surprisingly, I did find a few that fit the bill.

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Jeanne Lanvin 1937

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Jeanne Lanvin 1925

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              Madeleine Vionnet 1931               *

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Madeleine Vionnet 1930

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Madeleine Vionnet 1936  *

Plus ça change et plus c'est la même chose.

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Tonight, dress up and celebrate!

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*   BONNE ANNEE!   *

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LET'S PRETEND DRESSED UP

ET SI ON FAISAIT SEMBLANT

Let's "pretend" dress up. As if we were going to Monte Carlo or the Ritz for New Year's Eve. As if we were in a black and white movie. Yes. Again the black and white movie fantasy. Let's shop in the virtual world. Just for fun. Just for this one evening.

We would choose a graphic black velvet and white chiffon dress from Jean Paul Gauthier

With it, delicate heels from Valentino and a moire and lace clutch from Ange-Aile

We would do our hair up in a casual chignon and wear a fur wrap from Isabella 

Or perhaps we would opt for a romantic flowing dress from Chloe

We would carry a pochette from Swarowsky and lace heals from Valentino.

Our hair would be a soft up-do reminiscent of ancient Greece and we would wrap ourselves in a vintage Givenchy evening shawl

We would be les plus belles...

We would be in a 40's movie...

We would pretend we were living like the Great Gatsby.

au revoir.

HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR

L'ALLURE DE HOLLYWOOD

I LOVE Hollywood films from the 30's and 40's. Something about the black and white scheme, the shadowy lighting and the extraordinary glamour. Of course, they would have us believe that at the time, all the women dined in ball gowns and the men in tails. Every night. At home.

Of course that's what movies are all about: fantasy and fiction. All right, we know that. And in the mean time I, for one, enjoy all the froufrou and tulle and ribbons and feathers. So what would these extremely beautiful and sophisticated godesses chose to wear from the equally dazzling evening gown collections of the top current designers? I paired some of the most bewitching stars of that era with some of our most prestigious designers.

Gene Tierney and Jean Paul Gauthier

Mystery

Joan Crawford and Chanel

Character

Lana Turner and Chanel
Confidence

Greta Garbo and Chanel

Tenderness

Grace Kelly with Dominique Sirop
Elegance

Ava Gardner and Stephane Rolland

Panache

Loretta Young and Elie Saab

Refinement

Ingrid Bergman and Elie Saab
Majesty

Rita Hayworth and Yves St. Laurent

Sensuality

Would I have made it as a Hollywood stylist or would I have been sent back to Wardrobe? 


au revoir.

HOLIDAY SPIRIT NEW YORK STYLE

LES FETES A NEW YORK

image parkermeridien

au revoir.

COOOLD...

 BRRRRR...

It has been very cold in many parts of the world this last few days of the beginning of winter. Some have taken advantage of the cold situation, some, much more that others, have suffered. Here in New York we have not been spared and I believe it will last...

Greenland

Golfer

Russia

Seafront

China

Swimmer

Spain

Southern! province

Switzerland

Vineyard

Berlin

Ouch!

Paris

Bicycliste

USA

New York State

Yellowstone

The Great Lakes

Guess where I would rather be.

au  revoir.

HAVE A PEACEFUL and JOYFUL CHRISTMAS

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JE VOUS SOUHAITE UN NOEL 

fait de Joie et de Paix

image and ornament cazenovia abroad 

au revoir.

SUCH A SIMPLE CHRISTMAS

UN NOEL SI SIMPLE 

getty images

Quite a number of years ago, when I was still in my teens, I lived in Ivory Coast for one year with my parents. I spent just one Christmas there, and it was a very special one. 

In Africa, the Holiday Spirit is always difficult enough to get into as it is. The usual seasonal trappings are not there to see, or smell or hear. 90⁰ temperatures and palm trees are not the most common Christmas decor for some of us. 

I had not been overwhelmingly excited at the idea of going to a mission in the bush of Western Africa for Christmas. Any other time of the year, yes, fantastic, but just not at THAT time of the year. We could do that all year round from Abidjan if we wished. 

Well, the trip was to be a strong reality check for me. The reality of lives of great need, the reality of generosity in the most abject privation and the reality of true selflessness. It was there, obvious, in every corner of the mission and the village. 

The mission was a group of very simple buildings something like these.

The decorations were few and very humble yet they managed to convey the warmth of the Holiday. 

The village children sang African songs and French Christmas Carols, taught to them by the French missionaries. A lively, charmingly unruly group of adorable young carolers.

We were offered a delicious meal of the Ivory coast staple Attieke, a fermented manioc that tastes somewhat like a yeasty couscous. It is served with chicken and a very concentrated tomato sauce. We ate with great appetite under a tent with the heads of the village and the missionaries . We later found out that the village had sacrificed every single one of its chickens for the occasion. I went back to the tent to retrieve my sunglasses at one point, and found the little carolers eating the remainder of our meal in our plates...

images getty images, icm.org, ankastreasures, travelpod, cookingnana (these images have been altered for effect)

The short but very formal ceremony- my father was bestowing the Légion d'Honneur on the head missionary- was very simple and extremely moving. The love of the village for this man was so evident and very sincere. 

A well deserved pickup truck full of chicken crates arrived at the village a few days later. Nothing could have been more deserved.

No Noël with overdecorated trees, no plump golden turkeys, no winter chill and no beribboned presents on Christmas day that year.

Something completely different.

A true Christmas not easily forgotten.

Very modest and truly generous villagers, somewhere in Africa, so clearly remembered, so often thanked, if only in my mind.

P.S.: My heart goes out to the people of Ivory Coast at this time of turmoil. 

My best wishes to them for a decent life. 

Against so many odds.

au revoir.