Bonne Fete Bastille

In honor or Bastille Day, I thought I'd feature the work of the late Yves St. Laurent who helped shape the style of the sixties on film. While many know of his work as a couturier  and perhaps one of the greatest names in French fashion history, he was also a film costume designer.

Deneuve in Belle de Jour and YSL above and below

YSL Costume Sketches for Belle

Belle de Jour also put Roger Vivier Pilgrim Pumps on the map

His greatest work (or maybe it's just my favorite) was for Luis Buñuel's erotic masterpiece Belle de Jour (1966) about a bored housewife (Catherine Deneuve) who turns to prostitution to fill her afternoons -- and tame by today's Fifty Shades of Gray standards. The French film icon became his muse both on and off the screen - the pair also worked on La Chamade (1968), Mississippi Mermaid (1969) and the controversial vampire film The Hunger (1983) (a film at the forefront of the genre). He also designed costumes for actresses Capucine and Claudia Cardinale in The Pink Panther (1963), Leslie Caron in A Special Favor (1965), Romy Schneider in Innocents With Dirty Hands (1975) and Jean Seberg in Moment to Moment (1965). 

Deneuve in Mississippi Mermaid (1969)

Deneuve in The Hunger 1983

Claudia Cardinale and David Niven in The Pink Panther (1963)

Jean Seberg in Moment to Moment (1965)

Romy Schneider in Innocents (1975)

Two of his uncredited films include designs for Sophia Loren in Arabesque (Christian Dior got the nod) and Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's romp A New Kind of Love (1963) that won Edith Head the Oscar for Best Costume Design. 

Real husband and wife team Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
in A New Kind of Love (1963)

Sophia Loren and Gregory Peck in Arabesque

While the designer passed away several years ago, his legend and design house lives on.
Vive La France!

Nicole Kidman at an Oscar luncheon in YSL

The Help's Jessica Chastain is the new face of YSL fragrances

Photo Credits: Clothes on Film, CNN, Universal Pictures

Amore in the Eternal City

We have globe trotted with Woody Allen to London (Match Point and Scoop), Barcelona (Vicky Christina Barcelona) and the City of Lights (Midnight in Paris). Next up on the writer and director's film/travel schedule is To Rome With Love, a romantic comedy about the loves and adventures of an American architect, a retired opera director and his wife, a man mistaken for a celebrity and a young Italian couple in love.

Alec Baldwin and Jesse Eisenberg

The ensemble cast stars Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Judy Davis, Ellen Page and Woody Allen. From the Trevi to the Trastevere, the film is a wonderful travelogue of one of the most alluring cities in the world. Shot entirely on location, Allen teams with French production designer Anne Seibel (who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction on Midnight in Paris) who created the film's sets including a full production of the opera Pagliacci and a beautiful fashion show at the Ara Pacis museum. In a classic case of "when in Rome do as the Romans do," Seibel scouted the city on scooter, influenced by the Rome of Fellini and La Dolce Vita (she even watched Gidget Goes to Rome for inspiration). For more on the sets of To Rome With Love, see my article in Architectural Digest.

Allen giving instructions to his cast

To Rome With Love is currently playing in Los Angeles and New York and opens nationwide July 6th.

Photo Credits: Sony Classics

Four Score and Seven Vampires Ago....

As the subject of not one but two movies and countless books this year, our 16th president is enjoying his time in the spotlight. Add the public's obsession with all things vampire and you have the perfect storm -- Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.

Based on Seth Grahame-Smith's popular novel of the same name, producer Tim Burton and director Tim Bekmambetov bring the story of a President who rules the country by day and battles the forces of evil by night to the big screen. Benjamin Walker (who starred as Andrew Jackson in Bloody Bloody Jackson on Broadway), portrays Lincoln and Rufus Sewell (many of you might remember him as the Kate Winslet's one-sided love in The Holiday) as his nemesis.

And while a story of this nature might be the last place you'd find interesting design, think again. Production designer Francois Audouy and set decorator Cheryl Carasik designed a pretty spectacular plantation lair for Lincoln's bloodthirsty foes along with a French colonial transformation of a Garden district Greek Revival manor and a Zuber panelled White House interior.

Lincoln (Benjamin Walker)  fights the evil vampire Vadoma
with Adam (Rufus Sewell) in the background

For more on the film's designs, see my article The Sets of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter in Architectural Digest. Honest Abe and his ax-wielding ways open at a theater near you Friday, June 22nd.

Photo Credits: Stephen Vaughn/Twentieth Century Fox

Designing 007

If you find yourself in London this summer with no tickets to the Olympics, be sure and catch Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style at the Barbican. From 1962's Dr. No to the upcoming Skyfall, the exhibit chronicles the incredible evolution of the most famous secret agent in history. It's all here - Sir Ken Adams, Peter Lamont and Syd Cain's fantastical set and production designs, automobiles, gadgets, props, and the costumes and tailored suits (everyone from Armani and Tom Ford contributed to the James Bond look).

The One and Only and Accept No Imitations: Sean Connery
(Pierce Brosnan was a great runner up)

The Car: Aston Martin

The Gadget: Little Nelly helicopter in You Only Live Twice

The Bond Girl: Ursula Andress in Dr. No (and the first)

The Production Design: Ken Adam's sketch for the
Fort Knox "Rumpus Room" in Goldfinger

The  Suit: Pierce Brosnan in Brioni

The Set Decoration: Goldfinger

The Villain: Blofeld (Donald Pleasance) and cat in You Only Live Twice

The Martini and a Bath: Diamonds Are Forever

The Soundtrack

The Barbican exhibit opens July 6th and runs through September 5th. For the Bond aficionado, this is better than a martini shaken not stirred...and beats the penthalon and torch relays any day.

Photo Credits: Danjag/United Artists, Brioni

Out of Africa Style

Perhaps one of my all-time favorite movies is Out of Africa, the 1985 romance/adventure/drama based on the autobiographical book by Danish writer Isak Dinesen (otherwise known as Karen Blixen). The film has it all - epic love story, picturesque landscapes, beautiful soundtrack, incredible interiors, and of course, Redford and Streep.

Blixen house in house in Nairobi

Set in 1914, much of the film takes place at the Blixen home at the foot of the Ngong Hills in Kenya. The late production designer Stephen Grimes and his crew renovated the existing farmhouse (Blixen's original home) along with the designs for the Kikuyu village, Muthaiga Club (where Karen married) and the town of Nairobi. Grimes worked from vintage photographs and original construction plans to authentically construct both interiors and exteriors -- a process that took almost a year.

Set decorator Josie Mac Avin searched the Kenyan countryside for many of Blixen's antiques which were sold at the time of her bankruptcy. Antiques, paintings, and household items from her native Denmark were hard to come by in Africa so items had to be shipped from all over Europe. The result was a wonderful British meets Danish meets shabby chintz and tribal type of look that can only be known as Out of Africa Style.

For your own Out of Africa look, check out Decorative Carpets new Tribal collection, a wonderful line of hand-knotted rugs inspired by organic tribal patterns. Made from wool, hemp, and silk, the line recently launched in May and can be found at their West Hollywood location. Seven styles in all, the versatile rugs can complement just about any style. I am particularly partial to Makeda as it's a nice alternative to traditional leopard patterns.

Makeda

Shaka

Congo

Igarra

Zebrina

Tulu

Streep as Blixen

Photo Credits: Universal Pictures, Decorative Carpets

Classic Hollywood Style

In interior design terms, Hollywood Style can symbolize everything from Dorothy Draper inspired Regency and Art Deco to the classic neutral, light and airy California Style looks made popular by designers Sally Sirkin Lewis and Michael Taylor. In actuality, California has such a wide array of distinctive architecture and interiors ranging from Spanish Mediterranean to California Ranch, and the new book Classic Hollywood Style (Rizzoli, 2012) showcases them all.

The book features the works of architect Paul R. Williams who designed homes for the who's who of Hollywood from the 20s through the 70s. Considered "one of the most celebrated architects of his generation," his clientele included Frank Sinatra, Tyrone Power, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Barbara Stanwyck and Lon Chaney (star of The Wolfman and The Mummy for those of you too young to know) along with numerous California players and power brokers.

Jay Paley (nephew of William Paley) residence in
Holmby Hills, 1936 above and below

Williams has the distinction of being the first African American member of the American Institute of Architects, translating the relaxed California lifestyle to homes through English Tudor, French Normandy, Art Deco, Spanish Mediterranean and American Colonial. Williams was also known for his renovations of the Beverly Hills Hotel and the creative force behind the designs for St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis and Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. 

Circular art gallery of Toluca Lake residence of
screenwriter Gladys Lehman, 1937

Neoclassical entry hall of Beverly Hills estate, 1955

Written by his granddaughter Karen Hudson with a foreword by LA designer Kelly Wearstler, the book offers never before seen photos and one of my favorite illustrated design books of the year. It's a beautiful body of work made even more incredible by how timeless the interiors are.

Paul Williams suite in Beverly Hills Hotel, 1949 above and below

Outdoor spaces of Los Feliz home, 1927

Arched stairs descend to garden of "La Canada"
estate in Flintridge area of Los Angeles, 1927

Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills

Photo Credits: Benny Chan