For the Love of Lilly

Several great women passed away this week and fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau was one of them. Famous for her tropical print dresses that were born out of necessity (the story goes she opened a juice stand and needed clothing that wouldn't show the grapefruit stains), "Lillys" became the rage from Palm Beach to Hamptons and everywhere in between.  The year was 1959 and a simple pink and green shift dress sold for $22.00.  Five decades later and $100 million in annual net sales, the line lives on. Yes, an empire literally began with a juice stand and this was one heiress who was not a lady who lunched.

The Palm Beach Princess in the sixties....

and in later years.

While her vividly colorful frocks may not be for everyone, here are a few notable celebs in their Lillys....

Actress Brooke Shields at Lilly store

Ever the trendsetter, Jackie Kennedy (shown with family in Hyannisport)  put Lilly on the map

Kristen Davis on set as Charlotte in Sex and the City

Rose and Kathleen Kennedy

"The View" host Elizabeth Hasselbeck

Tennis star Serena Williams in a halter Lilly

Suri Cruise with her famous dad Tom

One of my favorite Lilly designs were the keyhole patio dresses

Photo Credits: Cecil Sloughton/The White House via JFK Presidential Library and Museum, PRNewsfoto, Lilly Pulitzer, Getty Images

From Set and Screen to Living Room

For those of you in New York City and surrounds, hope you can attend a fun lecture "From Set and Screen to Living Room: The Set Decorator and the Interior Designer" at the D&D Building, 979 Third Avenue, Astra Cafe, 14th Floor on Wednesday, October 10th at 3:00. I will be on a panel discussion with Lydia Marks of Marks & Frantz and set decorator on Sex and the City and designer Marshall Watson (his line at Lewis Mittman has graced the sets of the new Katie Couric show). Ann Maine, editor in chief of Traditional Home, will be the moderator. 

Mark's interiors on the film Sex and the City 2 

A reception and book signing of Designs on Film will follow at the Edward Ferrell + Lewis Mittman showroom, suite 903. You can RSVP at 212-888-8580. And win a chance to attend a Katie show up close and personal. Hope to see you there!

And a big congrats to Sally Sirkin Lewis as she celebrates the 40th anniversary of J. Robert Scott. Bravo!!!

Photo Credits: J Robert Scott, Traditional Home, Warner Brothers

N.Y.E. on Film

Should you forgo all the hoopla and stay home and watch a movie this New Year's Eve, you can vicariously experience everything from an overturned ship to poignant friends turned lovers. Here are a few memorable New Year's Eve scenes on film:

New Year's Eve

Pick a holiday, add an all star ensemble cast and a series of romantic vignettes and you have the formula for director Gary Marshall's film New Year's Eve in what is truly a trend in Hollywood these days. (If this sounds familiar, you probably saw Valentine's Day back in February and if you are a baby boomer, you remember the Love Boat as well). The film stars Hilary Swank, Ashton Kutcher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, and yes, Robert De Niro. The critics have not been kind so enter at your own risk (although it's got a great cast and looks like a good "rom-com").

Sunset Boulevard

Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) lures young screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) to her NYE bash only to find he is the only guest in her decrepit, memory filled Sunset Boulevard mansion. Often campy yet a true window on aging in Hollywood, the film is a classic and gets better with every viewing. I remember hearing a film was in the works with Glenn Close years ago, too bad it didn't work out.

Ocean's Eleven 

Danny Ocean and Company - that would be Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop - pull off a heist in Las Vegas on the busiest night of the year. Ocean's Eleven is the original and better than the sequel (in my humble opinion).

Connery and Zeta Jones

Another heist takes place before the ball drops in the year 2000 in the stylish caper Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Winslet and Black in The Holiday

Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Jude Law and Cameron Diaz celebrate New Year's Eve in a little Surrey town in director Nancy Meyer's holiday classic (aptly called) The Holiday.

Bissett and Bergen in Rich and Famous

Rich and Famous is an often forgotten gem of a film directed by George Cukor and stars Jacqueline Bissett and Candice Bergen as old friends who are at varying stages of their career. The film takes place over several decades of their friendship (complete with competition, jealousy and envy) and culminates on New Year's Eve. Look for a young Meg Ryan and Bergen's daughter.

When Harry Met Sally's Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan

Harry's proclamation of love to Sally is a scene stealing moment in When Harry Met 

Sally. "And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of our life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible" was just one of the many memorable quotes from writer Nora Ephron.

The Poseidon Adventure

"There's got to be a morning after" was not the case for the tourists on this love boat in the seventies disaster flick The Poseiden Adventure. Gene Hackman, Red Buttons, Ernest Borgnine and Shelley Winters were among the fatalities as I recall. Great special effects as the boat capsizes on the big night.

Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City

Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) spend a depressing NYE together after having a year of being left at the altar and separated respectively in the film Sex and the City. Or skip the film and rent the set of seasons one through eight and have a marathon.

And if you didn't watch it over Christmas, here is your chance...Holiday Inn. Enough said.

And here's to a prosperous, healthy and reasonably stress free 2012. Happy New Year!

Holiday Inn

Fashion in Film

Depending on your location and interests, fall can mean football and tailgating, getting the kids back to school or looking forward to the new Broadway and film season. For many, it's an annual rite of passage fashion wise, ushering in a new season of designs and trends. (And for my postman, it means a back brace hauling in the September magazines -- it's rumored Vogue once weighed in at five pounds).

For fashionistas, the definitive fall event is the runway shows at New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park (Sept.10-17). So for the ninety percent of us that will not be attending, I advise catching the new season of Project Runway or check out my quirky film list at your local DVD store:

Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face

Based loosely on the life of famed photographer Richard Avedeon, the l957 musical Funny Face featured Audrey Hepburn as an accidental model/muse for photographer Fred Astaire set against a backdrop of Greenwich Village and haute couture Paris, costumes by Givenchy and Edith Head and of course, Gershwin tunes. Avedon was hired as a "special visual consultant" and is credited for the film's "Think Pink" fashion number as well as the opening title design. One of his favorite models Suzy Parker was said to be the inspiration for Hepburn's Jo and is seen in a cameo.

The Devil Wears Prada

Life often imitates art in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), a thinly veiled roman a' clef of Anna Wintour and exquisitely played by Meryl Streep. Set at the fictitious Runway Magazine and culminating at the couture shows in Paris, the film is a must for fashion junkies.

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the September 2008 issue of Vogue magazine is the focus of the aptly named documentary The September Issue (2009). Legendary editor Anna Wintour is naturally at the center of the film (unlike Prada, she gave her blessing to this one) that is currently playing in New York and opens to selected cities September 11th. For more on the film, see the website.

Sex and the City the Movie

From the television series of the same name, Sex and the City (2007) is practically a fashion magazine itself, spawning fashion trends and product placements too numerous to mention. The sequel is currently filming in New York City and will hit theaters next May.

Designing Woman

Vicente Minnelli's (Liza's dad) 1957 film Designing Woman featured Lauren Bacall as a clothing designer who marries Gregory Peck in a whirlwind romance, only to discover later they have little in common. (Originally James Stewart and Grace Kelly were slated for the role but seems Grace had a wedding to plan with a prince...)

Roberta

A fashion house in Paris becomes the backdrop for Roberta (1935), a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical that also stars Lucille Ball and Irene Dunne. Jerome Kern's "I Won't Dance" and "You'd Be Lovely To Look At" became instant hits.

Garmento

The indie 2002 film Garmento offers a peak under the hemline of the fashion industry and often it's not pretty. Filmed on Seventh Avenue, Garmento takes a satirical look at the effects of corporate America and "the seamy side of fashion," filled with backstabbing, copycatting and of course, bitchiness!

Artists and Models Abroad

Parisian fashion is front and center once again for the 1938 film Artists and Models Abroad starring Jack Benny and Joan Bennett.

David Hemmings in Blow Up

Michelangelo Antonini's Blow Up (1966) captures the life of a London photographer in the sixties -- and of course complete with freewheeling sex, pot and mod clothing. It is said to be loosely based on photographer David Bailey (and ex-husband of Catherine Deneuve) who gave us all those great Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy covers of the sixties along with album covers of the Rolling Stones.

That is all for now...all this talk of fashion makes me want to shop....!

Photo Credits: Paramount Pictures, MGM, RKO, Warner Brothers, Universal, A&E Indie Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox.

Sex and the City in Fashionable Perpetuity

It seems that Sex and the City is a permanent part of our natural landscape with daily television reruns and now multiple showings of the movie on cable. So for those of you who can't get enough of Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda's world, here's a revisit to a few behind the scenes look at their interiors.

Designed by production designer Jeremy Conway (who was also responsible for the sets for the television show) and set decorator Lydia Marks (who gave us  The Devil Wears Prada), the interiors played an important role as each character's address was as different as their signature style.   Sharing the screen with the four main characters is the inimitable cosmopolitan backdrop of Manhattan with the apartments recreated on a sound stage in Long Island City’s Silvercup Studios. As Sarah Jessica Parker notes, “New York became the fifth woman. She really became this critical character, integral to the story.” 

Carrie Bradshaw's  Iconic Apartment before....

and after.....

Carrie's interior was painstakingly recreated down to the last detail; even her desk, which had been donated to the Smithsonian Museum, was borrowed back for the film. Since there is a time lapse of several years, the furnishings went through an update as Marks explains, “Since Carrie is so involved in fashion, I thought it would be very believable she would have new fabrics around her so the curtains, upholstery and bed linens are all new for the film.” Decorated with dramatic blue walls, floral settees and mirrored tables, Marks even incorporated Carrie’s passion for couture with the draperies made of fabric similar to “a great sculptural wedding dress.”

While the women are no doubt influenced by the latest trends, Conway and Marks looked to a stylesetter from the past for the Vogue offices of Carrie’s fierce editor, Enid Frick (Candice Bergen). Interior designer Dorothy Draper, known for her “Modern Baroque” designs in the early twentieth century, provided direction for the design duo (as evidenced by the black lacquered credenzas). “Her designs managed to be about both glamour and good taste while being functional spaces.”

Enid Frick's  (Candice Bergen) office at Vogue

Charlotte York Goldenblatt's Park Avenue Apartment redecorated

Charlotte’s elegant Park Avenue pad retained the original clean and neutral toned palette as Marks notes, “She is still in her ivory tower, but the overall feel is very eclectic. The gorgeous chaise in her bedroom is an antique found at New York’s Newel Galleries and she can feel like Cleopatra while reading a novel on it.”

Lily's bedroom

The pair also designed a sophisticated yet whimsical nursery for daughter Lily, featuring a toile bed mixed in with mid-century modern toys and furniture from Vitra. “As a decorator, I don’t often get the opportunity to mix toile and mid-century modern!” exclaims Marks.

Writers are hard at work on the script for Sex and The City Part Two. Rumors abound -- Chris Noth a.k.a. "Mr. Big" has not signed on yet, plot lines have already been leaked, etc. No doubt there will be lots of sex, drama, shopping, cocktails....and the inevitable product placements. 

Photo Credits: Courtesy of New Line Cinema