The Glass of Fashion

Cecil Beaton's The Glass of Fashion allows a long look into some of the most fashionable lives.  There's Gabrielle Ray - a "small work of art" whose macquillage takes a cue from Pointillism's dots of color and whose self-presentation is as studied as the selfie. There's Madame Eugenia Huici Errazuriz, constantly transforming her surroundings into a work of art - deeming a house dead if it does not alter. "Elegance means elimination," says Madame E, as she - with sleight-of-hand magic presents a ladder and coat hangers, painted grey, into objets d'art points of interest. Shielding her eyes from the appearance of clutter, Errazuriz presents her photographs, knick knacks, and bric-a-brac mounted within the drawers of a cupboard. And wouldn't you like to accompany Beaton to Charles de Beistegui's Champs Elysees rooftop terrace - a hodgepodge of "modernism, mechanism, and surrealism". Let's go there now, to that terrace. Up the white spiral staircase. Now press the button to activate the glass wall, which rolls away to reveal a view of the lights and traffic below - reflected and refracted by many mirrored surfaces past, present, and futuristic - Napoleonic and Louis XV furniture painted white under the open sky - on a carpet of grass!

Odd to think these personalities and their places occurred close to a century ago! Perhaps not so odd, considering Beaton's observation:

Literature, parties, pastimes, flowers, scent, clothing, decor - all, says Beaton - "reflect the same continuum of change that rides through any given age and are, indeed, related in the sense that they often express, in their different media, the tone of an epoch." He continues - "It seems obvious that changes in fashion correspond with the subtle and hidden network of forces that operate on society - political, economic, and psychological factors all play their part. In this sense fashion is a symbol.... In art as in fashion, new styles or forms seem only a ceaseless and urgent search for some ultimate form of expression."

Women Artists, Early Twentieth Century.

Women peer from a photo of Matisse's 1909 Les Invalides Paris studio.  It seems a rarity to find a photograph of women of that era present as artists in the studio.

Women among Matisse's students - early twentieth century.

I gratefully found this photo among the pages of Gilles Neret's comprehensive and excellent book - Matisse - Konecky and Konecky 1993, p. 263.

Silence in the Noise: Mail Art.

Beneath a vintage dryer bonnet, this lady - in search of pretty looks - appears to be in a zone of quietude. The moment I found this in my mail, I knew it was one of my favorites!  E, the mailer, was unaware of the memories her mail art would evoke.  Memories of:

• hours of my own beneath these humming bonnets - reading and awaiting transformation
• the look of my mother and grandmother and many other women beneath the bonnet
• my grandmother in this exact type of house/salon dress
• that exact relaxed look - beatific - on the face of anyone beneath these humming, warm-air-blowing bonnets 

As loud as they were - and maybe still are - a bit of heaven can be found beneath these dryer bonnets, in the same way that the come and go of waves can lull you to sleep at the beach.

Around the pasted image of this lady sitting primly beneath her bonnet, E used rubber stamps to create a scalloped pattern on the brown paper envelope. And around her head, E affixed "thoughts" and images.  E added color to the black and white image... I especially love the thick 60s eyelashes and the delicate colors she chose! But I wanted to free this lady from her thoughts and give her the peace so many women have found beneath the bonnet.  

It took a bit of work, as E's mail art was of course a real envelope.  Opening it in a hurry to get to the written contents, I tore the edge unevenly.  To fix this, I separated the front and back of the envelope - using parts of the paper to repair the torn edge.  E's stamps are always the greatest, vintage and/or interesting graphics, so I saved those.  Then - to create an atmosphere of tranquility around the seated lady, it was necessary to paint over the thoughts E had given her.  E's stamped scallops reminded me of clouds, so I painted white all around the lady under the bonnet. 

And finally, to firmly attach the added layers of paper, I machine-stitched a few lines.  And now, the mail art - mailed from E to me - is ready for a place on the wall of my studio... to remind me to take a moment to relax from time to time.  Thank You E.

Ikebana Bird

arrangement and photo Toile La La

Paper bird on dried stem "tree" among white gladiola, purple buddleia (butterfly bush), spherical rattlesnake master, black eyed susan, and bachelor buttons.  More at the Toile La La blog.

Mail Art Mailbox

toile la la mail art to E

Mailbox lid - mail art

Mailbox full of mail art and correspondence

mail art from E to toile la la

mail art from E

Within even the construction of our mail art lately there is a conversation or new kind of creative language... a back and forth of imagery.  E sends a letter to me, I alter it... and sometimes vice versa.  One letter made two round trips and then I mailed it to my daughter - who likes to observe our progression of evolving mail art and correspondence.

Initially, my handwriting was not as refined as I wished.  I serendipitously happened upon a wonderful antique typewriter and began typing my correspondence for a small number of recipients.  As another artform, I began stitching on paper to alter images - or in envelope assembly and to add texture or a border.  

E began typing and stitching to me too.  She has acquired quite a collection of vintage typewriters - and her sewing machine has a more extensive range of stitches.  

Having familiarized myself with her collection of rubber stamps, embossing seals, sewing machine stitch patterns, typing ink and envelopes - I recently requested from E a particular combination:  red thread, a French stamp inked with brown-black ink, red typing ink, and a seal on her natural envelopes - which remind me of unbleached linen.  I was delighted to promptly receive them and have been using them for correspondence with E, so she's been able to enjoy her own handiwork via mail art!  Stamps she shared with me from her own collection add great color and visual interest.  I was inspired by the writing on the stamp and decided to add a speech bubble with characters.

mail art, toile la la (on an envelope from E)

E's stamp collection and embellished envelope

two letters from E

E shares my affinity for antique imagery and vintage fonts.  As she knows how I adore the history of art and fashion, she often surprises me with vintage magazine or pattern ephemera.  

I love how the typing here is visible from the reverse side - and how E added gold touches to Renoir's blue nude:

For one of my letters to E, I altered a vintage photo of a man holding a baby. With scissors, I snipped around the baby to make him appear to be perched in a tree.  A few weeks later, the tree-baby returned to me on the outside of E's envelope!

Recently, E sent me several vintage postcards - to which I added collage elements, or handpainting.  For a few days, I contemplated the transformation of this souvenir restaurant postcard - and then decided to add George Washington, the lighthouse, and the painted clouds and seaside:

toile la la mail art:  collage and handpainted altered postcard

Collage: Landscapes and Atmosphere.

Dusk collage image - Toile La La

Dusk collage - image detail

Dusk collage by Toile La La - detail

Splash collage by Toile La La, 6.9.15

This past winter, I began to explore landscapes through collage. Previously, most of my artwork celebrated fashion - but more and more I revel in the splendour of landscape, architecture, and especially atmospheric conditions. 

Letter from the Editor: ALT, gingham

Vogue is not the same without ALT and his "Life With Andre"... I miss Andre Leon Talley!  On the upside, Hurray for my own little stash-of-fashion museum!  Tucked into boxes and shelves are a paper and fabric paradise for the lover of fashion history, where yesterday I revisited ALT on pages 222-224 of Vogue October 2011 in "Life With Andre".  His Thoroughly Modern Millicent made me remember why I miss Andre: he's a reader, observer, and detailed describer.  Andre inspires my fashion imagination sharing his October 2011 reads - biographies of Millicent Rogers and Catherine the Great.  Via Andre, I imagine Millicent in her grand finale Apache-style Schiaparelli dress, with a silver concho belt and a chief's blanket for extra flair.  When Andre describes Catherine the Great's understated and elegant masked ball ensemble - which sounds very Marie Antoinette at Petit Trianon - it appears in my mind's eye:

"Catherine wore a bodice and skirt of rough white cloth (instead of the expected stately brocades and ornately embroidered bodices), a white gauze ruff, an apron, and cuffs with an easy ponytail tied with a white ribbon, a rose tucked in."

This choice of what-I-imagine-to-be handwoven nubby cotton or linen - paired with the gauze, and accented with a rose sounds absolutely perfect - I love it!  Sometimes our eyes get tired of too much.  Too much can be overstimulating. 

Here I must mention gingham.  Several months ago, my snail mail friend E sent me pages from a 1962 McCall's booklet featuring cross stitch on gingham... noting she finds it cheerful, nostalgic, and representative of simpler, easier times.  Coincidentally, a little fashion syzygy occurred.  My search for ALT writing synchronized with the memory of Oscar de la Renta's S/S 2015 gingham and with the memory of E's cross stitch-on-gingham booklet.  Imagine the cross-stitch treatment applied to Oscar de la Renta's supersized gingham!

cross stitch on gingham image, McCall's 1962

Now to close, I'll leave you with a little link where you'll find something I find absolutely charming - combining the idea of Catherine the Great's apron, with of-the-moment gingham, and the cross-stitch-on-gingham idea. Katie at treasurefrommytrunk at Etsy has several vintage aprons featuring this cross stitch-on-gingham. My favorite is a pink gingham apron with red-crowned black roosters parading around its hem!