WHY DON'T YOU .. 2012 edition

In honor of still one more book being published this week based on the illustrious life and career of Diana Vreeland, I dedicate this week’s series to her and her spirit.  The book’s title is Empress of Fashion: A Life of Fashion authored by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart.  So, this author’s version will be dedicated to a large number of those who are my INTERNATIONAL “friends” on Facebook; the ones who carry on in the tradition of great style and fashion and offer the most original and superior goods and services imaginable.  So, this week will be all about... WHY DON’T YOU?

Verdura… WHY DON’T YOU  buy the famous “Greta Garbo” linked bracelet for your significant other or maybe the nuts and bolts cuff links in gold?( http://www.verdura.com/ ) maybe a vintage piece of Belperron?

Ragamont… WHY DON’T YOU arrange for a picturesque luxurious and epicurean winter getaway without having to travel to Gstaad or make your next dinner party a sleepover with all your nearest and dearest  and let Pete Hathaway make all the arrangements ?(http://www.ragamont.com/ ) 

Mark Powell … WHY DON’T YOU  give your significant other a plane ticket to London, book a suite at Claridges and arrange  for the bespoke services of one of London’s most famous Savile Row tailors? (http://www.markpowellbespoke.co.uk/ ) and then arrive hours later as a surprise.

Fromental … WHY DON’T YOU commission a mural of your ancestral digs for your dining room or of your favorite Orientalia for wall coverings in any room? (http://www.fromental.co.uk/ )

Talon Rouge … WHY DON’T YOU  take that ratty old Birkin,  make it like new again or refurbish your old JM Weston’s and you can do it by Fed ex or travel off to Paris for a weekend of rejuvenation and stay at the Meurice and use the Valmont Spa every day?  (http://talonrouge-pierrepaul.blogspot.com/ )

Richard Haines WHY DON’T YOU commission a portrait of your other half by one of the world’s greatest and most renowned illustrators?  Miuccia loves him! (http://designerman-whatisawtoday.blogspot.com/ or (haines.richard@gmail.com)

Mark Belford … WHY DON’T YOU arrange for a HAUTE Couture gown which will make you a frequent flyer to Toronto and arrange for a standing reservation for your room at the Hazelton? (http://www.markbelford.com/ ) ask Princess Charlene what she thinks…

Miracle Icons … WHY DON’T YOU truly get into the “spirit” of the season with “sainted” bracelets for all of your loved ones? (http://www.miracleicons.com/ ) Bruce Springsteen and Colin Farrell don’t leave home without theirs.

Creel & Gow … WHY DON’T YOU shop here and find the most original of gifts for the person who has everything? (http://www.creelandgow.com/) perhaps a lobster en tremblant!

M. de Phocas … WHY DON’T YOU lavish your man with the gift of fine bespoke jewelry? Or maybe the designers can be convinced to make matching earrings for you! (http://www.mdephocas.com/ )

HARBINGER OF DESIGN... FROMENTAL

With the widening of my focus to include interior design, I am proud to say that I have found the Charles James of wall coverings or the haute couture of interior design.  The brand is FROMENTAL, the product is sublime and really beyond my writing abilities as no matter how I try, I will never fully do the product justice.

In all my years I have never quite been exposed to this degree of handwork other than when it takes the form of an item of wearing apparel.  Fromental has shown me that there is indeed an haute couture element when it comes to the world of interiors.  The company bills itself as wallpaper but then that would like saying a Christian Lacroix Haute Couture gown is a mere dress.  The crux of the brand is that this is all about made by hand, not hand screened, but hand painted, hand embroidered, and on silk and then backed with paper and most of the time with Asian influences but not limited to.  The quality of the embroidery and hand painting is excruciatingly beautiful especially when the embroidery work takes the form of “crewel” type embroidery with all the nuances of color and shading… do not think Grandma’s crewel pillows. 

Just to reinforce to you just how amazing this “paper” is, one must keep in mind that this is not sold by the single or double roll but by the size of the walls and that this “art” cannot be “hung” by Joe the paper hanger but MUST be transferred to the walls by artisans and craftsmen who can literally guarantee that not a spot of glue ever sees the face of the paper. 

I hope that the slideshow will be able do some justice to this astonishingly exquisite “wall paper.”

www.fromental.co.uk