Bettina Ballard's Busy Day

New York Fashion Week has ended and now the editors are on their way to London if they are not there already.  After that, they will cover fashion week in Milan and finally Paris. In March 1951, Life magazine featured an article about  Vogue fashion editor Bettina Ballard entitled Bettina's Busy Day that followed the editor around Paris during fashion week in February 1951.  What amazed me is that except for a few details and midnight photo sessions, the life of an editor hasn't changed much in 60 years. 

In the above photo, Bettina Ballard arrived at Balenciaga at 9:15am to select clothes while wearing a Balenciaga suit.  In the car are the coats and hats of the other fashion houses she will visit that day.

At 10:15am, she arrived for the Schiaparelli opening and wore a Schiaparelli coat over her Balenciaga suit.  She also greeted Bergdorf Goodman buyer Jessica Daube before finding her seat.

At Schiaparelli, Vogue editor Bettina Ballard sat next to Carmel Snow, the editor in chief of rival magazine Harper's Bazaar.  That definitely doesn't happen today!

After another change of clothes, she attended the Dior show wearing a black Dior suit.  She sat next to Michel de Brunhoff the editor of French Vogue.  There is also an ashtry next to the runway since everyone in those days smoked especially in Paris.

Bettina Ballard dined at the home of designer Jacques Fath with among others that included Duchesse de Brissac and Countess de Rosenberg.

Bettina in a belted hotel robe holds a morning conference in her room at 8:00am with photographer John Rawlings and Vogue assistants Babs Simpson and Mary Haas.

Designer clothing can be borrowed and sent around the world for photo shoots today but in 1951, night studio sessions were the only way clothes could be obtained from the fashion houses who also needed them to show buyers. At midnight, Bettina and photographer John Rawlings direct models at a shoot.

A photo taken in Paris.

In the studio at night, Bettina poses models in pale pleated shantung Fath dresses.  The photo was rushed into the March 1 issue of Vogue.

At 2:00am while most of today's editors might be at a party, Bettina checks photos taken during the day and eats a late dinner.  She will decide what to send to Vogue editor Jessica Daves in New York and then will finally go to bed. In 1960, Bettina Ballard published a memoire In My Fashion whichfurther chronicles her life in fashion.  It's one of the only vintage books I don't own but I can't wait to read it!  Bon Weekend!

Perfectly Imperfect Parisian Apartment

As we move into the new year, many of us will be working on organizing our lives and our homes.  I know this because I spent most of Sunday cleaning out my closet and organizing my files.  Why does the interior design industry have to use so much paper?!  While I want everything to be neat and orderly, I realize that there is often beauty in that which is imperfect.  There is something about this Paris apartment that is slightly off but looks so perfect to me.  It also clearly illustrates the difference between American and French decorating styles.  The French don't seem to sweat the small stuff and I will try to remember this in 2011. 

Photos by Amador Toril via French by Design

Frederic's French Flat

I really wanted to post some of my photos from Versailles today but my computer had other ideas.  Now I have to run to a meeting at a magazine so I'm leaving you with these photos from French designer Frederic Mechiche's flat in the Marais area of Paris.  I will try to add some details when I get home later but I think you will see that a picture is worth a thousand words when it comes to this amazing home.  I think it's now one of my all time favorites.  A tout à l'heure!

Photos from Automatism, Door Sixteen, Interiors

Fashionably Chic: Marcel Marongiu

While I was leafing through Dressing the Home this week, another home stopped me in my tracks.  It belonged to French fashion designer Marcel Marongiu.  The designer studied in Sweden and also has a Swedish mother which accounts for his the slightly Gustavian look to his Paris apartment and Normandy farmhouse. Both are filled with pieces with patina in a neutral palette with hits of black. Even his black dog coordinates with his homes.

These first five photos are of the Paris apartment which is about 645 square feet.  It doesn't look that small and also has a terrace which is also a plus in a small space.

There is a video tour of the apartment from Interieurs in French but you can get a better sense of the layout and "non-color" of which the designer is fond.  In the video, it looks like he's painted some of the walls dark grey too.

I think he might have said the dining chairs were from his grandmother in the video.  Maybe one of you who are fluent in French can confirm.  Update: Thanks to Pierre in Montreal who confirmed that the chairs belonged to Marcel's Swedish grandparents.  He also let me know that the chandelier was wired but he removed them to allow for candles instead.  There is nothing better chicer than dining by candlelight!

The screen divides the living room from the bedroom and adds texture.  Even though the space is neutral, every piece has a lovely patina or interesting detail that make it anything but boring.

Here you can see the grey paint that is visible in the video.  It makes the lighter upholstered pices pop in the room.

The artwork above the bed draws your upward so that you don't even notice that the bed sits directly on the floor.

The small size of the Paris apartment probably doesn't bother the designer since he can get away to his farmhouse in Normandy for a little more space.

The designer was creative from a young age and said it started with painting.  After that came fashion and interior design.  "There is no limit to creativity.  I have shaped a world in order to surround myself with an environment in which I feel good," he said.

"Interior decoration must not stifle the people who live in it.  For me, the setting is always in equilibrium, in harmony with the people who live in it." The designer says he likes to mix "eighteenth-century, the Nordic style of the 1950's and 60's, Scandinavian design and a little touch of ethnic, often from North Africa or India."

His favorite material is "old wood or wood that has acquired a patina through time, together with silver; a very natural, unvarnished side combined with a refined touch, but one that ages with the years.  Always, this idea of time."

Marcel Marongiu had his own line but the link to his website doesn't work so I'm not sure if he still designs under his own name.  He does design for the house of Guy Laroche in Paris.  It's nice to know he has such a gorgeous place to get away from it all and recharge his creative batteries.  I wonder if he likes visitors!  

Photos from Dressing the Home and Marie Claire Maison