Sunday, April 25, 2010

DELMAN EXHIBITION AT FIT

I'm afraid the Delman shoe exhibition at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology here in New York has closed but you can still check out the online exhibition. I just had to post this photo of these circa 1960 booties. The show was curated by students in the master's degree program at FIT, of which I am a graduate.

D. GETSON EASTERN EMBROIDERY, LOS ANGELES

While in Los Angeles recently I was excited to see the sign of D. Getson Eastern Embroidery and insisted that we pull over to take a photo. The Getson atelier is known amongst fashion people as the creator of lavish beaded and sequined embroideries for James Galanos, like the incredible bodice below of a gown at vintage fashion source Decades. I bit more about Getson at the Kent State University Museum, which I visited in the past year. 

COLONIAL KITCHEN, SAN MARINO, LOS ANGELES

Before going to the Huntington Gardens in San Marino we had lunch at the Colonial Kitchen where I spotted this cute painting. The painting is actually a very "continental" note in a restaurant which is otherwise a timewarp of Americana circa 1960, the decor, the food and the patrons.  You can see pictures of the menu and food at Biggest Menu.  In a private dining room there was a large group of white- and blue-haired ladies playing cards. We loved it. 

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LOS ANGELES

The Natural History Museum in Los Angeles has lots of interesting things to see including a fabulous gallery of gems and minerals and an insectarium that includes enormous, shocking, live insects. In the California history gallery I particularly like this positively Dali-esque cart. This is not a surrealist sculpture or a Hollywood movie prop but an actual wooden cart from the period of Spanish rule in California.

ALEXANDRA VON FURSTENBURG SHOP, LOS ANGELES

I was pleasantly surprised by Alexandra von Furstenburg's home furnishings store/gallery in Los Angeles. One might wonder what she has going for her other than a name and lots of money, and her designs borrow heavily from 1970s style, riding a fashionable wave that may have crested--in my opinion, but she more than manages to pull off a look that is chic and oddly thoughtful at the same time.  Perhaps it is just the white California light or perhaps she recognizes that sometimes you just need a neon-colored lucite desk or accessory to finish, or start, your room. Her furniture and furnishings have interesting contrasts of  tone and density, with thick slabs of color playing against thin lines of light and a well considered combination of disco and conceptual art sensibilities. Despite the hard edges the whole look is surprisingly unpretentious. Again, maybe it was just the light but she really seems to get it right.


Saturday, April 10, 2010

GARDENS IN BEVERLY HILLS

Greystone, in Beverly Hills, is a 1926 English late gothic/early renaissance style house surrounded by Italian renaissance/mannerist style gardens. Built by the Doheny family the property is now owned by the city of Beverly Hills and the gardens are a free public park. The house itself no longer has it's original furnishings and is rented out as a location for weddings, film shoots etc. On previous trips to Los Angeles I have visited the Virginia Robinson Gardens and the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, both also in Beverly Hills--one could spend an entire day visiting these three sites and get a great idea of old (and beautiful and cultured) Los Angeles .  

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter

I returned to New York from two weeks in Los Angeles recently and I have lots of stuff to post from the trip. Easter seems like a good day to start posting with pictures from the Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, magnificent on the outside and inside.