2010年3月25日星期四

Billy Baldwin

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/02/past-present-billy-baldwin-part-1.html



I don’t have much of a fashion memory, but when I was looking at Billy Baldwin interiors all week, I kept thinking about Gwyneth Paltrow’s Oscar dress in 1996. I’ve always loved that dress – it was all white, and she just looked clean, casual and effortless. (She also had Brad Pitt on her arm so that helped). (This is the only good picture I can find of that dress.) Baldwin’s style was crisp, elegant and a little slick, but it was above all simple and practical. (He always said that the best way to update a room was to simplify.) Baldwin’s style became defined as the American style, and he decorated homes for Cole Porter, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Diana Vreeland, and Greta Garbo as well as homes for your average millionaire. He was called the “dean of decorators” and was endlessly quotable.






Hallways were meant for mirrors.

The best decoration in the world is a roomful of books.
-Billy Baldwin


Billy Baldwin’s ‘Likes’
cotton
straw
rattan
bamboo
chinese wallpaper
brass candlesticks
slipper chair
lacquer
plaster lamps


Billy Baldwin certainly loved his brown and his lacquer. Billy once said that every country house needs a dog so I couldn’t resist including a greyhound in homage to the painting in his own home. Billy abhorred leggy furniture saying it made the room feel restless, but I was just not into the box pleat slipper chairs – I hope he’ll forgive me.

[from left: rare books, vintage 1950s tulu carpet $1800, JF Herring Sr print $15 slipper chair $950, mirrored side table $89.99, greyhound, pouf $109-299, brass candlestick $50-65, oxford style heels $80.06]



For our goodbye to Billy Baldwin, here are a few of his favorite things – rattan, chinese wallpaper and moss covered terra cotta – nearly 40 years later, they still look pretty good!

[from left: faux tortoiseshell mirror $100.03, chinese wallpaper print $6.66 -133.14, rattan hamper set $495, x-stool $179, patent eco-leather clutch $145, terra cotta planters $38, 70 dendrobium orchid stems $128.88]