Oscar Elegance at Lee Jofa

Oscar Elegance at Lee Jofa

I had a very busy day yesterday which also included a meeting at the D&D Building.  While I was there, I decided to see if the Oscar de la Renta room was finished at the Lee Jofa showroom.  Every season Lee Jofa installs a fabulous room devoted to one of their fabric designers.  I wasn't sure anything could top the lovely room by interior designer Eric Cohler but the new Oscar de la Renta room with its gorgeous green walls and luxurious bed definitely takes the cake.  It reminds me a lot of the de la Renta's bedroom in their house in Connecticut that I posted a few months ago.  Needless to say, I am as in love with the new Oscar fabrics as I am with the artwork in the room.  I'm sure Oscar de la Renta Home creative director, Miles Redd,  had a hand in this masterpiece and I thank him since it makes a dreaded trip to the D&D Building a whole lot more enjoyable!

 

Photos by Heather Clawson for Habitually Chic

Read More

Fashionable Fabrics: Oscar de la Renta for Lee Jofa

Fashionable Fabrics: Oscar de la Renta for Lee Jofa

If you are a regular reader, then you know how much I love it when fashion and design collide and I can't think of a more perfect marriage than Oscar de la Renta and Lee Jofa. I had the pleasure of attending the Elle Decor sponsored launch party last evening at the Oscar de la Renta boutique and am already trying to figure out where I can use these fabulous fabrics. Lee Jofa Creative Director Stephen Elrod told us a wonderful story about how they went into Mrs. de la Renta's closet to find inspiration since there are no official Oscar archives. Her closet is the archive! Some fabrics were made by the same mill that made the fabrics for the clothing but in cotton instead of silk. Others had to be slightly reinterpreted to work for the home but just as with Oscar's fashions, some are even hand sewn! Amazing! Of course, everyone is already clamoring for the ball skirts made from the fabrics! They might end up auctioning them off for charity so start saving your pennies now ladies. Or you can always head over to Lee Jofa and make your own!

Photos from Lee Jofa

Read More

Oscar at Home

Oscar at Home

The garden photo from my last post was from Annette and Oscar de la Renta's garden in Connecticut. I thought maybe you would like to see some of the rest of the garden and house as well. It's no wonder that Oscar is highly creative fashion designer with a place like this to recharge his batteries and inspire him! I am sure it must have also influenced his new fabric collection for Lee Jofa that will debut this summer. Most of us might not be able to afford to dress ourselves in an Oscar de la Renta fabulous fashions but we will be able dress our homes in his fantastic fabrics! It's just too bad we can't all have a garden that beautiful!

Photos by Francois Halard

Read More

A Tale of Two Homes

A Tale of Two Homes

I had never heard of Stephen Elrod, the Creative Director of Lee Jofa, until recently but then he seemed to be popping up everywhere! His beach house was featured in the June/July 2008 issue of Domino and then his New York apartment was published in the September 2008 issue of Traditional Home. I have been buying and enjoying Traditional Home lately since there aren't that many shelter magazines left! Anyway, as I've stated before, I love to see how people decorate multiple homes and it seems that Mr. Elrod has done a lovely job with both!

I'll fill in the details later but I am off to The Bachelor Pad to work on some things and then to prepare for an installation on work project on Thursday. Ciao for now!

Read More

My Designs: Thoughts on a Design Process

My Designs: Thoughts on a Design Process

I had seen this picture in a magazine, it was of Atlanta's Suzanne Kasler's dining room and the lovely pink draperies struck me as such a daring choice, and yet, they were so beautiful. Several weeks later I had an appointment with a client whom I profiled earlier and I mentioned that I wanted to bring pink into her room. The walls of her living room were already painted in a light celadon, darker celadon stripe (or maybe they are more of an aqua) and she wanted to keep the stripes. Pink would go nicely with them, but the hue had to be deeper than Kasler's pink. The next time I came over I brought several taffeta samples from cerise to fuchsia and the design took off from there. We chose a large Chelsea Editions cherry check and a gorgeous Lee Jofa classic chintz to bring the deep pink in. A celadon Nancy Corzine silk grounded the custom sofa and another Chelsea Textiles seabreeze small check graced the Swedish sofa.


The crowning fabric, though, was a complete afterthought to fix a huge mistake. Originally a pale Bennison linen was to go on the skirted table. Once it arrived, it just died where it lain and at a great personal expense I added this gorgeous damask, in, of course, a berry color. The adjoining walk-in bar was repapered in a deep pink Cowtan and Tout oriental toile.



To look at the finished room it bears no resemblance in any way to the original inspiration picture, which is strange. What I do know, is, that if I hadn't originally brought this picture of Kasler's dining room to my client, her room would look completely different today.

Read More