Cecil Beaton

I came across Cecil Beaton in The Power Of Style as the artist behind the various charming paintings of the women featured, before happening upon a book with the title "The Unexpurgated Beaton."  
After looking up the definition of "unexpurgated" and finding this:

adj
(of a book, text, etc.) not amended or censored by removing potentially offensive material
 
I assumed it would be a pretty fun read. And while I'm only a small ways in and still need to report back on Truffles I've Seen, I figured a very rainy day might be well used looking up his famous pictures.
 

And here are some of his words that basically and completely sum up what it is to be s'morish:

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.

...Although I may have to keep some of his more scathing words to myself...

All You Need Is...Shades

As Labor Day approaches, and your last chance to spend a summer weekend soaking up a bit of sun and spending time with friends before fall schedules pick up some momentum, you may be wondering what all you should pack and take with you for the weekend. Appetizers? Fun cocktail ideas? Playlists? A cute new suit? The list goes on, but sometimes, simplicity reigns and all you really need is just a great pair of shades. Which is why Zack, the Shade Master, has offered up a bit of insight to his evergrowing, extensive, eclectic, and fantastic collection [read:addiction]. And it's just plain great- Enjoy!

Which pair is your favorite and why?
My pair of Bausch & Lomb wayfarer II's with pink/purple lenses are my most prized pair of shades.
The combination of wayfarer lines and classic tortoise shell, mixed with colored mirror tint, is a union of many years and styles of sunglasses. This mix of styles was the reason I had to have these glasses.

How did you get started on your sunglass kick?
Tommy the Ginger first introduced me to vintage sunglasses. He has a pair of Ratti 803's that are super cool, and unlike anything I had seen, but they were too square for my face. I set out to find my own pair of semi-unique sunglasses and stumbled upon vintage-sunglasses-shop.com, a website that has 1000+ vintage sunglasses. I bought a pair of B&L RayBan Gatsby's, and that started an addiction that probably won't ever be kicked. I'm addicted to having sunglasses that nobody else has. The guy that owns the website can find me any pair of sunglasses that I'm looking for, and emails me when he finds a pair that might catch my fancy. So in reality, he's a drug dealer.

Do you have a favorite time period?
Anything made before the nineties, and after the sixties for American sunglasses. Back in the day RayBan was owned and manufactured by Bausch & Lomb, a company that also made helmets for fighter pilots. (The classic RayBan Aviator used to be standard issue for fighter pilots) The Bausch and Lomb RayBan glasses are heavier, and were all handmade. The vintage wayfarer II's that I own are much larger and heavier than their modern-day counterparts.

For Persols, anything made before 1993, when Luxotica Corp. purchased the Ratti factory and ruined everything. Before 1993, persol shades came in many different shapes, sizes and variations of silver arrows and Meflecto systems. (Meflecto systems are the vertical bars that help the frame bend to the wearer's face)

Do you have a dream pair of shades?
My dream pair would be a folding Ratti 749 with blue lenses, the ones McQueen wears in the original Thomas crown affair, but Christies just sold a pair for over 120,000£.
But for what I am willing to pay for a pair of vintage glasses, I want a pair of tortoise Ratti 649's with colored mirror lenses. I have a guy looking for those right now, and after I get that pair, it will be the last pair I buy. I swear. Maybe just one more...


Next pair you have your eyes on?
Currently looking for a pair of Ratti's for a belated 25th present.
(tear)

How do you decide which pairs to wear and when?
Classic, plain tortoise ones I wear everyday. The wild, eclectic ones I wear  during not so every-day activities. I once wore my mirrored Ray Ban Lennon tea-shades while working cattle, and I have worn some of the funky fresh others with jacket and tie.

Sunny Scarlette

How did you choose the ones you gave Scarlette for Christmas?
I bought Scarlette a pair of Ratti 69208's for Christmas. I thought she would like a pair that was as unique as she is. The 69208's were good because they look like they could be found in an 80's  country club lost and found.
I also bought a pair of Red mirrored Ratti's for Tommy's birthday, he walks to the beat of his own drum, and I think I found some shades that can walk with him.

Tommy the Ginger

I think I'd have to agree there. Pretty keww...

It's a Mo-thing, these fold up

Although Laz has a couple of other favorite accessories, Persols are on his list too!

Wishing everyone a shade-y, safe, wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Expanding Your "Cocktail Canon":Vodka Rosemary Lemonade Fizz

So, I have had several requests to put up the recipe for this drink that we served at our wedding, and I finally came across the sketch book I had filled with recipes/flowers/cakes and all sorts of ideas in the trunk of my car this evening and figured I'd post it for the weekend. Thank God my parents saved some Gourmets before the peeps took over and decided that Bon Appetit was a suitable substitution... :

VODKA ROSEMARY LEMONADE FIZZ
Serves 8


Aromatic sprigs of rosemary smooth out vodka-spiked lemonade, providing a bracing counterpoint to the lusty flavors of the many antipasti dishes. It's a great addition to anyone's cocktail canon. 


1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 (8-inch)rosemary sprigs
1/2 cup vodka
   Chilled club soda or seltzer/ Topochicos
Garnish: 8 (3 inch) rosemary sprigs


*Bring lemon juice, sugar, and rosemary to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Discard rosemary sprigs. 
*Fill 8 (8 oz) glasses halfway with ice. Divide syrup (about 2 tbsp each) among glasses and add vodka. Top off with club soda. 


Cook's note: Rosemary syrup can be made 3 days ahead and chilled. Bring to room temperature before using.

And I also loved that in an awesome Vera Wang coffee table book my friend, Hays, sent I learned that rosemary's symbolism is of remembrance and fidelity. Which made them all the more delightful to enjoy on our wedding day, and happy to add them to our cocktail canon and our anniversary canon as well...

wow!

Go Tell it on the Mountain

I have been desperately wanting to go visit the mountains this summer for the smell of Christmas, sound of rushing creekwater, chilly temperatures, rumors of a bear on the loose,

Actual photo of the  bear....at the request of my mother we will be wearing bells while hiking....

hiking with Johnny, wearing my new hat, cooking, using our new picnic basket!, drinking wine, and of course, the ten hour drive there and back we have to look forward to...and Johnny has finally given us the go ahead! 
While I have made my trip to Half Price Books, purchased the 8 or so cassette tapes [seriously, cassettes] required to get through Ayn Rand's Fountainhead, I'm also looking forward to finishing my George Lang book, and reading through some of the aforementioned magazines with particular interest in Harper's article "The Most Stylish and Wicked Woman in Fashion" about Daisy Fellows.

Lang's book has taken time due to lack of time on my part, and almost the pleasure of still having it as my book to read in the tub. And my interest in the Bazaar article, is because of one of my favorite books ever, The Power of Style,

gave me my first very entertaining picture of who Daisy Fellows was. Such shocking and funny stories that I had to read some of them to Johnny.

"There was the time she gave a dinner party, with the guest list composed entirely of people who despised one another. She made sure to seat them so that a man's wife sat near his mistress, a divorcee next to her former husband, and a literary critic within whispering range of a writer whose book he had recently savaged."--The Power of Style

"Because she had a life of unlimited luxury, Daisy had more than ample opportunities to torture her friends. Her prize prison was the Sister Anne, a 150-ton yacht that lured a great many unsuspecting visitors to the Mediterranean each summer. Once on board, however, they discovered that the boat's magnificence did not extend to its cuisine. Daisy lived on caviar and vodka; her guests subsisted on tinned food. At some point on the cruise, Daisy would say, "I've got a treat for you. Hobbs has found a beautiful sirloin of beef onshore, and we're going to have it for lunch." Right on cue, Hobbs produced the beef. Everyone admired it. Everyone except Daisy. 'Oh, Hobbs, what a pity. It's gone bad!' she'd say, then grab the beef and fling it overboard."--The Power of Style

And how I wish it was possible to whisper on a blog, but quite frankly, she just sort of seems like a cray cray bitch. But, maybe I'm a bit guilty for finding the stories so entertaining...

And I have to apologize, but due to this trip, I'll probably be taking a teensy vacay from P&S...unless I can apply the appropriate pressure to a couple of people I have doing some guest posts....But, I'll be back next week with some mountainy posts...enjoy the rest of your week!

I Die, Cleverly

The new season of Rachel Zoe isn't as entertaining to me as seasons past. I still think Brad is presh, but I'm sort of tired of the overacting...I still record it, but as far as Tuesday nights go my heart belongs to Jeff Lewis and the gang (so excited to see next week's episode with that sweet little ginger baby). However, I did love the "I Die" spread in Bazaar. 

Isn't it fun and clever?

Fall is Coming...

One small delight: stopping in to a grocery store, or running in quickly to CVS to grab some daily necessity like toothpaste, getting to the register and seeing big. fat. September magazines (!!) Combine that with the fact that the last few years magazines have become as thin as the models inside + a hot, hot, hot July and August, and you find a very happy me. Though the magazine may be filled to the brim with advertisements, fine with me.(Atleast people are paying for ads) And no less powerful than the escapism a book can provide with visions of fur and cozy sweaters, and seasons that actually change! How fantastical for the south Texan who has forgotten what a breeze must feel like, or why one might find a fireplace useful in their home? All signs lead to sweat until a powerful cool-front can muster its strength, and blow in bringing with it the promise of holidays! 

Those gold cuffs! And the chloe trousers+bow!

Classic and neutral

Charlotte Casiraghi might as well have been named Helen, with a middle name "of Troy." Goodness she's beautiful. 

It's coming! 

Happy Monday

I don't know if I should apologize for putting this up on a Monday and making that spandex feel less attractive or the Monday blues more acute, or if I should preface rather with the promise of unfolding daydreams...

of glamour,

beauty

 

style,

panache

and Balenciaga

... I certainly hope it is the latter that these Louise Dahl-Wolfe photos deliver...

Louise Dahl-Wolfe- Staley Wise Gallery

Coco Before Chanel

Coco Before Chanel was one of those movies that I desperately wanted to see, but due to the short time spent in theatres in San Antonio and my mother/email chain induced fear of going to movies alone, I missed my window of opportunity. Therefore I was delighted to find it on Starz On Demand last weekend when Johnny was out of town and in the one hundred degree heat somehow I found myself in bed with a cold, and a snoring Boston Terrier. 


And I could not have been happier. The movie is beautiful and smart, as is her story, albeit mixed with tragedy and hardship. But it's those hardships that I think created such a unique path for what has become one of the most important fashion houses/labels in the world. Through her clever schemes and unique vision, she s'mored her way to the top. 

The movie will have you touched, in tears, inspired, itching to go to Paris, eager to learn more about Chanel herself, 

craving champagne, tempted to steal your husband's clothes, determined to be waifish, pining over Boy Capel, 

"An exceptional future awaits you. You're like no one else, you have to trust yourself."

and wishing that you had a few spare thousands to throw at some classic Chanel staples for your own wardrobe...oh, and even more envious respect for the lovely, Audrey Tautou.