May 2022 -

BLAKE LIVELY IN VERSACE WITH CHANGING COLOR TAFFETA TRAIN…EXQUISITELY PERFECT!

WITH RYAN REYNOLDS RESPLENDENT IN WHITE TIE, THEY WERE CO-CHAIRS OF THE GALA

ALICIA KEYS IN **THE KING** OF AMERICA DESIGNERS, RALPH LAUREN’S BLACK CAPE WITH NEW YORK SKYLINE AND BEDAZZLING PERFECT GOWN!

AND A NON-PUNK BILLIE EILISH BEING VERY ADULT IN GUCCI

Nena in her favorite place in the Met Museum….The American Wing! This peaceful place always welcomes me! This is the location of this year’s fascinating Costume Collection exhibition!

My favorite room in the Exhibition is the Frank Lloyd Room in the America Wing featuring a gathering of the most divine tableau of Charles James creations styled by the master Martin Scorsese! Bringing three American icons together in one knockout display!!

And then there are the Ann Lowe’s garments featured in the Renaissance Revival Room interpreted by Julie Dash. I’m particularly taken by the shadowy seamstresses clad in black tulle. Ann Lowe was a prominent Black designer known as the creator of Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding gown. I featured her and her fascinating story in one of my nenasnotes The Fashion Master Classes on Black designers!

And Tom Ford’s chaotic feel of the iconic Battle of Versailles when the American Designers were dramatically presented and acknowledged as equals to the French designer establishment!

I think we need a field trip to NYC to take all this in…in person!!!!! The Met always stuns with its Costume Exhibitions and I particularly love them when they take us into the permanent collections, think Dangerous Liaisons, Goddess and one of my most favorite exhibitions ever…Anglomania! Until then read more on Vogue.com.

In the Victorian Language of Flowers Lily Of The Valley means the return of happiness! They most certainly mean that to me. They top my list of favorite flowers closely followed by roses, especially old fashion roses! Yet another blog post in the future….for this post…let’s look at the many aspects of this stunner and enjoy its brief seasonal appearance….Spring! When I was a little girl there was a huge vacant lot near my Rogers Park home filled curb to curb with Lily Of The Valley and wood violets….each spring I would gather arm loads of these glorious blooms and when we moved to Evanston we planted a bed of LOTV the length of our home in a bed about three feet wide….stunning and I can still remember their intoxicating smell!

From one of my most favorite blogs https://www.theglampad.com

“Did you know that in France the First of May is a public holiday, officially known as La Fête du Travail (National Labour Day) but also called La Fête du Muguet (Lily of the Valley Day)? It is an occasion to present Lily of the Valley flowers to loved ones. The French tradition of giving Lily of the Valley on May Day is supposed to have begun on May 1st, 1561, when King Charles IX of France was presented with a bunch of Lily of the Valley flowers as a token of luck and prosperity for the coming year.”

It is tradition to hang a May basket on your front door as well as your neighbors and other friends. I say let’s bring back that tradition….it is charming!!!!

By now you know my Lily of the Valley obsession….it doesn’t stop with objects, oh no it doesn’t…it continues to art, much of which I have shared with you and…..needlepoint, lots of needlepoint. The photo below is a close up of the center of a small rug 2’ x 3’ that I designed and worked from a chart. I prefer working from charts rather than painted pieces, just my preference. I have done both, having created hundreds of pieces over the yesrs. This particular work was done in 1974 (it is signed and dated) and has been a wall hanging, a small area rug and now rests on the back of one of my loveseats.

DB331CCA-ABA2-4FC2-8F46-A2924C2BF3E6 — My Needlepoint Rug, one of several LOTV needlepoint pieces I made.

A few of my LOTV collections….

My breakfront with textured glass shelves and hand gilded interior (took 6 coats of Ralph Lauren gold leaf paint…but was fun to do!) this is a tiny look at the collection, it houses some of my favorite pieces!

A detail of my father’s small chest of drawers, from Paul McCobb, that held his watercolor paints and brushes, that I decoupaged with Lily Of The Valley vintage postcards collected for years at antique shows, flea markets, etc. First I painted the solid maple chest with green paint then antiqued it with flecks of black and gold paint. A nenasnote…my father and mother loved Mid-Century- Modern furniture and our home was all Paul McCobb! In my early teens I started collecting vintage pieces which I live with to this day. This chest, in its redone form, is the only piece left, I gave away all the McCobb pieces!

A vintage book given to me years ago by dear friends.

Another of my treasures, an oil painting commissioned by Ruthy, my mother, from British artist Deborah Jones through the Marshall Field’s Art Gallery. It hangs at the head of my painted antique French daybed.

Of course a couple of Fabergé pieces…

Some fashion…. “From his favorite flower, lily of the valley, Dior would make it an essential part of his couture. First there is this dried strand which he sews at the hem of each of his creations. Then there is the lily of the valley which he wears in a buttonhole and the one he offers, every May 1st, to his “little hands” and his biggest customers.” Quote found on Pinterest and, by the way, check out my nenasnotes Pinterest for my Lily Of The Valley board…lots and lots to look at there!! Now some pieces from Dior…