I was perusing the style.com site, as I do every time I need a serious fashion fix, when I noticed that there's one trend that never seems to go out of style: animal prints. Brands like Stella McCartney, Alberta Ferretti and Diane von Furstenburg are using snake and tiger prints in a big way. And the perennial leopard print never seems to fall out of favour, whether in fashion or interiors (or even motor vehicles!!)
When I was at university I had a huge leopard print throw pillow in a my room, which I would rather apologetically refer to as the "kitsch element" whenever anyone laughed when they first saw it (in hindsight I suppose I ran with a particularly traditional crowd). What none of us realized back then is that leopard (or any animal print, for that matter) is actually a big sartorial DO and I was actually totally on trend! Look at Elsa Schiaparelli, Diana Vreeland and Anna Wintour - all terribly chic ladies with undeniable fashion cred who have sported a variety of animal prints, with not a hint of vulgarity.
In the home, I still think the zebra rug is a great way to shake up a safe space (and yes, I have one too). And looking at the images below, I think the implementation of animal prints as wallpaper or carpeting can be used to great effect. It's a little tough to draw the line at where chic turns to cringe-worthy, but sticking to just one piece in a print - even something vast like carpeting - is usually a good rule of thumb. Especially if you try to keep the rest neutral or low-key. In the end, though, it's like everything else in life: whatever makes you happiest!
Alberta Ferretti Cruise Collection 2014
Anna Wintour
Carlo Mollino in Vogue Living Australia
Roberto Cavalli RTW Spring-Summer 2013
Roberto Cavalli's home
Elsa Schiaparelli
Madame Castaing
Although the image below is quite over the top, in my opinion, decorator Mary MacDonald can do no wrong. To me, this is a rare example of ostentation, colour and print competing for attention with great success.
In the series 'Nature inspires' it's only right to include our fascination with butterflies, whether in fashion, art or interiors. A few weeks ago I was in Amsterdam's Cornelis Schuytstraat (still the first place I go to when heading to the city, thanks to the great lunch rooms, boutiques and easy access and parking!!), when I passed by florist extraordinaire Menno Kroon and saw a selection of gorgeous flower pots decorated with butterflies. I could still kick myself for not taking pictures and my schedule hasn't allowed for a trip back since, but it got me thinking and scouring the internet for more images.
I really like Dutch artist Lux Buurman's realistic portrayal of Eve's skirt made of fig leaves, adorned with insects, part of the "Paradise" series which she created with her artist husband Ab van Overdam. I especially love the irreverent title! It is certainly less controversial than Damien Hirst's 'Butterfly Windows', which look like giant stained-glass windows. There has been much to-do about Hirst's use of butterflies (living and dead) in his art (installations), but whether we find the idea repugnant or not, the fact is that we as human beings have always wanted to capture the beauty of butterflies, whether literally (think taxidermy) or figuratively. They're fantastically colourful and represent freedom, lightness and youth.
Lux Buurman, "Eva's miniskirt with jewels"
Damien Hirst in front of one of his Butterfly Windows
I really love the Entomology line of wallpaper, fabric, cashmere plaids and breakfast china by designer duo Snijder & Co. (Dutch artist Jaap Snijder and Brazilian artist Marcelo Gimenes) which is available in The Netherlands through Anke van Goor. If my kids weren't absolutely terrified of insects, I would totally want this wallpaper for my powder room. Actually, maybe I'll get it anyway; it might help with their fears!
Entomology wallpaper and plates by Snijder & Co.
Madonna
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How amazing is this headdress?! I wonder if the model can actually see anything? Who cares, when you look that good!
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Source: Hermès
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Alexander McQueen
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Photo by Christopher Sturman
Butterfly Room, Singapore House in Adelaide, Australia
Us Dutchies have the weather on the brain. Maybe it's because our winters are seemingly endless, our summers are unconvincing at best, or because we still haven't accepted that we are true Northern Europeans and this comes with the territory (I know I haven't!!). The fact of the matter is that we talk about the weather - A LOT! At the grocery store, the school gates, the water cooler at the office, the hockey and soccer fields. You name it, we're there and we're discussing the damned weather. It's up there with politics, sex and religion for lively dinner conversation and our lives are built around it.
It should therefore come as no surprise that any image that captures sunshine and blue skies is especially appealing to me. Turquoise and yellow recall cheerful summery days better than any other colour combination and looking at these images is the equivalent of half an hour of light therapy! I promise!
PS I know the whole Massimo Vitali thing is starting to get a little old, but I still love, love, love his beach prints (like in the image above). Talk about bringing summer into your home.
"The fun of getting dressed is it's a creative experience" - Iris Apfel
The fabulous Iris Apfel, née Barrel, is probably the most stylish nonagenarian on the planet. She became a fashion icon in her eighties, when the Metropolitan Museum in New York hosted an exhibition dedicated to Apfel called Rara Avis: The Irreverent Iris Apfel.
Iris is known for her eclectic, outlandish taste and love of accessories. "My mother worshipped at the altar of accessories and I got the bug," she has said. But before she became a 'geriatric starlet', as she has joked about herself, she was a successful business woman running Old World Weavers with her husband. In this capacity, Afpel worked for many museums and even the White House, restoring and providing top quality reproductions of fabrics from the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Apfel is gutsy and unapologetic when it comes to her personal style, something I admire and delight in. Her oversized glasses, her layered necklaces and bracelet, and her architectural clothes have become a uniform of sorts, although she never seems to be overwhelmed by her clothes. She is still the one wearing the clothes, not the other way around.
Her apartment in Manhattan is also a sight to behold. Filled to the brim with personal treasures collected over a lifetime, it is as colourful, extravagant and idiosyncratic as its owner. I love how she mixes her prints - the ikat and the brocades - without any apparent thought behind it. I'd like to think I could mature into a person as confident in herself as she is. Iris Apfel is definitely my style heroine.
I am completely infatuated with Jacques Grange's style. This designer's ability to move seamlessly from classic to contemporary interiors and imbue each with a sense of timelessness is uncanny. He delivers both with verve, and I admire his balance when it comes to colour as well. There is neither nor too little of it, something you don't see that often. Opulent, eclectic, minimalist chic - he does it all.
I've often wondered, if I had the means and the inclination, which designer I would ask to decorate my home, and Grange is certainly in the top three! I'm especially crazy about his own apartment in Paris, which one belonged to the writer Colette, and which you can read about here. Nothing here appears staged, and all the pieces are interesting. The spaces are architecturally breathtaking, yet ultimately livable.
