1/5/13 review of The House in Good Taste, by Elsie de Wolfe

(Image: Rizzoli New York)

Here is my January 5, 2013 Twitter review of The House in Good Taste, by Elsie de Wolfe.

Unlike my later Twitter reviews, this was not posted all in one thread. Instead, I posted each tweet separately.

The tweets are below for your convenience.

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Tweet 1. Finished reading Elsie de Wolfe's The House in Good Taste. The classic work of high-class interior design for those not fabulously wealthy. T2. For such a short book, of which I understood so little, de Wolfe's House in Good Taste was greatly inspiring to me and gave me many ideas.

T3. For de Wolfe, each room entails a balance between the social and personal, the reserved and intimate, and is designed/decorated accordingly. T4. The House in Good Taste is at least partly in the tradition of Thoreau's diary, van Gogh's letters, and Goethe's Theory of Color.

T5. The House in Good Taste is built on three formulae. Number one: suitability, simplicity, and proportion. T6. The House in Good Taste, formula two: light, air, and comfort. T7. The House in Good Taste, formula three: harmony of purpose and harmony of effect.

T8. The House in Good Taste moves through the various rooms of a large house, exploring their purpose, and matching purpose with decoration.

T9. De Wolfe includes a chapter on the apartment, which has often been ridiculed as ignorant of real working-class families with children. T10. But  de Wolfe's chapter on apartments is really aimed at young professionals, or at roomie/companion couples, kind of like Barbie houses. T11. The best part of the apartment chapter is de Wolfe's recognition of modern living rooms as multi-purpose, expressing interests/occupations.

T12. A great thing in The House in Good Taste is de Wolfe's history of Isabella d'Este and Madame de Rambouillet.

T13. But the real star of The House in Good Taste is -- color! Creams, blues, greys, greens, rose, in so many shades! Close to 50 shades, I bet. T14. My favorite is de Wolfe's gentian blue, rose pink, and buff. It's a variation of red, white, and blue. Eat your heart out, Jasper Johns!

T15. Just wanted also to say that the edition of The House in Good Taste I read was published by @Rizzoli_Books. A very lovely printing, overall.

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Here is the link to the Rizzoli edition of The House in Good Taste.

I should mention that I checked this book out from the Jefferson County Public Library system in Colorado.

1/1/13 review of Elsie de Wolfe: A Life in the High Style

(Image: Goodreads)

Here is my Twitter review of the biography Elsie de Wolfe: A Life in the High Style, by Jane S. Smith.

This is one of my earlier Twitter reviews, from January 1, 2013.

Unlike my other Twitter reviews, it's not all posted in one thread. Instead, I posted separate tweets.

The tweets are below for your convenience.

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Tweet 1. Finished reading Elsie de Wolfe: A Life in the High Style, by Jane Smith. Story of 20th-century America's great interior decorator.

T2. De Wolfe started out trying to be a society woman, ended up becoming a notable amateur actor, then tried becoming as notable professionally. T3. De Wolfe was regarded as a mediocre actor, but her sense of style was -- well-studied! -- and impeccable, and she became notable for that.

T4. De Wolfe lived with Bessie Marbury, herself a successful international theatrical agent. The couple was noted for their wonderful hosting. T5. When de Wolfe gave up her acting career, Marbury suggested de Wolfe turn her style talents to interior design. De Wolfe did, with success.

T6. De Wolfe decorated Colony Club, the first great country club for women. She also helped HC Frick decorate what's now the Frick Collection. T7. De Wolfe's masterpiece and, arguably, her greatest companion, was the Villa Trianon, home for her, Marbury, and Ann Morgan, in Versailles.

T8. De Wolfe is a great character. But Bessie Marbury is also a fabulous figure. She was an incredible woman of business. T9. Another character in the book I love is Hilda West, de Wolfe's secretary of twenty-five years. Her story has a sad ending, though.

T10. I've said before I imagine what directors I'd like for adaptations of things. For de Wolfe -- definitely @coppolasofia. T11. What of de Wolfe I'd like to see by @coppolasofia: the adventure w/ Frick and the Bagatelle, or the breakup of the Versailles Triumvirate. T12. The Versailles Triumvirate was the menage a trois made up of de Wolfe, Marbury, and Ann Morgan. T13. In the story of the Versailles Triumvirate's breakup, I'd include all the war work de Wolfe did.

11/6/2012 review of book The Power of Style

This is my Twitter thread review of the book The Power of Style, by Annette Tapert and Diana Edkins.

I wrote this review on November 6, 2012.

Unlike many of my Twitter reviews, this was not written in thread form. Instead, I posted each thread in the review separately.

So I have reproduced each tweet into this blog post for easier reading.

T1. Finished reading The Power of Style, by Annette Tapert and Diana Edkins. The stories of fourteen fashionable women.

T2. Women from Power of Style who most interested me were Elsie de Wolfe, Diana Vreeland, Millicent Rogers, and Pauline de Rothschild.

T3. Also interesting to see how people like Cecil Beaton, Mainboucher, and Elsa Schiaparelli are part of the life stories in The Power of Style.

T4. Elsie de Wolfe was my favorite in The Power of Style. A career arc from actress/hostess to world-renowned interior designer -- and inventor!

I checked this book out from the Jefferson County Public Library system in Colorado.