The Third Floor

Liberty of London

"Liberty is the chosen resort of the artistic shopper." - Oscar Wilde

Stroll inside the striking Tudor Revival building on Regent Street and discover an emporium of luxury: a selection of beautiful apparel, accessories, cosmetics, and objets d'art tucked into small rooms between intimate staircases, intricately designed elevators, polished wooden balconies, and glass atriums.

Liberty's Interior

Founded in 1875, Arthur Lasenby Liberty's imprint remains on his iconic store. Along with 
his own influence and support of Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and Orientalism during his lifetime, the Liberty Store has showcased new and cutting-edge design while never losing touch with its origins. The character of that philosophy is everywhere, and walking through this great palace, one feels a sense of timelessness.

An Early Photo of Liberty

And the, of course, there is the 3rd Floor. House in one of the most splendid settings in the city is a collection of fabrics that rivals its surroundings. Liberty Cotton Lawn prints are some of the most supple, luxurious cotton fabrics in the world. Grown originally near Lake Tana in East Africa, the same ultra-fine long staple cotton is selected to create this gorgeous fabric that is finished without the use of crease-resisting chemicals or irritating allergens.

A Liberty Print

A Liberty Print

Liberty's timeless gems vary from prints that speak to Mr. Liberty's Eastern aesthetic, to the famous florals and ultra-modern geometrics. They are a glorious homage to a time of elegance in a very modern moment.

A Very Mid-Century prin

A Very Vintage Button

Afternoon Tea

Dry Sherry
Toasted Mushroom Canapes*
Small Pate a Choux filled with

  Chicken Salad (meat or vegetarian)

Cucumber Lilies

Madeleines

Mini Scones 

Jams

Clotted Cream*

Assorted teas

Toasted Mushroom Canapes

Saute and then mince small white mushrooms
Make a white sauce 1/2 as much as mushrooms. 
Season with: salt and paprika, freshly grated nutmeg
Combine sauce with mushrooms. When chilled,
add a little whipped cream.
Heap these ingredients on small rounds of toast.
Garnish with paprika and parsley

Clotted (or Devonshire) Cream - makes 1 c.
2 c. heavy cream
Cook cream in top of double boiler over simmering water
until reduced by about half. It should be the consistency of butter,
with a golden "crust" on the top.
Transfer, including crust, to bowl. Cover and let stand 2 hours,
then refrigerate at least 12 hours.
Stir crust into cream before serving.Keep unused portion refrigerated,
tightly covered, for up to 4 days. 

And now....a word from Reggie

Everyone knows about my sad life with the Cavanaugh's, tormented as I am by those two furry blobs that live here. However, I do get to escape now and then to the dog park and to Doggy Disneyland, aka Santa Fe Tails. You can't see it in the picture, but it says "resort" on the sign. Now, I haven't experienced a facial or massage there, as I should expect at a resort. However, I have a super good time there, playing with my pals, being adored

by friend like Jamie, digging holes to roll around in, and getting all my pals to howl along with me.

On the drive over to SF Tails, I can tell when we're getting close, and I get so excited I start howling and barking at the top of my lungs. Of course, when Dad picks me up at the end of my day there, I can hardly walk to the car. I sleep all the way home until Mom makes me have a bath, and my sad life begins again.

It's Showtime, Part II

Two fun costume exhibitions this fall are happening at the Met and, of all places, the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. One would expect a great show at the Met's Costume Institute, but a costume collection at a museum dedicated to all things Ford? American Style and Spirit draws from an amazing collection unearthed from the attic of a "chic but thrifty lumber scion named Augusta Roddis, known as Gussie, who died at 94 six years ago."* 

https://www.thehenryford.org/current-events/calendar/american-style-and-spirit-exhibit/. This exhibition spans 130 years of American style. The collection covers everything from 19th c. ballgowns to 20th c. couture.

American Style and Spirit

Then, 500 miles away at the Met,Masterwoks: Unpacking Fashion, http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2016/masterworks opened Nov. 18, and features significant acquisitions of the past 10 years. The Costume Institute has honed its collection to reflect only the finest in costume aesthetics, and to feature those designers who have advanced fashion as art.

Masterworks: Unpacking Fashion

Alexander McQueen Armadillo Boots

A Cynthia Textile Vignette

Silk Dupioni

 A young designer sits in her small atelier outside Rome, creating her very first collection. Inspired by the ball gowns her grandmother wore to opening nights at La Scala, and the luxurious drapes in her mother's Venetian apartment, she uses this beloved Indian silk in new and inspired ways. Dupioni, whose very name implies sumptuous, finds its way into her own modern signature pieces: pieced and paired with bits of ethnic fabrics, crisp cottons, and rustic silk blends that her Nonna and Madre would never have imagined.
-from Santa Fe Fabrics.com

* NYTimes 

The End

November 8, 20016: The End of America as we know it.

It's Showtime

Fall and winter is a great time to catch museum and gallery exhibitions. There are thousands all over the states, but these selected shows were chosen to highlight because they feature exceptional costume and textiles (either in painting or as pieces), or drawings and works on paper...a favorite of this writer.

At the Denver Art Museum. Shock Wave: Japanese Fashion Design, 1980s–90s, shows work by Japanese designers who started a fashion revolution in Paris. http://denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/shock-wave 

Comme des Garcons Spring-Summer 1997

Issey Miyake Autumn-Winter 1986

Kansai Yamamoto about 1980

At the Menil Colletion in Houston: Picasso The Line includes drawings from the most important periods of the artist’s long career; it gathers about 90 of his works on paper that span a wide range of mediums, from pen or pencil to charcoal and collage.
https://www.menil.org/exhibitions/245-picasso-the-line

Self Portrait 1918

Bottle & Glass 1912-13

At the Neue Galerie, NYC: Klimt and the Women of Vienna’s Golden Age, 1900–1918.

This exhibition examines the Klimt's sensual portraits of women as the embodiment of fin-de-siècle Vienna. Klimt's women are always wearing the most beautiful fashion of the moment, and his color saturation and texture is superb, as in the gold of the famous portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. http://www.neuegalerie.org/content/klimt-and-women-vienna%E2%80%99s-golden-age-1900%E2%80%931918

Adele Bloch-Bauer 1907

Elizabeth Lederer 1914-16

 At the Morgan Library and Museum, NYC: Dubuffet Drawings, 1935–1962 is the first museum retrospective of the artist’s works on paper. The exhibition includes approximately one hundred drawings from Dubuffet’s most innovative decades and features rarely seen works borrowed from private and public collections in France and the United States.
http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/dubuffet-drawings

L'Arnaque (The Swindle) 1962

Portrait of Jean Paulhan 1955

At the Grand Rapids Art Museum: Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion. This exhibition shows an in-depth look at the worlk of Dutch fashion designer, whose cutting-edge designs have been worn by style icons such as Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Bjork.
http://dutchcultureusa.com/blog/3290/iris-van-herpen-transforming-fashion-at-grand-rapids-art-museum.

No description of this piece on the website

No description for this piece on the website

At the Met:Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) Drawing Triumphant. Unlike many old masters for whom drawing was a preparatory tool, Fragonard explored the potential of chalk, ink, and wash to create sheets that were works of art in their own right. This exhibition celebrates the artist's achievements as a master draftsman.
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2016/fragonard

Fragonard 1760

At the Seattle Art Museum:Yves Saint Laurent:The Perfection of Style, showcasing highlights from the legendary designer’s 44-year career. Drawn from the collection of the Fondation Pierre Bergé—Yves Saint Laurent, the exhibition features new acquisitions by the Foundation that have never been shown publicly. before.http://seattleartmuseum.org/Exhibitions/Details?EventId=37669

Pea Coat Spring/Summer 1962

Mondrian Dress 1965

Annie's Got Her Gun

A well regulated Militia,

being necessary to the security of a free State,

the right of the

people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed

 Sporty Hunting Ensembles

The very clear statement of the 2nd Amendment, ratified December 15, 1791, was that Americans needed a well regulated militia to protect themselves and control their newly conquered environment from the indigenous people. Nowhere in this Amendment is "handgun" or "assault weapon" mentioned. These former colonists used their "arms" to hunt game, the primary role for one's musket. Today, those "militias" are known as the National Guard.

So, how did a militia to protect the citizens from armed combatants (not the U.S. government) become an armed individual who is paranoid that the U.S. government is going to take away their "2nd Amendment Rights"? Or a self-described "militia" who has decided they can take over public (aka OUR) land? A "right" that makes it easier to buy a gun than to get on an airplane.

How did America go from this....

18th c. Militia 

to this...

Shopping for an assault weapon

Assault Weapons at a Gun Show

and this...

Sandy Hook

Answers to these questions require a much longer and more intense explanation than this blog can provide, and they are better left to a dissertation, a newspaper op-ed, or Guns in America 101. So, this post is about how guns have been glamorized in the media and in film.

Our first shootin' media star was Annie Oakley, who could split a playing card, edge-on, and put several more holes in it before it could touch the ground, while using a .22 caliber rifle, at 90 feet (27 m). Annie traveled with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and became an international sensation.

Annie Oakley aka Phoebe Ann Mosey

Celebrity marksmen evolved into celebrity criminals,

Gun Totin' Bonnie Parker

'30s Glamour Crime Bosses

which led to pulp fiction

and to the movies.

Un-named 30's Gangster Film

Guns and violence became part of film's legacy.

James Cagney

By the '40's and Film Noir, women were packing, and the pistol became the symbol of The Dame.

Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity

Claire Trevor in Murder, My Sweet

The Dame evolved into the strong, powerful woman who could take care of herself and everybody else...if she had a gun, just like the men.

Spaghetti Western

Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft

Alan Ladd and Brandon deWilde in Shane

and of course...

John Wayne in Stagecoach

So, when did guns become sexy? During the Cold War and the era of spies.

Daniel Craig as Bond...James Bond

A Bond Girl

These were not feminist statements.Just as with men, a woman with a gun is not a stronger, more courageous human.

1950

Patty Hearst with the Simbianese Liberation Army

She is simply a hunter, a criminal, or someone who lives in a world of fear-mongering, where being armed is equated with being safe. How has the media and popular culture contributed to the last example? How has the glorification and glamorization of gun culture through music, film, books, and television contributed to the statistics of gun violence in America? Here are two excellent articles on this subject.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/violence-baked-popular-culture-080655362.html?ref=gs

http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/making-connections-medias-role-our-culture-violence

The tremendous amount of money that is made off  of our gun-infused culture ensures that no change in attitude will ever be instituted...that ship has long since sailed. Clearly, to reduce gun violence in America, common sense gun laws have to be enacted. After all, the creators of the Constitution probably never envisioned that an "armed militia" would manifest itself as Americans with arsenals of assault weapons.