I LOVE NICE THINGS.

.   .    It seems like we’re always coming off, or having, a Millicent Rogers moment. Her grip on style is that strong. Born in 1902, Rogers died just 51 years later, succumbing to what her doctor only half-jokingly suggested was a romantic heart. Three husbands (including a gold-digging Austrian count and a wealthy Argentine aristocrat), Clark Gable, Roald Dahl, Prince Serge Obolensky, Ian Fleming and a twirl around the dance floor with the Prince of Wales had taken their toll. Rogers, the Standard Oil heiress, gave high fashion a good name. She was an aesthete with a fine, searching mind, not a ditz or a brat (like some of her more tabloidy colleagues one could mention). Nor was she particularly troubled, psychologically or otherwise, about having a colossal fortune she did nothing to earn, as her friend Cecil Beaton observed in “The Glass of Fashion.” No one ever called Millicent Rogers a poor little rich girl.  On the face of it, at least, she took a (relatively)...

Marie-Hélène de Rothschild:Society's Star  If the job were on offer, the ad might read like this:Supremeorganizer with wacky imagination, charm, substantial private means - preference to titled applicants. But La Baronne de Rothschild - Marie-Hélène, as she is universally known - is not about to relinquish her role as the most influential mover, shaker and fixer in the social universe, even taking into account the redoubtable Brooke Astor. At the soirée she gave last week in Paris, the baronne proved a far bigger draw than the queen of England, who had been on a four-day state visit to France. Those paying homage to the slight figure in black and white lace at the bottom of the grand staircase at the Opéra-Comique included royalty and aristocrats - the former Empress Farah of Iran, Prince and Princess Michel of Greece, Princess Michael of Kent and too many counts to count; the politicos - Edouard Balladur, the ex-finance minister, and Bernadette Chirac, the Paris mayor's wife a...

WASHINGTON — “I don’t care to glitter,” says Catherine “Deeda” Blair, dressed in monochromatic gray Chanel, accented by a signature thin plume of gray cigarette smoke encircling her bouffant coiffure. Her life would appear to say otherwise. Blair, for decades known as one of Washington’s leading socialites and icons of style, has always been a peacock among the wrens, a shade too sophisticated for the nation’s capital — couture shows in Paris, summers in the South of France and, most recently, mingling with biotech pioneers. She seems to have had an endlessly charmed life. But no one would describe her that way after the last year. Last May, she and her husband, former Ambassador William McCormick Blair Jr., lost their only child, William McCormick Blair 3rd, 41, to suicide. “The moments of grief are rather unpredictable,” Blair says, her reed-thin figure looking frailer than usual. “Different things can suddenly generate overwhelming sadness.”  Her son, who had owned a fashionable...

The celebrated jewellery designer, Loulou de la Falaise, who died on Saturday at her country home outside of Paris at the age of 63, will be remembered for her own personal style. When Yves Saint Laurent hired her in 1972, a former fashion editor on Queen Magazine in London, she became his close friend and collaborator in everything from ready to wear to haute couture, but became known for her extravagant and bold jewellery designs that would complete each of the designer's looks. Along with his muse, the poker-straight haired Betty Catroux, Loulou de la Falaise was usually at the designer's side, the romantic, multi-coloured gypsy to the harder edged, androgynous Catroux. Loulou de la Falaise had a style that was all her own, and no doubt inspired Saint Laurent in his collections. She was ahead of her time in her ability to apparently haphazardly throw together outfits that just worked. She was one of fashion's greatest magpies. Her bold approach to jewellery and accessori...

The Singleton House, by Richard Neutra. 1959.  The home was purchased by Vidal Sassoon in 2004 and he quickly found it to be in dire need of deferred maintenance. It’s been reported that within a couple weeks of closing on the property, part of the roof collapsed and within a few months a large chunk of the property slid into a neighbor’s yard. As big fans of architecture, Sassoon and his wife Ronnie began in earnest on a meticulous restoration and updating of the home, including an art gallery, an expanded kitchen, a new master bedroom and swimming pool. Their respect for the home’s provenance is evident through their choice of materials in the remodel. The home is situated at the end of a long driveway behind gates. The walkway to front door is accented by the architectural beam embellishments common to so many of Neutra's homes, allowing you to begin experiencing the feel of the home before you even enter. With over five acres of largely level land, there is more than enough roo...

The  Rolls-Royce Camargue  is a two-door coupe introduced in March 1975.  The car derives its name from the coastal region in southern France.

The apartment building at 960 Fifth Avenue is considered one of the nicest apartment buildings in New York City. The large building was designed by Whitney Warren and Rosario Candela and included a 17-room apartment with a two-story ceiling. It is famous for it's many apartments, most of which are designed differently and have different floor plans. Among it's many different residents have been Mrs Henry 'Sister' Parish, who occupied a first floor apartment and Johnny and Noreen Drexel, whose top-floor apartment occupied half of the floor.  The apartment first started when the owner bought the William Clark mansion occupying the spot. It was one of the largest and most expensive homes in New York City and cost $7 million to build (Over $100 million today).

—TOM FORD....is fashion meganews, not that he’s been sharing it with just anyone. The newly elusive former idol and inciter of the sexed-up Gucci-YSL nineties is doing things differently this time. He objects to the way the Internet eats up fashion images before the clothes can be bought. He despises sections of the press.  Private  and  formal  are terms he favors now. And he’d rather people didn’t “Tom” him anymore. At 49, he lets it be known he prefers “Mr. Ford.” And here he is, being photographed by Steven Meisel the morning after he delivered the anti-publicity coup that threw bloggers, Twitterers, and reporters into a quagmire of frustration. His plans for his debut were so secret, even Julianne Moore, his close friend and star of his movie A Single Man, didn’t really know what she was letting herself in for when she turned up at his men’s store on Madison Avenue. “He asked me to do this six months ago, but I thought we’d just all be standing around at a cockt...

Revolutionising the fashion industry for just over fifty years, Balenciaga altered the fashion silhouette of women in the mid-20 th century, and became one of the most influential fashion innovators of all time. “No woman can make herself chic if she is not chic herself.” Balenciaga accentuated the essence of how a woman could embody his garments. He demonstrated how shape and silhouettes could correspond around the physique to exemplify the figure. Similarly to Vionnet, Balenciaga used the technique of wrapping material away from the body, applying volume to his garments whilst at the same time enhancing femininity. He achieved this by revealing certain aspects of the body, such as elongating the neck. Often, he would use one piece of material and cut in only designated areas such as arm-holes or the neckline. Notorious for incorporating his Spanish roots into his designs, Balenciaga mastered the art of captivating the essence of both culture and chic. The Infanta Gown was inspired by...