NET-A-PORTER-KILT- A-PRINCE

.

Pompeo Batoni 

portrait of

Colonel The Hon William Gordon

it seems each day brings a stuffed mailbox (yes the postman still walks-but does not ring) FULL of SEPTEMBER ISSUES- yesterday-Haper's Bazaar, as mentioned-with the Jennifer Aniston poses of Streisand, I do not like that.
Along with that cover -came the NET-A-PORTER FALL WINTER magazine FEMME FATALE. It is truly a slick savvy look at what magazines are really all about-NO BONES - Selling. NET-A-PORTER , for those of you who are-as one fashionista would say OUT- is a multimillion dollar online design-one stop-shop til you drop site created 10 years ago by Natalie Massenet. She sold her share of the company for an estimated £50m in April but "rolled back in" the day the news broke, investing £15m of her windfall back into the business. She remains executive chairman.

She tells the guardian- Her dream was to become a magazine editor but "I hadn't walked away from being editor-in-chief of a magazine – I'd just created a magazine for the 21st century instead, a hybrid between a store and a magazine that was delivered digitally " & now it delivers the paper too. Though it is all online I think Massenet must know the power of paper as well. The magazine carries a theme IT"S ALL ABOUT, and the most amusing find there is PRINCE CHARLES-full page picture- circa at his best age- KILTED.

It seems the KILT is ruling the runways again.
Again?
-and Charles is its most ICONIC wearer of note. This trumping- of All Clans and Usurpers of..., forget about the real historic figures- we talk of fashion- Sir Sean Connery, (there is a poll to help decide if you should or shouldn't here ), Rod Stewart, Vivienne Westwood, Liam Neeson, or personal favorite Marc Jacobs. see MEN IN KILTS here
No no- none of the above- but  THE PRINCE- CHARLES.

Charles and Anne in kilts 

on there knees

 Charles

 posing in kilt, posing in love

 then & now

 Charles

Still holding down the fort

 Charles 

working it

   FASHION ROYALS

IN
THE KILT

the DUKE

the Dame

Vivienne Westwood

the Madonna

Victoria Beckam ('07) and Marc Jacobs ('09 )split in kilts. 

Photos by Getty Images

&

Together- 

VB sans kilt

there is a video- should you go commando with a kilt ? on MTV here 

Marc made his mark with KILT grunge in 1992

Mizrahi

Isaac Mizrahi, Stewart Cashmere Flannel Kilt Gown, Fall,1989. 

Photo: Dawn Derrick, ©1989.

see this dress on the runway in IM's Sketchbook Fall 1989 here

one of the most successfully modern KILT adaptation of all

Alexander McQueen with Sarah Jessica Parker

PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND FALL 2010

MISSONI

Patchwork Knit KILT

I say- I would wear something from either- within reason, Pringle bottom left, or the Missoni-(I use to be a big fan) top left (get me a shirt) I gave up my kilts as the twenties gave me up-the Missoni's as the forties gave me up.

Still got a kilt? Girls? Guys?
so many Men blogging about fashion-design.
so I wonder do they or don't they? should they?

I know IVAN should & his surfing Kings should.

I know BLUE does,
and surely this guy- TartanScot does? (if not, TS-what gives?)
Why yes he does- and the proof is here

I know these Satorialists have a least posted about KILTS, Search them : TOAD  MAXMINIMUS  the TRAD,

(Lady KENDRA wrote about the lure of the REBEL KILT here)

what about JAMES?

But really I want to know- what about REGGIE, darling? 

KILTING LINKS

KILTS in reality? here
guys-there is a KILTMEN.COM here support and advice.
kilt blog (of course) here
ISAAC MIZRAHI Highland Fling here

the List~ in the tradition of Nancy Lancaster

.

tis the season, visions of plum pudding, decking the ballroom, etc. etc....

Nancy Lancaster is legend- it took this Virginian to create the English Country House style. Though Nancy Lancaster never considered herself a designer, she simply had the most innate sense of style. Notables were drawn to the lady's sensibility, her warmth and unselfconscious elan.

In reading through articles,revisiting books in working on several posts about Nancy Lancaster- I came across the reminiscences of her grandnieces Jane Churchill and Melissa Wyndham, both designers, who spent much time in her decorated rooms. "Everything was wonderful at Haseley Court. One Christmas there were many guests my sister and I slept in what was probably the worst bedroom, at the top of the house. Most people's worst bedrooms are bleak, but Aunt Nancy's was very, very pretty, with red-and -white-checked curtains and painted Regency furniture." Churchill said , "I can still smell her house today, recall the wonderful foods, things you didn't get anywhere else."

In her address book the elegant purveyors- Asprey, Smythson of Bond Street, Lobb, Fortnum & Mason, Floris and Ardens are noted as favourites. Her bookstore was G. Heywood Hill, 10 Curzon Street- still there- selling books. Another insight from Churchill."Nancy wouldn't buy a painting because it had a big name, more likely it was because the woman had a pretty dress- like her Elizabethan portraits with those great ruffs." Signatures of the Lancaster style- painted furniture,mixed woods, masses of flowers, luxe curtains, marbleized baseboards, needlework, period antiques &  "Pairs- She loved pairs" (Trudi Ballard of Colefax and Fowler).  Nancy Lancaster would add these essential ingredients for her interiors- "a wood fire, candlelight, and cut flowers."

What would Nancy see in today's stylish world of art, design, style & fashion that would strike her?

Follow along in the famed Lancaster English Country House style- Here is your list.

for the house

"A gentle mixture of furniture expresses life and continuity but it must be a judicious mixture that flows and mixes well. It is a bit like mixing a salade. (I am better at room than salads)."NL

for the desk

 

for the breakfast room

"I never think that sticking slavishly to one period is successful, a touch of nostalgia adds charm. One needs light and shade because if every piece is perfect the room becomes a museum and lifeless." NL

for the tea tray

for the card table

for every room

for scent

for the dog

"[I like] to preserve simplicity rather than over-polishing. Fashions are changeable. Taste is in realizing the essence of a place" NL

  for the wardrobe

for reading

"I've always liked a formal layout and informal planting," she explained. "First get the structure right, like the bones in a face, then plant it like a crowded shoe. If you have a strong layout, you can let the plants seed themselves all over the place. Haphazard, unexpected... I like to be surprised by a garden."NL


for the garden 
 

for wrapping it ALL

SOURCES
All ANTIQUES for IN THE HOUSE available at 1st Dibs, All leather goods for THE DESK available at Smythson and at Asprey, All antiques IN THE BREAKFAST ROOM available at Colefax and Fowler, china from Charlotte Moss & Pickard, "Nancy" pattern, for THE TEA TRAY, tea set from 1st dibs, tea,preserves from Fortnum and Mason, for THE CARD TABLE, Hermes cards from 1st dibs, for EVERY ROOM, Cire trudon, diptyque, Agraria Charlotte Moss(Virginia). for SCENT, Floris, for THE DOG- all items MUNGO & MAUD, except the wicker dog bed from Hound Hill Design, for the WARDROBE train case-Asprey, all clothes-net a porter, for READING, tomfolio.com, amazon.com, for THE GARDEN,roses from Heirloom Roses, for WRAPPING IT ALL, ELUM

for more reading:

.