09 December 2010

Get Inspired: Millicent Rogers


Space: The living room of Millicent Rogers, 21 Sutton Place, New York City, New York.

Year: Circa 1935

Occupant: Rogers (1902 — 1953) was arguably the most glamorous of all the Standard Oil heiresses. Adventuresome too. She identified the genius of American couturier Charles James early on his career and acquired his clothes with the eye of a curator. She learned to forge gold so she could design and make barbarically chic jewelry, including a pair of gold-nugget-like cufflinks she created for Clark Gable, one of a string of lovers that included the future author Roald Dahl. She collected, with discernment, Biedermeier furniture, Navajo turquoise jewelry, Native American artifacts, and terrific paintings (Renoir, Corot, Fragonard). Rogers also had an astoundingly good eye for interior decoration, creating extraordinarily personal decors for her residences in Austria; Washington, D. C.; New Mexico; New York; Jamaica, and Virginia.

Elements: Located in the famous riverside tenements smartly renovated by Dorothy Draper during the Depression and decorated for Rogers by McMillen & Co. — Billy Baldwin gives some credit to Van Day Truex too, though surely the photograph records Rogers's exacting taste and no one else's — the room looks overstuffed at first glance. Especially to modern eyes, what with the exuberant Victorian needlework rose garden rolled out underfoot and the walls dressed with deep red satin cascading from cloak pins in early-nineteenth-century European fashion. (Note the cast-iron steam pipe in the left corner of the photograph, disguised to blend in with the fabric.) The space is actually quite minimally furnished, however, with about ten pieces of furniture, none of which takes up much room or is at all superfluous. Two tailored modern love seats with down-stuffed cushions. A pair of Chinese Chippendale tables holding Victorian glass lamps converted to electricity. A brace of papier-mâché side chairs glimmering with gilt and mother of pearl, which could be pressed into service in the adjoining dining room. A couple of Régence fauteuils covered in velvet (surely silk, given Rogers's superlative taste and bottomless pocketbook). Oh, and a low black-lacquer cocktail table set with crystal ashtrays. That's about it.

Lessons Learned: Even if the sumptuousness of the setting is out of your financial league, the takeaway is texture. It's all about juxtaposition. Sleek satin played against lustrous velvet. Crisp modern upholstery relieved by a double dose of old-fashioned button tufting. Smooth lacquer alongside nubby needlework. Don't forget the animating qualities of gilt frames and crystal candelabra either. Every room needs a bit of dazzle to keep its spirits up, even if it's just a trail of golden nail heads tracing the curves of a chair. As for the Victorian table lamps, they are pure camp — and the room is all the better for their quirky presence.

11 comments:

columnist said...

Gosh, I've missed your posts. You are a joy read again. Do stay, do.

Unknown said...

I have just discovered your blog and I like it a lot... it's very creative and so different!

ackeyw said...

Only sorry the room did not include the one missing element that would have made this room zing, Millicent herself.

The Swan said...

It looks like a little Eugene Berman drawing on the table by the window...do you think?

Nick Heywood said...

This flurry of posts is a true present; excellent and sorely needed, as always.

ArchitectDesign™ said...

I had no idea she had a house in DC, do you know where it was?

An Aesthete's Lament said...

She had an apartment in Washington; I will see if I can dig up the address.

Penelope Bianchi said...

Love and so appreciate this post!!!!!!!! Wonderful!

You honestly have no idea how you are missed!

Thank you a million times for reemerging!!

How can I thank a treasure???

I guess......."thank you, Treasure!!!"

I mean it with all my heart!

Penelope

ps. "columnist "said it best. And most succinctly. (I am anything but succinct) "do stay, do." Ditto.

Dress Code: High Fashion said...

So beautiful! I wish I lived there!

home before dark said...

Always love a fabric-focused room. This post shows your truest and best skill. Agree with LA that perhaps several glasses of scotch (or whatever) might have helped that table project along!

Easy and Elegant Life said...

Do you know what's funny? "Overstuffed...." Seems perfectly cozy and comfy to me.. But then I've never bee accused of having exquisite taste.