Well Said: Pauline de Rothschild

"The great danger for an American woman married to a Frenchman is to become too French. To assimilate too much of another nationality weakens you. Though on the surface I might not seem to be 100 percent American, I have tried to remain as shaggy inside as possible."

So said Pauline de Rothschild (1908-1976), style icon, fashion designer, hostess, and author.

Well Said: Anita Loos

"I've had my best times when trailing a Mainbocher evening gown across a sawdust floor. I've always loved high style in low company."

So said Anita Loos (1888-1981), best-dressed writer and wit and author of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

Well Said: Min Hogg

 Min Hogg in a photograph by Peter Schlesinger, 1978. Image from "A Chequered Past" (Thames & Hudson, 2003).

"Why does everything have to be so perfect? Nothing in real life is, you know."

So said Min Hogg, the founder and former editor in chief of The World of Interiors and a firm believer in stylish rooms filled with endearing mistakes, sleight-of-hand solutions, camouflage decorating, and such.

Well Said: Betty Sherrill

Interior decorator Betty Sherrill of McMillen Inc at home in New York City. Photograph by Jeffrey Hirsch, from an article published on New York Social Diary.

"I skipped to school. Nobody skips anymore do they?"

And frankly, more's the pity.

Traffic Report

I hate to be a bore but as this blog comes slowly back to life, some road work is necessary. Namely comments must be from registered users. I do apologize for this inconvenience, which will require users to jump a registration hurdle. It's all due to one particularly annoying Anonymous, alas, whose clockwork nastiness wears down one's soul.

Well Said: Louise Grunwald

The stylish Louise Savitt (now Grunwald), dressed in a Moroccan caftan and seated on the floor of her Billy Baldwin-decorated living room at 21 East 66th Street in New York City in 1965. Photograph by Horst P. Horst, reproduced in "Billy Baldwin Decorates" (Chartwell Books, 1972).

 

"Once you've had a good dress, you can't go backwards. Once you've had a Norell, you don't feel right in a Junior Sophisticates."

So said Louise Liberman Savitt (now Grunwald), one-time Vogue editor, former antiques dealer, and widow of Henry Grunwald, a managing editor of Time Inc. and U. S. ambassador to Austria.

Admiringly described as "cool, chic, and alarmingly critical" in the memoirs of British decorator Nicky Haslam, the quicksilver Mrs. Savitt had a point: exposure to quality does change one's viewpoint. Skeptics may disagree but her comment has nothing to do with snobbery and everything to do with the power of meticulousness, whether it's the construction of an haute-couture dress or the suavity of perfectly detailed slipcover. Even if you can't afford such things, knowledge of them refines your eye and hones your aesthetic.

A view of Savitt's Baldwin-decorated dining room and living room beyond, 1965. Photograph by Horst P. Horst, reproduced in "Billy Baldwin Decorates" (Chartwell Books, 1972).