Remains of the Day

(Left to right) Dressed as a Chinese emperor and his court, Alexis de Redé, Arturo Lopez-Willshaw, his wife, Patricia, and interior decorator Georges Geffroy attend the Beistegui ball in Venice, September 3, 1951. Photo courtesy of the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s.

For the back story behind one of the most spectacular auctions this month, click here.

Lights Fantastic!

Uplights highlight Egyptian artifacts in a Miami living room by Louis M. Bromante from the May 1982 issue of AD. Photo: Dan Forer

Uplights get little respect in today's decorating world. But on the website of Architectural Digest, I give these mood-enhancing yeomen the love they deserve.

To read the post, click here.

Curtains, Rothschild Style

Baroness Philippe de Rothschild in the garden of her Paris apartment, 1969. Image by Horst P. Horst for Vogue.

One of my longtime design obsessions, Pauline de Rothschild, had grace, intelligence—and quite a way with curtains.

Recently on The Aesthete, my blog at the website of Architectural Digest, I examined an idiosyncratic window treatment she created for her duplex at Albany, the renowned London apartment house. To read it, click here.

This Way, Please

Though I've been away from this address for several months, the virtual cards and letters keep coming in—and most of them ask, "Where can I find your new posts?"

At the website of Architectural Digest, of course! And in the Daily AD section, in particular.

Bearing that and similarly worded questions in mind, as a public service, I will continue to post here. Links, that is, to my blog entries at archdigest.com, of which there have been a few, including this morsel about a new book examining the rackety life and glorious creations of the late American-born interior designer and architect Bill Willis, a man who made Marrakech infinitely more exotic, with splendiferous houses for Rothschilds and their jet-set like.

To read it, do click here. And let me know what you think.

Forwarding Address

Mrs Winston F. C. Guest moves furniture from her family's apartment on Sutton Place to Templeton, their Long Island country house. Image by Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Vogue", 1 April 1963.

The Aesthete has been a trifle antsy of late, anxious to find and furnish new digs.

Perhaps this deeply ingrained wanderlust has to do with being brought up in the U. S. military, when every year or two, my parents backed our bags, and our family embarked on a new adventure. Then again, I have been posting at Blogger since 2008, which is a century in cyberspace. So take note: I finally have settled on a new virtual residence, this one with high ceilings, fireplaces that draw properly, and masses of French doors.

That alluring address is the splendidly improved website of Architectural Digest, where I have been working as the special projects editor for nearly two years. The platform is more beautiful than any blog I could imagine designing on my own, thanks to the extraordinary talents at the magazine and on Condé Nast's digital team. Writing as The Aesthete, I hope my posts on Daily AD will be as amusing, provocative, and informative as ever. The first, an exploration of geometric motifs in Morocco, one of my favorite places in the world, was published on 12 April.

So join me at Daily AD; I don't want to leave anyone behind. Click here to read what's on my mind. And thanks very much for following me and my musings for so long.

Mitchell Owens
Special Projects Editor
Architectural Digest

Technical Difficulties

For some inexplicable reason, words are running together on my posts, though all looks well on my screen. If any bright soul out there has a solution, do drop me a line.