The Way They Wore

Do you ever look at the relaxed yet oh-so-chic styles of yesteryear and wish that you could find the same types of clothing today?

No need to answer.

Of course you do.

(You and I know each other quite well by now, don't we?)

I have always admired this photo of Duncan Grant in his slouchy linen jacket. It's so effortless, so breezy, so perfect for an idle summer afternoon. What else do you wear perched on a table in the garden waiting for your bohemian friends and lovers to arrive?

(Duncan Grant at Charleston House, 1930's, via here)

Thanks to my friend Megan over at Ancient Industries, I have discovered a company called Old Town that recreates vintage clothing for 21st century people with antique sensibilities.

Check out this jacket they make called "The Marshalsea." (Dickens aficionados will remember the Marshalsea as being the Victorian debtor's prison that featured heavily in "Little Dorrit"; hence, I assume, the jacket's shabby-chic vibe.) It comes in twill, linen, canvas, denim and something very intriguing called "cavalry drill."

(Grey stout twill, via here)

Isn't it so D.H. Lawrence/Thomas Hardy meets Spitalfields/the Lower East Side?

(Navy irish linen, via here)

It's perfect for wearing to dinner at Freeman's restaurant in the Bowery.

(photo via here)

And what about this smart 3/4 length coat? I find it to be both sensible and alluring, with its very 1940's, very WWII-ish, very "I'm just off to Bletchley Park to help Alan Turing crack the Enigma code" vibe.

(Ladies Cow coat, available here)

Wear it and if you're very lucky, you might even be mistaken for a Persephone Books heroine.

("Good Evening, Mrs. Craven", available here)

This smock dress will probably draw either gasps of envy or hoots of derision, and that's fine. I realize the shape is not overtly sexy (okay, it's not even remotely sexy) but to me, it's just heaving with understated style. And it has possibly the best fabric name ever.

(Jaywick dress, "Bermondsey in Bloom" fabric, available here)

Look for me wearing it on Saturday morning when Piero's on a bike ride, Luca's on a play date and I'm making a batch of scones while pretending I'm under imminent threat of an air raid.

Once again, the cover art of this Persephone book illustrates the authenticity of both the dress and its fabric palette.

("Kitchen Essays" by Gertrude Jekyll, available here)

If the dress doesn't speak to you, perhaps the smock top does.

(available here)

Golden boy writer F. Scott Fitzgerald always dressed with a certain sartorial elegance. Isn't the suit he wears in this photo with Zelda...

(Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1921, via Time Life Pictures)

...almost a dead ringer for Old Town's "Fitzrovia"? It comes in corduroy/moleskin, wool serge, flannel or Harris Tweed. No poly-rayon here, no siree.

(Fitzrovia, available here)

Lastly, I was taken with this lovely A-line skirt and had a nagging feeling that I had a photo of one like it somewhere.

(Skirt in Harris Tweed fabric)

Sure enough, a quick look through my vintage photo albums (the ones I purchased years ago at a London flea market; for the story, click here) revealed these young women on the lawn of a grand country house. The skirt second from left looks quite similar, don't you think?

In one of those strange twists of serendipity that makes me think there are no coincidences, click HERE for the name of it.

(Skirt in navy Irish linen fabric)

I'm Hyperventilating...

(Charleston House, Lewes, England)

(www.charleston.org.uk -- worth the click!)

Two of my favorite entities, Charleston House and Farrow and Ball, have joined forces to create a new color called "Bloomsbury Blue Gray." (How did I not know this until now?) The exclusive color has been painstakingly matched to the original woodwork and was used to restore the exterior of the house this past spring. I'll have to call the Melrose store and see if it's out yet. I feel sure I can find something in my house that desperately needs a coat of "Bloomsbury Blue Gray." 

To commemorate their collaboration, Farrow and Ball are sponsoring two public events at Charleston House that I would give my eyeteeth to attend. The first one is a Screen Painting Workshop on July 18-19th in which you use Farrow and Ball paints to make original stencils inspired by the many beautiful decorative screens in the house. Please, someone out there attend and report back!

In the second workshop (to be held on 13 October), a Farrow and Ball international color consultant is giving color tips on how to  create the interior of your dreams, use color to change the shape of a room and much more. Charleston House's curator, Dr. Wendy Hitchmough will also discuss the unique color palette of the house. 

I visited the house in 2007 and was absolutely besotted by its wayward charm. I'm sure that pale gray blue on the window frame must be the color in question, don't you think? It's almost luminous against those taupey hues of the wall.

And of course those errant lashings of green around the windows only add to its appeal.

When it comes to design and my love of sweet disorder, I hew closely to the poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674) and his insistence that a bit of carelessness and neglect and wild civility "...Do more bewitch me than when Art is too precise in every part." 

Anyone with me on that?

Please come in...

Welcome to my blog.  First things first.  Why "A Bloomsbury Life"? 

1.  Because I have an enduring love affair with the Bloomsbury Group, those chic artistic souls who resided at Charleston House in the south of England in the 1920's.  Vanessa Bell (sister of Virginia Woolf), Clive Bell (Vanessa's husband), and Duncan Grant (Vanessa's lover).  All broke away from the uptight, judgmental mores of Victorian London and strove fill their lives with art, beauty, wit and the emancipated hedonism of rural living.

2.  Because in these uncertain and stress-inducing times, maybe it's time to refocus ourselves on the simpler things in life.  Overspending is as out as the "in" bag.  And while I've admittedly bought my share of designer purses and suffered pangs of jealousy over Rachel Zoe's archival wardrobe, I'm honestly trying to renumber my priorities.  Old habits are hard to break, but slowly and surely, I am beginning to take as much delight in watching the climbing roses grow up and around my balcony as I used to take in being first in line at the warehouse sale at Barneys.  

3.  Because although I live in citified Hollywood, California, I firmly believe that countryside living is a state of mind.  I may not have acres of green grass in my backyard, but my bare feet are just as happy treading on the early morning dew as they would be if I had boundless acreage.  Life is made up of a series of delicious moments strung together.  The more of those I can accumulate, the better.  

4.  Because the Bloomsbury Group were fearless explorers of life.  Like them, my curiosity is  fervent and deep.  I want to learn to paint.  I want to speak French unflinchingly.  I want to learn to compost.  I want to cook with confidence.  I want to know the Latin names of my favorite plants and flowers.  I want to return to India, Cambodia and Tibet.  I want to take a welly walk on a rainy August day in Scotland.  I want to read all of Cecil Beaton's diaries.  I want to do more yoga.  I want to be a better wife and mother.  I want to make my house a beautiful home.  I want to be more grateful.  We have just the merest blip of time on this planet and I want to maximize the journey.  Join me.

(Photo credits, top and bottom:  Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex, England, taken by me in August 2007)