Vogue does An Overlap of High Fashion and My Fashion

The September issue of Vogue has a spread dedicated to Edith Wharton shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz on location at The Mount (Wharton's home in Lenox, MA).  As I am still dying to go tour the estate (but not until I finish the yachting costume I had to sideline for all of the August insanity) and am waaay behind on my Newport posts, I thought I would quickly share some pictures.

via Vogue.com

Those are some fabulous stairs.  The Mount was built by Edith at Teddy in 1902 and designed by Ogden Codman, jr., based on 17th century English estates.  Codman spent much of his youth in France before attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1884.  He opened his first office in Boston before moving his base of operations to New York in 1893, which makes sense for someone in a business primarily funded by the wealthy elite.  Codman also opened an office in Newport, which is where he met Edith Wharton.  She hired him to redesign the interior of Land's End, her Newport home.

the sun room in Land's End, Newport

Wharton and Codman shared similar ideas of architecture and design, which lead Wharton to introduce Codman to Cornelius Vanderbilt, who commissioned the design of the second and third floors of The Breakers, his new Newport "cottage."  Wharton and Codman also co-authored a book on interior design called The Decoration of Houses in 1897. It was Wharton's first published book, although her stories and poems had been appearing in journals for years.

Safran Foer as Codman, far right (standing)

Ogden Codman, Jr. circa 1890

Although she left The Mount in 1911, Wharton retained a strong emotional attachment to the estate.  It was where she published her most famous (or infamous, I supposed, depending on your social position) novel, House of Mirth, and where she entertained many friends.  These guests included many artistic giants of the time, including artist Daniel Chester French and author Henry James.

artist Nate Lowman as French

  French, a sculptor, moved with his family to Concord, MA in 1867.  Daniel had been "whittling and carving things from wood and gypsum, and even from turnips, as many boys do" (May Alcott, a Memoir introduction by French).  His creations--such as bullfrogs out of turnips--lead to Daniel French's father to mention him to the community's artist, May Alcott.  (May, who deserves a post of her own someday, was the youngest sister of Louisa May Alcott, and the inspiration for the character of Amy in Louisa's novel Little Women.)  May gave French his first art lessons and encouraged him to pursue what he loved.

Daniel Chester French circa 1902

The larger-than-life statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial. Did you know it was done by French?

 

His studio and summer home, Chesterwood, is located in the Berkshires near The Mount.  While I don't know much about his relationship with Wharton, their shared love of horticulture is mentioned in French's wife's memoirs.  Given that they were neighbors and Mrs. French knew Edith, I think they probably at least knew each other.

Jeffrey Eugenides as Henry James, left

Henry James was born into the wealthy James family in New York and spent much of his early life alternating between Europe and America.  Perhaps I love him so dearly because is later works have been compared to impressionist paintings, which I also love, but really I think it is how well he captures the personality of a group of people as a unit.  My favorite of his novels, The Bostonians, does just that.  It's harsh, but I love it and I think much of his descriptions could still apply today.

James and Wharton met in the 1880s, but it wasn't until the early 20th century that they actually became friends.  While at first intimidated by the literary giant, James eventually became a literary adviser and close friend to Wharton.

Wharton and James on a motor tour in 1904 (in the back seat)

I might have to actually buy the September Vogue, just for this spread.  There are several more pictures, and a great Behind the Scenes piece, on the Vogue website.  I encourage you to check it out!  I think Wharton would have rather been portrayed by an author, but that's truly my only complaint.

One last thing: Leibovitz shot at The Mount previously as part of her photographic-journey-turned-coffee-table-book Pilgrimage, which I also recommend.  You can see the photographs on tour at the Concord Museum.

Newport Part 3: Formal Tea

Clearly, formal tea is all about the clothes.  The tea is lovely (we always have a blend or two from Harney & Sons, which is my favorite and I recommend you check them out!), the snacks are nice, and the campus is lovely.  But aside from playing croquet, formal tea is about lounging.  Which, given that it was Wednesday after a morning and early afternoon full of dance classes, was nothing to sneeze at.  Plus, I managed to throw together a pretty fab hat.  It was my only new piece (modern blouse from Savers, skirts I've made over the past couple of summers) and was actually just a revamp of a very old straw hat from Colonial Williamsburg, so I was quite pleased to have it.

And as I said, this was really all about the clothes and the lounging, so to the pictures we go!

on the hillside at Roger Williams

looking in the ornamental pond with Quinn

girls in a line! there might be a trend here...

holding our hats against the sea breeze

some attendees playing croquet

cattails!

a close-up of my hat, which was trimmed with its original ribbon, two small false birds, and an ostrich feather

There are some truly ridiculous croquet pictures as well, but I haven't sorted them yet...stay tuned for an update to this post!

Newport Part 2: Seaside Tea Dance

Tuesday we eased into the week a bit (well, if you can call a full morning of classes after a ball the night before easing) with a seaside tea dance in place of afternoon classes.  I was so excited to embrace all things nautical (a favorite motif) and stroll along the lovely Easton's First Beach in between dances...but it was the only event for which it rained! We managed to have a brilliant time anyways, and we even braved the stormy waves after the event was over to do a bit of wading.  It certainly brightened my mood!

I didn't have a chance to sew anything for this event, so I wore my white trained underskirt (plain white cotton) alone with a modern seersucker blouse and quick sash in navy blue with gold/white robe trim.  This, like many of my outfits this week, was a team effort: Nick used some of the rope for a sailing knot on the front of the sash, and Quinn used the rest for a bow at the back.

the full effect, with gibson girl-style hair done entirely with teasing

riding the carousel

The dance was held at the Rotunda Ballroom, which is located on Easton's First Beach in Newport.  While the hall itself isn't particularly remarkable or historical, it does have a lovely vintage carousel in the same structure, and we were able to ride it during the dance.  I love carousels, and they are so much better riding side-saddle in pretty dresses!  Once the carousel was closed and the dancing had ended, we raced to the sea, which was even better.

wading

being silly on the tide wall--can you see my bare feet peaking out from beneath my skirt?

Newport Part 1: Great Gatsby Ball at Rosecliff

My favorite thing about Newport Dace Week is the reason I have so many pictures of a group of elegantly dressed young ladies in obvious, undignified laughter: new friends!  (Hooray, TNG! Star Trek joke...) It really was a blast, and I am happy to spend my recovery week sorting through pictures and sharing with you!  I've picked a few that I think are my absolute favorites, but I have nearly 5,000 photos.  If you'd like to see more, and hear some other accounts of the events, you should absolutely check out Quinn's and Antonia's blogs as well.

I have to admit, I had mixed feelings about the Gatsby ball.  If you missed my Fitzgerald posts, then my quick recap is that I am absolutely in love with the speakeasy adventures of his short stories.  I also happen to adore the Charleston.  The clothes, on the other hand...

I spent a ridiculous amount of time sewing sequins to ribbon to make my own sparkly fringe, and when I was done I felt like I was wearing a very shiny bag.  I have a lot of shape, and that doesn't work for '20s.  But the magic of the beautiful surroundings and the live band combined with friends willing to be totally silly and ridiculous led to a night of flying feet and some on-the-fly Charleston choreography that came out rather well.  It was a fabulous event to kick off the week, and once I was moving I was even happy about my dress!

Thanks to our massive photo pool, I have some excellent "action shots" of the fringe to share.  You can check out more pictures from the week courtesy of many participant photographers on CVD's new Newport Flikr page and read about the history of 19th century balls at Barbara's (co-director of the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers) blog!

the ball in progress in the Rosecliff ballroom

 

doing the "flying charleston" (far right with flying fringe!)

copying a classic 20s picture

line of dancing girls!

Trotting through a Foxtrot with Nick, another CVD dancer

Camping up my refreshments dutie

lounging on the stairs in my best 'vamp' pose

We also had a lot of fun being ridiculously silly in the garden during intermission, but that will have its own post later on.  This was a definitely an event made better by fabulous friends!  I am now doubly excited for our upcoming events.

Project Newport

Have you ever seen "Project Runway"?  The basic premise of the reality show is that designers are placed in high-stress situations with impossible deadlines and little to no sleep.  That sort of sounds like going to Newport Vintage Dance Week with not a single finished ballgown...oops.

Luckily, I wasn't the only one with sewing to do, and we set up shop in our dorm suite Saturday night.  I also had a lot of help from several new friends--thank you all!! Quinn, who was a wonderful teacher and helped me figure out how to fix the mistakes on my 1860s gown, has a blog of her own and I encourage you to add it to your list!  You can find her at The Quintessential Clothes Pen.  

Of course, I had an incredibly ambitious set of gowns planned for this week...so really, all of the crazy sewing was really my own fault.  It was totally worth it.

frantically sewing Friday at the class exhibition

the finished dress at the 1890s ball that night

Stay tuned for an event-by-event recollection!

400 Portraits

More Newport things! Specifically, portraits.  One of the marks of high society during the Gilded Age was a portrait by one of the celebrated artists of the set.  Actually one of my favorite artists ever, John Singer Sargent, was one of the most popular of these, but there were also Auguste Carolus-Duran and Giovanni Boldini.

Here are some of my favorites!

Ada Rehan, Sargent 1894-5

Consuelo Vanderbilt and son, 1906 Carolus-Duran 

Isabella Stewart Gardner (check out her museum here!), 1888 Sargent 

Winifred, Duchess of Portland 1902 Sargent

Josephina Alvear de Erraruiz, Boldini

Mademoiselle X (Marquise Anforti), Carolus-Duran 

Mrs. Henry Galbraith Ward, 1891-4 Sargent

Emily Warren Roebling, Carolus-Duran

Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes, 1897 Sargent

House of Mirth's Real Characters

Having just finished Edith Wharton's House of Mirth and in full Newport Dance Week panic mode, I am on a kick for Wharton's world of the New York social elite.  Dancing in the ballrooms of Newport definitely gives you an appreciation for Lily Bart's struggle to stay on the season's invitation list.  The social elite of the late 19th century have become the stuff of legend--have you ever heard the term "keeping up with the Joneses"?  Well, that phrase has been attributed to Mary and Rebecca Jones (incidentally, relations of Wharton) who scandalized mid-century New Yorkers by building their lavish apartments uptown, starting a trend for living in the 50s which became standard by the time new socialites started living around central park.

The fashionable "apartment" of John Jacob Astor an family (including Caroline Astor)
at 65th and 5th, facing central park

Another phrase you may know is "the 400," referring to the 400 families considered the 'inner circle' of New York society.  The list considered to be the original 400 was published in the New York Times by Ward McAllister (satirized as "Mc-A-List-er") circa 1892.  This was also supposed to be the invitation list to Caroline Astor's annual ball.  Mrs. William Backhouse Astor, Jr., later known as "the" Mrs. Astor, was considered the 'queen' of Manhattan society, and her famed annual ball was quite the event.  Until the mid 1890s the William Astors lived at 350 5th Avenue (torn down to become the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel) and the ballroom could 'only' accommodate 400 guests--the rumored origins of the 400 list.  Whether or not this is true is still under debate, but it fits well with the publications put forth by McAllister.

350 5th Avenue, home of Caroline Astor (foreground), 1893

Wharton captures the glamour and strife of living within the upper echelons of New York society quite well, and it's part of what makes her books so entertaining.  It's also what earned her a good amount of criticism from her acquaintances--especially surrounding House of Mirth.  After Newport, I guess my next stop will have to The Mount, Wharton's own estate...

The Mount, Wharton's estate in Lenox, MA