MEET MADAME DARIAUX

One of my all time favourite books is Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro, a kind of self-help, fashion-sense manual written with a touch of vulnerability and full of hilarious anecdotes of a wannabe fashionista who yearns to be elegant, confident in her style and duly noted by others including her husband. I have read this book about four times already over a period of 10 or so years and it never disappoints, it has the right measure of laughter, tears and wit in addition to a grappling account of events. A definite read for all girls, sixteen to sixty five!

The idea behind the book, as admitted by the author was an extraordinary old book that Kathleen stumbled upon in a second hand book store - a book called A Guide to Elegance  by Madame Antoine Dariaux where she dispels page upon page of dressing and shopping advice for the discerning girl who wants to transform herself from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Surprisingly, most of her advice is very sane, still  very relevant in todays day and age and I honestly think her book should be passed on from mother to daughters as a holy grail of the basics of elegant dressing. I certainly have a copy from Amazon that I intend to pass on!

When I first read the book, I was quite intrigued by Madame Dariaux and googled her, but apart from a couple of black and white images and the fact that she lived most of her life in France, had a panache for dress-designing and making costume jewellery, couldn't dig up any more . She worked for many years in the house of Nina Ricci as a directress, but I couldn't find her date of birth or the fact that she is still alive or not.

Her other book that I intend to get hold of and read is The Men in Your Life where she shares pearls of her wisdom on  skillfully handling the male species in your life - might be a bit late for me though, but I can't wait to read what she has to say.



Madame Dariaux

Basically Bold: Black

I love the colour black- or should I say the absence of all colour that is black.

There is something sombre, mysterious and deeply profound about it -  profoundly silent, profoundly elegant, profoundly present - you can never ever ignore it, no matter where you are and where you see it.

It is infinitely elegant in attire (should it be worn with care)-  Black tuxedos are what made James Bond and Holly (Audery Hepburn) in Breakfast at Tiffany's timelessly famous. And in home decor it makes an even greater impression on the senses if thoughtfully planned and executed.

Most interior designers will agree that of all rooms with the most impact, the most wow factor, the ones painted pitch black wins hands down each time, but then, why is this colour used so conservatively in design. Everyone bows to its power, but most are afraid to use it to its full impact.

The reason I guess is the innate human fear of being enveloped in darkness, we have sought light since time unknown, we converge to the brightness of glittering, flickering lights as soon as darkness falls everyday without fail. We are so used to light that the thought of anyone sitting and surrounded by blackness is only seen as a sign of maniac depression and something to be shunned and avoided at all costs.

But modern day clever lighting techniques plus ways of applying wall paint so it's buffed and glossed to perfection makes black much more acceptable which some designers are realising to their advantage and using it to create really dramatic, exciting rooms.

As for me, I have a lot of simple black attire which I involuntarily reach for almost every time we are dining out, but my suggestion of painting our living room black was vetoed in five seconds by my husband and kids as soon as I enthusiastically voiced it.  Perhaps one day when I have my own study...

 

“I imposed black; it still going strong today, for black wipes out everything else around” Coco Chanel  on the power of black!