Mater Familia

Triple portrait of Charles I, Anthony van Dyck

Golden Mess

Strike a Pose

Black is Beautiful

Chez Hubert de Givenchy

Girls in a Certain Mood

Keeping it Simple

Christian Lacroix 2012 backstage

The Chair of Peter, Bernini.

Girls in a Certain Mood

Dame Vivienne Westwood

Belshazzar, George Frideric Händel. Premiered on 27 March 1745 at the King's Theatre in London.


Destructive war, thy limits know;

Here, tyrant death, thy terrors end.

To tyrants only I'm a foe,

To virtue and her friends, a friend.

Destructive war...

The Battle of Alexander at Issus, Albrecht Altdorfer 

A Look We Like

Strike a Pose

Lex Rex

"I'll go through life either first class or third, but never in second."

-  Sir Noël Coward

Sauvage

Holy Trinity

A Look We Like

Maharajah Duleep Singh by Franz Xavier Winterhalter. 1854

Masters and Slaves

The fashion conscious Countess Mona von Bismarck developed a close relationship with the world renowned designer Cristobal Balenciaga that lasted for almost 30 years. It is reported that on one occasion when most of her clothes were destroyed in a railroad accident she ordered 150 dresses from the couturier in one sitting.

In May 1968, during the manifestations and general strike in Paris, when Balenciaga retired, as an act of mourning, Countess Mona von Bismarck shut herself behind closed doors sipping champagne for three days. Finis Mundi.

Après Nous, Le Déluge

"If Venice sinks, the collection should be preserved somewhere in the vicinity of Venice"

- Peggy Gugghenheim

Creating the Myth:

"Karl was engaged in the highly effective construction of an image. So that everything about him - his look, his world, his apartment, his background - was calculated to appear larger than life"

- Alicia Drake

Les Amoureux

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975

Masters and Slaves

A Look We Like

Infinite Variety

Strike a Pose

Accessorizing

Gloria

Princess Gloria von Thurn and Taxis at her Wedding day, 1980. By Princess Marianne von Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn

Born Today

Born Today Too

A Look We Like

The Countess of El Carpio, Marchioness de la Solana, Francisco de Goya, 1795.

Another One Bites the Dust

When The World Was New

 Venice, 1955. Piedita Hohenlohe, Arturo Lopez-Willshaw

 Venice, 1955. "Pimpinela" Hohenlohe, Jacqueline de Ribes

Venice, 1955, Carlos de Beistegui, Jacqueline de Ribes

Casual Friday

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and His Brother Lord Francis Villiers, Anthony van Dyck, 1635

Magister Dixit:

"A few times every century, a great beauty is born. I am not one of them.  But what nature skipped, I supplied - so much so that sometimes I cannot remember what is real and what is fake."

- Princess Luciana Pignatelli

Sauvage

Back in the Day

India, 1911. The Delhi Durbar or Court of Delhi. Coronation of King George V as Emperor of India.