Diana Vreeland lived in "one of the most attractive atmospheres that I know. An over-crowded Turkish seraglio on a rather elegant boat. Books, bibelots, calculated clutter, personal pictures (among them, sketches by Augustus John, Bébé Bérard and Cecil Beaton of herself) and treasures, many Scotch snuffboxes in horn and silver, are massed on tables, walls, & shelves looking as if one could never get around to seeing them all. A long-stemmed anemone stands in a long-stemmed vase. There are oriental divans against the wall covered with inviting cushions, and she dines at a table pushed against a divan with bright cushions propped behind her back. She presides on a big Indian print-covered sofa like a sultan’s favourite, before and after dinner, with everyone gathered on small chairs at her feet. She lives in an atmosphere of informal luxury confined in crowded quarters, in an aura of intimacy and mystery.”
- Bettina Ballard
