Le Corbusier | The Father of “International Style” Design

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“Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.”
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–Le Corbusier

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Architect Le Corbusier sitting in chair & holding book in hands-- Paris France 1965.

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“To create architecture is to put in order. Put what in order? Function and objects.”

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–Le Corbusier

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Architect Le Corbusier working on project for French ministry of reconstruction in his Paris atelier-- Paris, France 1965.

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“The home should be the treasure chest of living.”

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–Le Corbusier

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Architect Le Corbusier sitting in chair with book in hands, glasses perched on his forehead-- Paris, France 1965.

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“I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies.”

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–Le Corbusier

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Swiss architect Le Corbusier leaning down to write w. his glasses pushed back on his forehead-- Venice, Italy 1952.

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“Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light.”

–Le Corbusier

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A Man’s Desk is the Portal to His Mind | How Good Design Creates Order

 

“If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?”  –Dr. Laurence J. Peter

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William Allen White's old roll-top desk heaped high with books, papers, packages and a rickety chair-- Empoira, KS 1944.

 

Desk designed by industrial designer Donald Deskey-- 1958.

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Cecil Beaton | Fashion Slave from the Cradle to the Grave

 

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary”  –Cecil Beaton

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Cecil Beaton drinking while wearing his fourth costume of the evening, as host of his garden party. --circa 1948

 

 

Cecil Beaton-- his vanity knew no bounds.

 

 

 

 

Photographer Cecil Beaton adjusting the lens on a primitive camera in his studio, U.K. --circa 1929.

 

Cecil Beaton-- put that in your pike a smoke it.

 

Photographer Cecil Beaton escorting Francis Doble (Lady Lindsey Hogg) to the wedding of Lord Herbert Equerry & Lady Mary Hope-- Circa 1936

 

 

Actress Ina Claire hugging Cecil Beaton at the opening of "Once Is Enough"-- circa 1937

 

Photographer/designer Cecil Beaton at the switchboard doing his duty as an Air Raid Precautions operator on the estate of Lord and Lady Pembroke-- circa 1940

 

 

Fashion designer Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel w. photographer Cecil Beaton-- circa 1937

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The Legacy of Ralph Lauren | Polo University

 

“People ask how can a Jewish kid from the Bronx do preppy clothes? Does it have to do with class and money? It has to do with dreams.”  

–Ralph Lauren

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Mad For Plaid | 1973

“If you’re going to wear madras, you don’t want to wear something that looks like your grandfather’s,” said Thom Browne. ”Actually, your grandfather’s madras would be cool,” he amended. ”It’s your father’s that you don’t want.”

”Preppy looks so cool when it looks effortless,” Mr. Browne said, ”but when it looks contrived, there’s nothing worse.”

 

After Six formal jacket and taffeta bow tie & Palm Beach madras patchwork (in)formal suit –from GQ magazine, 1973 (Image via Black Tie Guide)

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Actor and film critic Rex Reed relaxes in a wicker chair on Great Harbour Cay, in the Bahamas.  Photo by the legendary photographer Slim Aarons, 1973.

 

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Benjamin (Belstaff) Button

I knew there was a reason I loved the wardrobe so much–

 

Belstaff, which was founded in Longton, Staffordshire, in 1924, opened up its 85-year-old archives to West and supplied original, classic designs for Pitt-as-Button’s screen wardrobe.

When Benjamin Button is riding his vintage Indian motorcycle through Louisiana he is wearing the Belstaff ‘Panther’ jacket in dark-brown leather, a timeless classic as popular today as it was 50 years ago. At another pivotal point in his life, Button takes off on his Triumph motorbike wearing the Belstaff ‘Button’ blouson in black leather, a ‘new’ classic based on an original design. In another key scene, opposite Tilda Swinton who plays diplomat’s wife, Elizabeth Abbott, Button is in a vintage Belstaff shearling jacket in black leather with cream collar.

Link to Belstaff/Button story

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Paul Smith’s Fall 2009 Tartan & Foulard Bohemia

Paul Smith always stands for color, pattern and cheek; but since so much of his tailored clothing this season was cut from conservative fabrics with gray or brown backgrounds, what was under the jacket became the statement maker. Sportswear came in corduroys, stonewashed black denim and lots of tartan, especially Black Watch.  Foulard print scarves were layered for a bohemian effect.

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