The Grand Tourist

Travelling for edification and pleasure, as a rite of passage for the British sons of the landed gentry, reached it's zenith in the 18th and 19th centuries.  While certainly an enjoyable year or two out of a young man's life, this trip was intended to bring about awareness of how life was lived in other lands and meant to broaden one's outlook thereby. Acquisition of mementos of these travels would be expected as evidence of the worldliness and sophistication of the traveler. Upon his return, the...

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A Man for One Season

Christian Lacroix poufed his way to notoriety in the late 1980's with his exuberant and over the top confections. His legacy is inextricably entwined with that time, fairly or not. His use of pattern on pattern, an overscale costume aesthetic, and, for that era, unique color combinations, marked him not so much as a visionary, but more as a ring leader and agent provocateur of the "more is more" trend that encapsulated those times. Beloved of the billionaires' wives of those heady days, the Susan Gutfreunds...

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The Black and The White

Back in the early 90's, when minimalism became the mantra of every designer on the planet (except Christian Lacroix), as a backlash to the wacky excesses of the over -the- top 80's, the editor of Italian Vogue was featured in American Vogue with her wardrobe on display. The photos of her walk-in closet told the whole story. Were there acres of colorful couture and shelves loaded with Birkin bags and hundreds of pairs of expensive shoes? Hardly! On a top rack, for as far as the eye could see, were crisp, white long-sleeved...

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