Two weeks ago, I wrote about our MTO shirt program – and pulled out my original yellow checked shirt from the first season. Still perfect.
If you have been around for awhile – you know we always, always have gingham on the line. Both of us, actually. Sid opened his shop with a slew of ginghams in shirting. There was a really fantastic photo of Jeremy Lin in GQ – this was very early on, we only had the one shop - wearing a bright red gingham made even brighter by a big splash of water. That was a pretty cool moment. We have always loved this fantastic cotton poplin quality from Albini in Italy. They really are the best of the best. Over the years we have mixed up the scale and the color to keep it feeling fresh, but gingham has never left the building.
And not only do I love wearing checks… I love being surrounded by them. Having collected at least as many interior design images as fashion images (maybe more), there are thousands of visual references running around my brain: The World of Interiors… House & Garden… the shorter-lived HG and Elle Décor. And now Instagram. Even with so much digital material, I have closets full of those old magazines that I can’t bring myself to throw away. So many fat folders of tearsheets labeled FAVORITE in my file cabinets. Evidently I have lots of favorites. Once when my daughter Louisa was telling us about her kindergarten class, her sisters asked who her best friend was. She looked totally bewildered. “They are ALL my best friends.” Of course. How could we ask her to choose? I feel the same way. Dear, dear pages ripped from magazines spanning three decades. Old best friends. They might be incredibly unorganized, but even out of order, leafing through them takes me back to exactly where I was at the moment that I pulled each page out to file away. Not just my location in life (geographical, chronological, emotional) but my style in life: French provincial, clean modern, American country… wherever I was that had me dreaming of how to translate these images into the real-life house we were inhabiting. (Sid and I moved a LOT.)
So I can tell you that my first trip down the checked road happened in Darien, CT. At the time I was obsessed with Ines de la Fressange’s Parisian apartment that was all Gustavian: checks in every room with bare floors and lots of gilded touches. I was reminded of this when I saw it in one of my new favorite interiors magazines, Frederic. We had just moved out of New York after having our second baby. I was tired of pushing strollers around the city. And while Sid had no interest of leaving our apartment in the city, my friend Ellen was giving up her spot on a 90-acre property overlooking the Long Island Sound: an apartment above the stable that looked like it could have been built by the Rothschilds. Vaulted tile ceilings above the horse stalls, with real life horses still living there. The owners of the property had no interest in renting to anyone with young children (I can only imagine the liability) but I sent Sid out there, begging him to talk them into it… and he came back to the city with a signed lease. My ticket to heaven. Just like that, we became Connecticut residents with a fresh space of our own to decorate.
Even though it was technically the suburbs… the stable had more of a country vibe than anywhere we had lived before. My chance to put all that gingham into play. I chose red for our bedroom — this awesome Brunschwig & Fils check for the bedspread to go with the red toile curtains Ellen had left — and blue for the little girls, with bright blue gingham upholstery on a little French chair and bed purchased for next to nothing at an antiques store. Black gingham cushions on the Hitchcock chairs in the kitchen… more than a few tablecloths and napkin sets as well. Picasso may have had his blue period – but this was truly my check period. In retrospect, it was a lot of squares. I got to relive this era of my life when Sid and I stayed at the incredible Hotel Peter & Paul in New Orleans where they, too, have a technicolor check theme going on… bringing whole new level of meaning to checking in. Charming and sophisticated… both. If all that check was good enough for the massive French provincial country houses featured in Maison and Jardin (and Ines... and now again in Frederic) – it was plenty sophisticated for Great Island. Anyway, I have really fond memories of that French country decorating era… the backdrop cloth of our life in Connecticut.
And it STILL sparks so much joy as a pure pattern. Which brings me back to today. Or yesterday, rather, when I went over to the store to pick up the most wonderful wrap skirt in a tiny gingham check, made of lightweight taffeta embroidered with little flowers. Talk about charming and sophisticated. Susan, who works in the shop, wouldn’t let me leave without suggesting a few things to wear it with. She has so much style that she puts me to shame. I was kind of struck by this, actually – I am so used to dashing in and grabbing what I need, and most of the girls assume I know what I am doing with it. And most of the time, that is true. But it reminded me that shopping can really be a team sport and there is so much value in a woman coming alongside you and helping you figure it out. Susan was pretty nonchalant about it — “this is what I do!” And in fact, she had her own head start on this skirt as she had played around with it over the weekend – as you can see on Instagram. How cool does she look? For me, she grabbed a navy polo sweater. Check. (!) A white Icon shirt. Check. A white t-shirt. Check. She agreed to let me walk out with just the skirt when I reminded her that the dozen-years-faded chambray shirt hanging in my closet would also be great. Truly, she could teach a master class in styling.
If you don’t have Susan handy when you are getting dressed… and you don’t want to figure it out for yourself… a one-and-done hit of gingham in the form of a dress is perfect. That same awesome fabric actually comes in a popover dress too. Or if you are planning a trip to the Hotel Peter and Paul, try showing up in the pink gingham. See if they will give you a discount. (That dress in gingham is such a favorite of mine on many levels.) For interiors, or your very own exterior… gingham is awesome. You really might need some of it. I promise.
