The Antique Garden Furniture Fair Preview Party at the New York Botanical Garden

With Designer Chairman Fen Fulk.
After my recent trip to the beautiful Orchid Show, I made a return trip to one of my favorite places, the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, with TD to attend the Antique Garden Furniture Fair Preview Party and Collectors' Plant Sale. The Preview Party kicks off the weekend-long Antique Garden Furniture Fair when leading antique dealers offer furniture, art, and accessories inspired by the garden for sale. I'm a big fan of garden antiques used indoors; I love things that bring nature and flowers inside and give a room a natural, relaxed feeling.

At the Botanical Garden, the Antique Fair was set up in a spacious tent next to the stunning glass Enid Haupt A. Conservatory. In the courtyard between the Conservatory and the tent, Elle Decor, one of the event sponsors, presented a glamorous garden vignette created by the magazine's interiors editor Robert Rufino. Mannequins languidly dressed in ballgowns made out of Chinese newspapers and covers of Elle Decor were posed around the latest Roche Bobois furniture collection. 

The Collectors' Plant Sale was well underway. Collectors arrive early to scoop up treasured plants. Martha Stewart and Bette Midler had already come and gone by the time we arrived.

Inside the tent, the party was in full swing with about 500 guests in attendance. We chatted with Michael Boodro, Elle Decor Editor in Chief and Honorary Chairman of the event, and then ran into Ken Fulk (pictured above) who we had met at John Derian's opening for artist Hugo Guinness. The celebrated San Francisco-based designer, who was resplendent in a green, floral, bell-bottom Gucci suit, was the evening's Designer Chairman. Ken told me that jeweler Mish Tworkowki, an event Chairman, had first enlisted him to get involved. "Gregory Long [the longtime President and Chief Executive Officer of the Garden] gave me a beautiful tour proving that this is the most important garden in the world," said Ken. "I love the Botanical Garden."

Ken came up with a yellow and black bumble bee theme to give the party a fun, "buzzy" flair that ran though out with fabrics, napkins and accessories. To enhance the theme, Ken told me that three giant bee hives were constructed in San Francisco and shipped to New York. The gorgeous L.A. DJ Kiss spun records inside one of the big bee hives –



We strolled around and perused the offerings. It was a chic, good-looking crowd  – a favorite ensemble among the women guests was a simple, short evening dress with a short matching evening coat with bracelet sleeves plus slingback shoes. I love that kind of style that is polished and elegant but also easy and effortless at the same time.
There were handsome urns at Finnegan Gallery from Chicago –



and a wall of colorful watercolor botanical paintings at Earl Vandebar of Knightsbridge –

These metal garden hoops hung on a charcoal wall looked like a modern abstract painting, like a Cy Twombly –

Buying and packing at Withington & Company Antiques from Portsmouth, Maine –

At the end of the party, on the way out, candles lined the Conservatory courtyard reflecting pool - 

and dusk was falling on the Conservatory.

It was a lovely night in New York.

Hearst Magazines Designer Visions

TD and I at Hearst's Gala - photo by Annie Watt
On a cold, rainy night TD and I headed down to Tribeca for some warm, colorful style at Hearst Magazine's Designer Visions showhouse which consisted of three designer apartments at 250 West Street, a turn-of-the-century warehouse building which faces the Hudson River and has been converted into luxury condos.

Three designers were enlisted to decorate apartments for three Hearst magazines - David Rockwell for House Beautiful, Matthew Patrick Smyth for Elle Decor, and Antony Todd for Veranda. We checked our coats and umbrellas and joined the throngs at the elevator which delivered us to the floor where the three apartments in different sizes and shapes are located.

A well-dressed crowd squeezed into the apartments as cocktails and hors d'oeuvres were passed. David Rockwell's apartment for House Beautiful featured dramatic gestures like a big chandelier and Baroque wallpaper in the bedroom. In Elle Decor's apartment by Matthew Patrick Smyth, I said hello to my friend editor-in-chief Michael Boodro. "I almost cried when I first saw this apartment," he confessed. "It has a room with no windows, and a big column in the middle of the living room. But Matthew did a great job. This is perfect proof of what a good decorator can do. It's design magic." The designer turned the windowless room into a dining room and cleverly layered it with three different striking patterns of Schumacher wallpaper which resemble black and white mosaics. The offending column was painted a dark grey to match the walls and so seems to disappear.

We grabbed a Bellini along the way and proceeded on to the Veranda apartment decorated by Antony Todd. The open living room was the largest "party" space so it was a good place to hang out. Nibbles were offered on a table lit by tall taper candles. 

I had interviewed Antony Todd before over the phone for Out magazine, so I said hello. Antony is a charming Australian with an appropriately attractive accent -

Antony told me that he wanted to treat the apartment as a "downtown loft, and keep it light and airy, almost as if it is undecorated." Throughout the apartment hung large paintings by Thomas Fougeirol, which give the space an artistic downtown attitude. A glowing red canvas by Fougeirol was hung by a tall window which revealed the West Side Highway glittering in the rain (below). Windows to the right faced the Hudson River. You can't go wrong in New York City with a river view.

Veranda editor-in-chief Dara Caponigro was enjoying the festiveness of the room. "Antony was the perfect designer for this space," she told me. "The decorating is laid-back and super chic. It's what Veranda stands for which is livable luxury."
Dara and Antony -

The showcase is shoppable too – you can buy furniture or accessories found in or inspired by the showhouse at the website Dering Hall. When the weather is not conducive to being outdoors, thinking about improving interiors is a lovely antidote to the gloomy days of winter.

My Story on Cecil Beaton in the Oct. Elle Decor

Dear reader, you might enjoy my article in the October issue of Elle Decor. It's about the Cecil Beaton exhibition which is coming to the Museum of the City of New York this month, and its accompanying book from Rizzoli. I'm looking forward to seeing this show which opens on October 25. I've said here before on the blog that a big memory from my childhood was being taken for my seventh birthday to see My Fair Lady in a huge old movie theater in Philadelphia. I was completely entranced by the film, and the Cecil Beaton-designed Edwardian costumes and sets were a major part of the appeal (besides of course the Lerner and Lowe music and Audrey Hepburn herself). Yes, it was the beginning of beautiful things. So I'm happy to have the chance now to pay tribute to Cecil Beaton.

Pick up an issue of the magazine – it's the big fashion issue filled with delicious interiors including fashion designer Andrew Gn's sumptuous apartment in Paris which is something out of Proust. Editor in Chief Michael Boodro and his editors are doing a wonderful job – enjoy!