STYLE NV A tribute to Lucienne Day

Yesterday marked the first year anniversary of the death of British textile designer, Lucienne Day and today STYLE NV would like to lay tribute to such a remarkable woman.




Inspired by abstract art, she pioneered the use of bright, optimistic, abstract patterns in post-war England, and was eventually celebrated worldwide

Désirée Lucienne Conradi, was born on 5th January 1917, in Coulsdon Surrey. She came from a fairly well off family, her mother was English and her father Belgian. She went to a convent school and from a very early age she was focused on designing. She studied at Croydon School of Art and then, from 1937 to 1940, she studied at the Royal College of Art, where she was a top student. It was there, in her final year, that she first met the furniture designer Robin Day, whom she later went on to marry.

Lucienne drew on the English tradition of patterns based on plant forms that went back as far as Morris. She took motifs drawn from nature and transformed them into something absolutely new. Part of her success was the implied message of regrowth and optimism for a Britain only just recovering from war.

She was also deeply influenced by European abstract painters like Kandinsky, Miró and Klee. It pleased her to think that people who could not afford to buy a painting for their living room could at least own a pair of abstract patterned curtains. Many of Day's printed fabrics were made in long production runs, which kept the price affordable. She made the link between mass production and fine art.

http://www.stylenv.co.uk/blogs/blogEntry.cfm?b=56

CHATTING WITH ABIGAIL BROWN,

Welcome to the world of designer and crafter Abigail Brown. Through careful observation and drawing, Abigail has created a menagerie of charming vintage fabric birds and animals, which all have unique characters. Her creations have come to life in this lovely little film that she produced, a sort of pastiche to the late and great Oliver Postgate, of Bagpuss fame.

STYLE NV caught up with Abigail recently to talk about her work.

http://www.stylenv.co.uk/blogs/blogEntry.cfm?b=55

I can’t remember the first time that I saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but it had a profound effect on me; more so than I ever realised. It's being screened again at the British Film Institute in London to mark the 50th anniversary of its release and I went to go and watch it to relive the magic. I only realised then that I had subconsciously picked up many of Holly Golightly’s idioms. Like the way she mixes french phrases into her speech– I just mix them in to make those dull words like something a little more special – quelquechose just sounds so much more enticing!

When I first watched it, I was too young to fully understand the real meaning behind those jazzy’ lines, so I concerntrated on her style. Her clothes, designed by Givenchy, were simple, accessories were bold and her apartment, that her friend and publicist, O.J Berman again described as “ a dump” was classy yet quirky, and these two words sum up STYLE NV precisely.

Holly’s apartment is not about high end glamour. True her clothes certainly were , but if you look her apartment, it isn’t really that grand. The kitchen is plain, the shelving units has brackets screwed to the wall and her coffee table is an upturned crate (albeit with copies of Vogue on top). She was supposeed to be a It girl wannabe, looking for a sugar daddy, relying on stupid rich men to pay for her to go to the powder room. She didn’t have much money herself, but she had a quirky, glamorous style that was simply fabulous! She drank her morning milk from a martinin glass, kept ballet pumps in the fridge and her sofa was a half a roll top bath.

Set Designers Ray Moyer and Sam Comer designed Holly’s apartment, and were later nominated for Oscars for their designs but here are STYLE NV’s shopping guide to get the Gollightly look.

http://www.stylenv.co.uk/blogs/blogEntry.cfm?b=54