September 2008
A friend of mine got this rug at Home Depot in Highland Park. It’s part of the company’s Home Decorators Collection and you can order it here in a variety of sizes. It’s one of those things I could see liking the looks of online, but being too scared to order. So I’m here to tell you this rug looks fabulous in real life (but I would still recommend calling a Home Depot near you and seeing if they have it in stock so you can check it out in person…don’t want to get stuck shipping a big rug back!) My friend bought it for her bedroom to match her bedding, which is cream-colored with some pink accents—just girly enough, without going overboard (she had thought about a shag rug, but felt it would be too predictable). An all wool, 8-by-11-foot rug for $1,099—not too shabby (or shaggy).
—Gina Bazer
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We received this dispatch from interior decorator Michael Del Piero
After years of hearing rave reviews about the Maison & Object Show in Paris in September, I decided to go. This enormous show covers miles of indoor/outdoor space, where folks from around the globe come to view and purchase what’s beautiful, unusual, and trendy in the world of interior and garden design. I expected to see spectacular, cutting-edge furniture, accessories and art, things so incredible I would gasp at every turn. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Instead, I witnessed masses of people placing orders for merchandise we’ve been seeing here in the States for years. It appeared to be a show filled with continuing trends, not new ones. There were themes: ethnic (strong Asian), industrial, modern, and that which has most recently referred to as “Belgian style” (I suspect the French claim it as French style). I do adore those greige weathered, wood tops set on iron bases, black lacquered Chinese wardrobes, oversized industrial light fixtures hanging in multiples, fine glassware, luxurious cashmere throws and handspun linen bedding. But I was hoping to find something that would inspire and excite me. Then I saw a line of lighting created with mini sponge-like materials all connected, creating an irregularly shaped object resembling an alien (shown here is Formation by Ango). This piece would take any dining room from good to great simply by hanging it (I’ll be carrying the line in my shop). Now, I’m still wondering where all those French women got their cool shoes.
—MICHAEL DEL PIERO
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Dior is one of the few shows where the models walk the way people imagine fashion models walk—all attitude, like Derek Zoolander. I watched with surprise as the big name girls, usually so cool on the catwalk, strutted and pranced. Each one put her own bit of flair into her final pose for the photogs—a coquettish popped shoulder here, an arm sliding from hip to thigh there...
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Robert Zizzo has relocated his mid-century-centric furniture, art, and accessories store Modlife, and as of October 1 he’ll be open at 3061 N. Lincoln Avenue. The new free-standing showroom, formerly a medical building, has been deconstructed into a lofty, minimalist gallery and will have twice the space and twice the inventory of the old locale. Zizzo told me that his clients have been looking for bolder colors and patterns for their homes these days, and he wanted a nice clean space to show off the goods. He’ll still be trumpeting the Danish Modern, Hollywood Regency, and iconic American pieces that Modlife is known for, but has also added some contemporary modern furnishings and Art Deco rugs.
—BRADLEY LINCOLN
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If you're like me and have been following fashion weeks in London and Milan on the Web, well, it's been an interesting juxtaposition, hasn't it? Extravagant fashion shows happening at the same time as political drama and a tanking economy.
As headlines told of collapse on Wall Street, the models in Milan were toppling, too—because the shoes were so high and monstrously large. Anyway, now we're in Paris, and things seem to be...