Posting last photos from the Dior Fall 2024 show as i return to Buddy Bradley writing mode. What a fun escape. (Clip 2)!Loved the masculine-feminine yin yang throughout and, as always, the spectacular Parisian workmanship—the weaving, beading, latticework, and painstaking fringes that, to me, signal Dior. Now retreating into work, my very happy haven, and wondering, just wondering, if I should have that bag (3) . Thoughts ??
@dior
Buy the bag, then read the book!!
Flattered to see my text on the latest Dior saddle bag, introduced in parallel with Dior’s fascinating Fall 2024 collection @Brooklyn Museum on Monday. It all dovetails perfectly —the words are from the catalogue for « Christian Dior, Designer of Dreams » the exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum - when Paris came to America.
After perusing your new bag, learn the backstory of Dior’s brilliant conquest of America, from Nieman Marcus Award to revolutionary ready to wear in #christiandiordesignerofdreams by me and curator @matthew_yokobosky , published by @rizzolibooks
Then dream about the Fall Winter collection…
Thank you @taylornyc for posting this! What a breathtaking surprise.
@dior
Escaping the writing cave for a very good reason.
@dior
#meandmybuddy
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
To my admittedly biased thinking 😉, little is as exhilarating as the renaissance of decorator Georges Geffroy. Latest iteration is Geffroy’s reign at @tefaf Maastricht. Dealer @christophe_de_quenetain has an extensive collection of great pieces placed by Geffroy in his most celebrated rooms (Guinness, de Redé, Bonchamps). Spanish architect @joan_madera and @jbaruzzo have displayed these to smashing effect, channeling Dior and his decorators in a spectacular stand. Bravo !
#georgesgeffroy
#diorandhisdecorators
Via Diana Vreeland and Babe Paley the @feudfx lifted George Stacey, conjurer of breezy American chic, into our gaze. He made the houses of Whitneys, Vreelands, Dukes, Paleys, Harrimans, Astors, debutantes, American princesses, and Hollywood royalty the stage sets on which the American Century unfolded. Like Mainbocher, he was meticulously trained in Paris, then rewrote the rules, blithely mixing Louis Xv consoles with terra cotta, Régence mirrors with rattan, blackamoors and cotton into reductive, refined, and surprising spaces. Albert Hadley, Billy Baldwin, Michael Taylor and Mark Hampton paid homage to Stacey in their own work. We still do. In @theswanspod we delved into how the combination of classical training, sass, and pizzazz NEVER fail.
George Stacey and the Creation of American Chic. @rizzolibooks
@theswanspod
#georgestaceyamericanchic
#georgestacey
#dianavreeland #babepaley #breezychic #americanstyle #stylethatlives
Book report: Chapter 7 in draft! It’s 1925 and Buddy Bradley , 19, has just finished his stint dancing in “From Dixie to Broadway” with Florence Mills and his idol, Eddie Rector. He’s reputedly the highest paid chorus dancer at the time but at a crossroads. He’s bored dancing the same routines night after night. He tentatively begins to teach jazz dance to Broadway professionals, a turning point that will transform theatrical dance forever as well as his own life. I’ve many chapters still to write and many drafts ahead.. Exploring the life of another is a sacred and fully immersive journey and I am savoring Buddy’s company. .
#buddybradley
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#meandmybuddy
#theatricaldance
#jazzdance
#tapdance
#Harlemrenaissance
#livinghistory
Making books makes friends! Lunch with writer and fellow biographer Grant Harper Reid who wrote the biography of his grandfather, Leonard Harper, Harlem Renaissance dancer, choreographer, and impresario (Cotton Club, the Apollo, Connie’s Inn). And most importantly, in my unbiased opinion 😉, early mentor of Buddy Bradley.
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#meandmybuddy
#buddybradley
#insearchofbuddybradley
#tracingbuddybradley
So elated that my friend @matthew_yokobosky received the Ordre National du Mérite last night at the French consulate. His exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum have been extraordinary journeys that lift all of us.
I had the honor to get to Matthew during his Dior exhibit where I researched and wrote the story of Dior in America for the catalog. He is everything and more than Consul Damien Laban and Brooklyn museum director Anne Pasternak said of him in their wonderful speeches last night. Bravo, Matthew!
#dior #diorexhibition #ionlyweardior
Bedtime story #2. Very content at Villa Malcontenta.
And I like chapeaux as much as beds.
In Beaujolais. I’ve never found a lit à la polonaise I didn’t adore.
#diorandhisdecorators
Paris Christmas at the ballet —a first, Nureyev’s Nutcracker. Bakst-like costumes with a whiff of Tartary. So many relevées (to show off all those gorgeous strong feet.) Exquisite corps. Champagne and blinis at l’entr’acte. Then the Place de la Bastille with gorgeously illuminated Colonne de Juillet. Merry Christmas!
PS spoiler alert: No Sugar Plum Fairy or Land of Sweets in sight!!
Another generous soul who shared invaluable stories to make Buddy Bradley come alive. Xxx
#buddybradley
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#tracingbuddybradley
#meandmybuddy
Christmas weekend in San Francisco. #familychristmas #goddaughter’s wedding #christmas #reddress #dior
Holiday weekend in San Francisco. #goddaughterwedding #goddaughter #familychristmas #sanfrancisco #reddress #dior
London research a wrap! And a different Thanksgiving: Tea party with two of my Buddy Bradley posse, dancer/actors who can tell the West End tales. So grateful for all the extraordinary people whose memories of life in dance and the theater have infused life into Buddy Bradley
I say I’ve wrapped. But of course this is just a form of speech. The research door is always ajar. In case you know anyone! Happy Thanksgiving to all.
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#meandmybuddy
#searchingforbuddybradley
#buddybradley
#durrantshotel #thanksgivinginlondon
Writing away…the groundwork established (and it’s fascinating).Three more research trips to go!
#buddybradley
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#tracingbuddybradley
#meandmybuddy
A recent post by Joshua Kamei inspired me to watch “Last Night in New York,” the documentary on David Patrick Columbia. I was inspired by his intentional and enquiring life (isn’t that the key to everything?) and so loved, too, the affirmation of New York. It sent me in search of a 2019 profile that appeared in New York Social Diary. I feel all the more honored than ever, after seeing the film. And as always, I am blown away by Sian Ballen’s perceptive interviews (and edits 😊) and Jeffrey Hirsch’s facility with a camera. Merci mille fois. Xx
@sianballen @newyorksocialdiary @ladiesofmadisonave @dior #newyorkstories #mynewyork
It’s always special to see one of my books anywhere -a bookcase, a shop window-but today my heart skipped a DOUBLE beat—the French edition is in the window at Dior in Paris!
Viva Victor Grandpierre, Georges Geffroy, the New Look! And thank you @deanrhysmorgan for so thoughtfully sending this photo. Dear @jerome.gautier for the fantastic journey. AND the fantastic pink cover J’ADIOR! @olivierflaviano for the display. . @citadellesetmazenod @vendomepress for just about everything!
#victorgrandpierre #georgesgeffroy #newlook #diorandhisdecorators #dioretsesdécorateurs @dior @diormaison
Don’t you find that intoxicating scent of history in courthouse deed rooms? We do!!!! Digging into historic troves again -with the invaluable tutelage of preservationist E. Lane Gresham—as I assemble the amazing, entrepreneurial, intentional distaff side of Buddy Bradley’s family.
Of course, following instructions at the door (swipe), we returned our weapons to the car to gain admittance. It was worth it.
Thank you again, EDH, for facilitating all of this. Recreating a life takes a village.
I wish, however, I’d put on some lipstick…
#buddybradley
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#meandmyBuddy
#searchingforBuddyBradley
#tracingBuddyBradley
#travelsinthesouth
So if your father is a Baptist and your mother a Methodist, what will you be? My research companion ( Buddy Bradley’s distant cousin) caught me mid-sentence in the historic C.M.E.Daes Chapel in Clarkesville, Georgia. (Like Bradley’s mother’s people, the Daes family were also free people of color. )As to religious upbringing, I suspect the religion of Buddy’s more-present mother prevailed, so it is possible Buddy Bradley was christened in this very space. Once again, I feel I am following on sacred ground -the (non-tapping) footsteps of Bradley. BTW it’s called buck dancing in these parts!
Thank you, EDH, for opening this journey for me!
#buddybradley
#meandmybuddy
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#searchingforBuddyBradley
#tracingBuddyBradley
#daeschapel
@habershamcountyga @clarkesvillegeorgia