fashion at versailles

Due to severe weather in my area yesterday, I lost my internet connection! So sorry I was unable to get a post published! All is well now, and luckily, we had no damage to our house or yard…sadly, the town next to us was devastated by a fierce micro burst leaving the streets and parks looking like a tornado had touched down…thank goodness for the sunshine and cool breezes today…

With thoughts of fashion and photography still fresh in my mind from Tuesday’s post, I couldn’t help but be reminded of one of my all time favorite fashion spreads ~ Kirsten Dunst photographed by Annie Leibovitz at Versailles for American Vogue…for me, it is a sublime coming together of talent, beauty, art and architecture…take for example the first image…my eye is drawn to the composition as a whole…not just the dress, the muse, or the setting, but to the entire photograph…it is a balanced, inventive and most importantly beautiful work of art that will surely stand the test of time…

Photographers Annie Leibovitz, Karl Lagerfeld, Steven Meisel, and Gilles Marie Zimmerman all found inspiration from the grace and elegance that is Versailles…please enjoy this marriage of fashion, photography and the one and only Versailles!

Annie Leibovitz for Vogue September 2006

Karl Lagerfeld for Harper’s Bazaar Romania November 2007

Steven Meisel for Vogue October 1994

Karl Lagerfeld for Tatler Russia July 2012

Gilles Marie Zimmerman for Paris Match March 2012

Karl Lagerfeld for Harper’s Bazaar June 2007

Read Full Post »

versailles

What would it feel like to wake up at Versailles? Imagine opening your bedroom window to a view of the sun rise over the Orangerie or maybe your room offers you a view of the castle bathed in morning light…this dream will soon be a reality…you may be asking yourself “how is this possible?”…Versailles doesn’t have the 7 million dollars necessary to restore the crumbling Hotel du Grand Controle, a mansion built in the 1680s about 100 yards from the main palace…rather than have the building fall into further disrepair, Ivy International, a Belgian hotel company, will renovate the mansion and turn its 23 bedrooms into a luxury hotel…a percentage of the profits will be paid back to the Palace of Versailles in rent…”It’s quite a pioneering initiative in France for somebody to be able to have the right to take on a project like this in such a historic momentum and transform it into an economic project,” says Louise Grether, who manages the project for Ivy International…slated for completion in January of 2012, the renamed Hotel de l’Orangerie will allow guests to drink champagne and stroll the gardens of Versailles for the first time in 300 years…start saving now! Bon weekend!

above ~ the Hotel du Grand Controle soon to be transformed into the Hotel de l’Orangerie

below ~ spectacular images of the fountains and gardens of Versailles

photos and resources from NPR.org and Photographic walks

Read Full Post »