Paris Days | George's Friends

Model, Joan Olson

It will be two years on March 11th that I lost my godfather George. He had many interesting friends and was part of a circle of American expats in Paris after WWII—which included Tennessee Williams and many illustrious characters. Through his friend Jacques Rheims, my godfather met a beautiful young model, Joan Olson. I've been thinking about Joan during this Paris Fashion Week. But Joan's Paris was during the time of true haute couture, and her family thinks she would lament what has become of Dior, Balmain, Chanel and Balenciaga. Joan was with the Ford Modeling Agency, and made the cover of every women's and lifestyle magazine in the US except LIFE, according to her son and my friend Charles... "because MacArthur bumped her when he was fired by Truman in Korea."

Joan with Emilo Pucci, 1952
Joan was married to Charles Buchet Sr., the dashing French executive who brought the Citröen to the US. They met in Capri on vacation—she, after a shoot and he, there with Marzotto—the Italian textile company that at the time sold to all the important Parisian houses. Apparently, half of Paris was at their wedding and Jacques Fath was their best man. Fath sadly died of Leukemia just a year later. I asked my friend Charles what it was like being the child of a model during the 1950's and he said, "As a little kid in the 50's, I wasn't aware of anything extraordinary—certainly all boys believe their mother is the most beautiful woman in the world, except that we knew it for sure!" Joan continued working until the birth of her fourth son in 1959. Before that, the boys had a full-time nanny because Joan was working every day. Paris was her base in Europe but she also shot a great deal in Italy and Germany.

"I remember even in the late 50's when we would visit on vacation, a well-dressed woman really stood out. At least in the more down-to-earth neighborhoods of Paris—the cut, the colors, and an air of great confidence, especially wearing the New Look. This was the time most people consider the golden age of Paris fashion." ~ C.B.

Joan at Place Vendôme, 1952
As I learn more about my godfather George and his friends, I have an even greater appreciation of why he was such an arbiter of style. I miss the stories about his days in Paris, and all the parties and who was wearing what. He once draped a fabulous curtain around a friend who needed a dress for a party. Another time, he and a Dior model were invited to a party at the US ambassador's residence in Spain. His friend was wearing the true Dior {unbuttoned to her waist with Grecian sandals}, and their hostess was wearing a quite staid, off-the-rack version of the same dress! George got such a kick out of these stories and my, how I miss hearing them. He gave me a list of people to call in Europe when I went to London to study art in 1977. This is how I met Joan's son Charles. The list is priceless. Some day, I'll share some of it with you! If you are new to my blog, you can read more about my godfather here.


Photo from Joan Olson Ford Model Sheet

Thank you to my dear friend Charles Buchet, Jr., for his recollections!

Fashion Week Note: To see the Ready-to-Wear Collections from New York to London and from Milan to Paris Fashion Weeks, click here.

Photographs by: Regina Relang

GEORGE | GODFATHER EXTRAORDINAIRE

I cannot believe it's been a year this week that I lost my godfather George. I think about him all the time. I'm grateful to have spent many days with him at the end of his life. We had wonderful chats about art. A lot of what I write about here on this blog is because of him. He was one of the greatest gifts of my life. So, this little post is in memory of George, shown above [on the left] with old friends. oxo

MORE LESSONS FROM MY GODFATHER GEORGE

Shopping bag design for the Brooklyn Museum of Art, design for folk craft from India

My godfather George died on March 11, 2009 and not a day goes by without my thinking about him. Peruvian belts, block-printed bedspreads from Rajasthan, and American Indian sterling bangles were the things my godfather gave me when I was a teenage girl. But his life lessons were far beyond just the interests of my teenage world. He taught me not to judge a period of art before understanding all the others. And, he taught me not to merchandise your house in decorating it. He saved merchandising for his museum shops. At the time {from 1965-1977} he started and managed the Gallery Shop at the Brooklyn Museum. George did it all—from buying {international folk craft from sixty-five countries} to merchandising, and he edited the yearly mail-order catalog. He was the best at it. Former museum director and portrait painter, Tom Buechner said that my godfather George..."did a grand job" and that "the shop was the pride of the Museum." And, former vice chairman Thomas A. Donnelly wrote in 1978 that "during George's stewardship, the Brooklyn Museum Gallery Shop reached its eminent position in the museum field and that it became the proto-type for most museum shops."


Javanese puppet and Taiwanese tiger

I recently found these drawings in a box from George's closet. They are designs for toys, ornaments and folk craft from around the world, scribbled with my godfather's notations and precise art direction. He had an incredibly intuitive and astutely trained eye with an opinion to match! He was a savvy marketer and merchandiser. I can only imagine the perfection and expertise he put into every project at the Brooklyn Museum Gallery Shop. I can hear him directing the scene now.

Painted clay acrobats from Mexico and Puppet with drum from China


Bavarian hand puppet and hand-painted Noah's Arc from Austria


Ceramic owl from Guatemala and American Indian Hopi Kachina doll


Burmese Duck and painted wood Nutcracker from Bavaria

GEORGE | FRIENDS WITH RATTAN

I lost my 88 year-old godfather George {on right, in Rome 1962} in March—I first wrote about him here. For the past several months, I've been sorting through miscellaneous papers from a box in his closet and I am finding little things of note, like this picture of a couple in a simple farmhouse. Though I do not know who these friends might be {familiar... famous, perhaps?}, I love the picture. And, I particularly love the chair—I have a thing for rattan. I prefer pieces of rattan as organic touches in fabric-filled rooms. Here, the beautifully curved chair is the coziest place to sit! There is quite a vast assortment of good rattan pieces from dealers on 1st dibs, including Franco Albini ottomans {I love}, delicate 19th-century English bamboo and rattan tables, and a lot more.

PS... More tidbits from George's closet to come.

A TRIBUTE TO EXTRAORDINARY GEORGE

In the last weeks of my godfather George's life he told me he loved the actress Louise Brooks. He told me to learn about Maggie Lane's needlepoint kimonos and Anne Ryan collages. We talked about Cora Ginsburg and antique textiles, William Spratling and Alexander Calder jewelry, 17th & 18th century European paintings, Moghul drawings, Iranian jewelry, and Japanese prints. I read him articles from the New York Times. He asked me to tell him about my dog and he closed his eyes and smiled as he listened. I held Freesia up to his nose so he could smell its peppery sweetness. We held hands. We talked about blogs and blogging. We talked about how The Met glows in the evening. He gave me instructions for thank you notes. I got to know his nurses and aids. We looked through postcards of paintings and he thought the Dutch pastoral scene with the cows was "a bore." He was a consummate New Yorker but had also lived in Rome and Paris. When I attended art school in London he gave me a list of his friends to visit in Europe with priceless descriptions of each one. He began his career in the antiques department at Lord & Taylor, then as a silver buyer for Tiffany & Co. Later, he started the original museum gift shop at The Brooklyn Museum and then The Crafts of all Nations shops at The United Nations. He volunteered in the European Design & Decoration Library at The Met for eighteen years, with a few of them spent in the Costume department. He was a serious art collector. When I told him on Monday that I would be back at the end of the week he said "you better call first" with a smile. He died on Wednesday, March 11th after a spin around the hospice halls in a wheeling recliner. He was 88. I was lucky.