Style
Art of Living Well – Antiquity to a Residence Australia
Today our art of living well has evolved since antiquity in Europe to a residence in Australia through a diverse and special mix of peoples and their cultures.
Jo Bayley
Sydney January 2012 Hi Fashionistas I am so excited about my new column, Fashion Elixir, being launched on Wednesday 1st of Feb 2012, through The Culture Concept Circle. I hope that you will join me every week for tantalizing tales of style, travel and fashion, here in Australia, and the rest of the globe. Life [...]
Fashion – the Elixir of Life
Sydney stylist Jo Bayley offers observations about the world of fashion, style and travel in a column on The Culture Concept Circle home page – Fashion Elixir
Architectural Heritage – Integral to Cultural Development
The intellectual ideas of every period in world history have always been reflected in its architecture. It is important we consider well the consequences of the decisions we make in tearing down our living heritage, even in regard to modern buildings of great merit.
French Country Style – Provence is c’est magnifique!
Provence until the end of the 15th century was a group of states entirely separate from France. It had its own language, government and a sense of style, with deeply rooted ideas and philosophies first founded in strong traditions. They kept goats and ate fish, grew herbs in abundance, as well as olives which were introduced by the Greeks. With the fabled vitis vinifera grape vine for stock they made wine and became great consumers of wild boar as well as truffles. The oak forests of Provence would have been prime truffle territory then as now. The little slivers of this celestial fungus harbors many of the amusing stories of the region. They were often obtained by nefarious means or through a local truffle fair not listed in any tourist guide.
The Rococo Style – Sophisticated and Yet Enchantingly Pretty
The Rococo style was delicately elegant with a distinct preference for asymmetry. It was presided over by France’s King Louis XV’s mistress, Madame du Pompadour, a sophisticated lady of impeccable style.
Alan Bennett Playwright – a Class Act like No Other
‘You are a rent boy. I am a poet. Over the wall lives the Dean of Christ Church. We all have our parts to play’ It seems to me that it is always a perfect time of year for an Alan Bennett celebration. England’s local hero highly acclaimed author and playwright Alan Bennett (1934 – [...]
Intimate World of the Fashionable
What is fashion? Is it glamour, beauty and style? Or about managing finances and living like a socialite on a shoestring while trying to looking current and cutting edge when you are really wearing someone’s cast off’s from the latest vintage store in town. Are there rules about this sort of thing? And if so, [...]
Australia – Culture in the Colonies
Captain Arthur Phillip laid the foundation stone of Australia’s first government house within four months of sailing into Port Jackson on January 26 1788 with the first fleet. Against a background of a natural environment its indigenous inhabitants had never disturbed, at the time, it was an assertion of culture in the colonies.
Meissen Porcelain – Princely Power and Prestige
Today we have our morning cup of tea, or latte, from a cup, or mug without much thought about the ‘China’ we drink it from, because it has become such an integral aspect of twenty first century lifestyle. However, as a commodity, the ceramic ware it derived from, known as porcelain, aided the growth of both the east and western world’s economies and benefited their social and cultural development for centuries.
Le Corbusier – The International Style
Swiss born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (1887-1965) was 29 when he went to Paris. Soon after his arrival he adopted his maternal grandfather’s name, Le Corbusier, as a pseudonym. He changed his persona from Jeanneret the small-town architect to Le Corbusier the world’s next visionary artist. He expressed a view that architecture had lost its way. He was convinced the bold new industrial age dawning required an audacious style of architecture. Who better to design it than himself. “We must start again from zero,” he proclaimed.
A Passion for Gothic Decoration
The decorative arts were never considered secondary by Augustus Welby Pugin. As an architect he might design the structure of a house, church or institution, but he conceived of the building, its fittings and furnishings as a ‘complete work of art.’
Fashion, is it more than a Frock?
From skinny self sacrificing super models to those demanding the use of ‘real people’, costume accommodates a desire to be noticed. It is the look at me, look at me syndrome, which has been in play for thousands of years. Today it collectively reflects a western society in which privacy has been stripped completely bare. But is fashion about more than a frock?
A ‘Compleat’ Gentleman, more than a leader of style
In London much of the development in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century was in the hands of aristocratic landowners. But were they ‘compleat’ gentlemen?
Beau Brummell to Benedict Cumberbatch – Savile Row at London
While tradition may have kept its bespoke tailors a cut above the rest, it is the upholding of a standard in excellence in tailoring that makes the clothes fit the man so well that is at the heart of Savile Row and its continuing success. From Beau Brummell to Benedict Cumberbatch for 160 years + the tailors of Savile Row at London have been all about peerless cut and precision, not peacockery.
The Culture Concept Circle
‘This site takes the often complex world of history, design and the arts to a whole new level. It’s a cultural journey filled with beautiful images and fascinating stories. I love the simplicity and richness of the content and I’m sure you will too – never boring always fascinating! In the 21st century creativity is [...]
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