Over the last few weeks, Let’s Bring Back has been the toast of the town, as many prestigious and chic cultural institutions have raised their glasses to the book.
On October 19, the New York Public Library hosted a large, sold-out Let’s Bring Back event, featuring a forum exploring “the resurgence of interest in classic forms and artful living.” The panel was moderated by Sally Singer, the editor of T: The New York Times Style Magazine; panelists included fashion designer Jason Wu (best known for designing Michelle Obama’s Inauguration gown), interior designer and Let’s Bring Back guest contributor Jonathan Adler, and Ms. Blume.
“If you’re feeling lousy and you read this book, it awakens you to things that have made you happy in your life,” said Ms. Singer in her introduction. “It reminds you of a time when certain things – ideas, gestures—got you through. [Let’s Bring Back] promotes and revels in an idea of life that’s lived in 3-D, not 2-D, a life lived civically and civil-y. And that is a very wonderful thing.”
The Library’s Rare Book Division created special displays of archive material referenced in the book, including first editions of works by Gilded Age author Edith Wharton and Lost Generation writers F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Other wonderful archive items - including fountain pens, historical telegrams, and card catalogs - were also showcased, to the delight of the guests.
Inspired by the art world content of the book, on November 11, cultural events organization The Society hosted a Let’s Bring Back Modern Art party at a private, art-filled West Village home, styled after the fabled townhouse fetes thrown by Peggy Guggenheim, a great patroness of the Modern Art movement. Guggenheim—a Let’s Bring Back muse who enjoys a full-page illustration in the book—nurtured the careers of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, among many others, and her mid-century parties became legendary.
Guests donned “Art Chic” 1940s attire (Ms. Blume herself donned a Peggy Guggenheim-esque coif of tangled curls), and chef Jennifer Lynn Pelka (also a Let’s Bring Back guest contributor) created a Surrealism- and Dada-inspired menu for guests, including a rather opinionated “meat mobile” inspired by the mobiles of artist Alexander Calder. At one point, a tray of plastic noses was passed around by the waiters, a quite absurd Surrealist gesture that surely would have amused Ms. Guggenheim and her irreverent contemporaries.
Watch the video below to see the delightful array of 1940s up-dos and hats sported at the event:
Taking a cue from Let’s Bring Back‘s fashion content, on November 16, the Huffington Post‘s Style section and Parsons School of Design co-hosted a “Forgotten Fashion / Let’s Bring Back” event at New York’s Soho House. This party celebrated some once-great, now-unjustly-obscure American fashion designers featured in the book, such as Norman Norell, Claire McCardell, and Sophie Gimbel. Parsons Professor Annie Frank gave a presentation on the topic; beautiful archival apparel was showcased, courtesy of Parsons and New York Vintage.
Professor Annie Frank of Parsons; Anya Strzemien, senior Style editor, Huffington Post; and Ms. Blume
And finally, on December 13, Bonhams New York—the venerable auction house—hosted a Let’s Bring Back event on the eve of its 20th Century Decorative Arts auction. Many of the auction items hailed from the late Victorian era through the early 1970s—closely mirroring the primary timeline of Ms. Blume’s book. At the event, Ms. Blume gave a talk highlighting some of her favorite Let’s Bring Back-esque auction items, including a cherry-red Emerson Cathedral radio, a Mauboussin “Tutti Frutti” Deco bracelet, and a Cubism-inspired writing desk.
Let’s Bring Back was released by Chronicle Books on November 1, 2010.
BUY THE BOOK: Click here to purchase Let’s Bring Back.
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