animaux naturalisés

 

Taxidermy.

Let me make something clear. I do not condone hunting for sport or any sort of animal cruelty just so I can have a pretty peacock on my mantle. I do however support ethical taxidermy. If an animal dies naturally, I see no problem in having it stuffed and put in my living room. In fact, after I die, I see no problem of myself being stuffed and put back in my own living room. I am so opposed to hunting that I think the hunters should be shot themselves. I liken hunters to child abusers. Wow! This is turning out to be a happy blog.

 But this is a happy blog today, it is! I think taxidermy is actually animal appreciation. If you don’t believe me, let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time…

There is a shop in Paris called Deyrolle. It has been in the same building on the left bank of Paris since 1881 on one of my favorite streets, rue du Bac. Before that, the shop was on rue de la Monnaie in 1831. The owner, Émile Deyrolle was a French naturalist whose shop specialized in natural history publications and specimens, minerals, rocks, fossils, botanical specimens, shells, microscopic specimens and yes, taxidermy. The business was originally owned by his naturalist grandfather, Jean-Baptiste Deyrolle.

 

 

Deyrolle is an institution. Beloved. Revered. Respected. Cherished. This is a mythical taxidermy shop for animal lovers, quite the opposite of “hunters.” This intriguing shop has held dear memories for its clientele for generations in the past and for generations to come. But all of that was nearly lost one fateful evening in February of 2008 when the shop caught fire. To all of Paris, it was as if the Louvre had caught fire. 90% of the shop was destroyed. The animals had suffered a second death.

 But, as in life there is beauty, so there is also in death. What became of this awful catastrophe was something beautiful. A photographer, by the name of Laurent Bochet, was granted permission to photograph the ruins. His book, titled, 1000°C, is one of my favorite books in the whole wide world. It is currently sold out on the Assouline Publishing website (Probably thanks to me. You’re welcome) but it is still available through Amazon HERE. It is a remarkable book capturing the soul of Deyrolle that makes your heart swoon and hopefully opens one’s eyes to the beauty of taxidermy. With the help of fellow Deyrolle lovers from interior designers, museums, luxury brands (Hermès created a scarf in honor of Deyrolle named Plumes to raise funds), loyal customers, well-wishers to European royalty, the shop has been completely restored and the magic continues The end.

 

That’s my story. So let’s all just take a deep breath and relax about taxidermy. Ethical taxidermy, that is, so don’t get your knickers in a twist. Years ago, I had a beautiful taxidermy white peacock at my antique shop. I named her Ursula. Every day when I would open the shop, I would walk in the store and say, “Bonjour, Ursula.” She was a regal bird that reigned over our shop and my heart. I wish I had never sold her because I think she would be very happy here with me in Paris. If you want to, let’s take a look at some interior design with taxidermy. If you don’t want to, don’t, it’s a free world.

 photo by Wendy Jenson

 

 

If you want to see more beautiful taxidermy, check out my Have Some Decorum Decorating with Taxidermy board HERE.

On a little side note, check out this video of an exhibit in Paris with artist Billie Achilleos in collaboration with Louis Vuitton and Deyrolle HERE.

 A toute!

*Something you don’t know about me? I approved of Gracie ditching three days of college this week so she could work as an intern for a fashion stylist on a shoot for Italian Vogue. Why? Because I’m cool like that. :-)

A Special Kind of Crazy

Yesterday, I was surfing Facebook and a little box popped up that asked if I wanted to “be friends” with Thomas Cary. I almost fell over. Here’s why…

“Biblio– decorator” is how Mr. Thomas Cary describes himself. Yeah, I see that. Mr. Thomas Cary has curated one of the best wholesale rare and vintage book collections in the world. He claims that he sells to Tory Burch, Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade and J.Crew. He has over 15,000 rare and vintage books. He doesn’t have smarty-pants vintage books. He has the vintage books that you want. Vintage Cecil Beaton, vintage signed Duchess of Windsor cookbooks, vintage Diana Vreeland Allure book, vintage Ian Fleming, vintage M. Hubert de Givenchy and on and on and on… And on. But here’s the thing, he’s a complete douche bag.

 

There is a small handful of blog posts/articles about Mr. Thomas Cary and all of them allude to the fact that the guy is a bit “off ” but they never come right out and say it.

Check out these blogs/articles regarding Mr. Thomas Cary. This is also where I found all of the photos. Merci. The Dandy Portraits, New York Social Diary, Unabashedly Prep.

Here’s the thing… I like people who are a bit “off.” I like the eccentric, the unusual, the extraordinary, the peculiar, the misfit. That is my kind of people. What I don’t like are vindictive crazy people off their meds.

Let me explain. Let’s go back to the year 2010 when I lived in New York City and worked at the revered Assouline Publishing. Part of my job was to help the owner, Prosper Assouline, curate our vintage and rare book selections. One day, “corporate” asked me if I would investigate a certain Mr. Thomas Cary and his book collection. Apparently, Mr. Thomas Cary had been calling the corporate offices religiously to see if we would be interested in purchasing some of his books for the Assouline collection. I was totally up for the job! Actually I was excited. “Of course I’ll go check it out,” I said naïvely. Corporate then said, “Thanks and good luck. You might want to have your guard up because we heard this guy is a little bit cuckoo.” No problem, I thought. I deal with crazy everyday.

 

 

So off I go at 7 PM at night in the snow to Mr. Thomas Cary’s apartment/boutique on the Upper East side of Manhattan. I ring the doorbell and the door is opened by a Preppy Handbook cookie-cutter of a man. Tall, kind of pudgy, pink cheeks wearing a pastel madras blazer. He welcomes me in and as soon as I stepped one foot in the door I thought, “Uh–oh. Danger.” You know how your instincts send out a red flag warning? My first thought was to run. My second thought was that I was intrigued. His 900 ft.² shit hole apartment was head to toe books. Borderline hoardish. No, not borderline, I take that back. It was complete full on textbook case hoarding. I also got a slight sense of Silence Of the Lambs. There was not one inch of neutral space. It also had a “certain undefinable stench.” I asked if he would keep the door open while I checked out his stock. He agreed easily as if he had been asked this before.

 

 

I will hand it to the guy. He has an insane collection of vintage books. I could have been there forever salivating over his stock. Mr. Assouline and I had previously agreed that we would primarily start a relationship with Mr. Thomas Cary on a consignment basis. That’s to say, we would take the books, display them at the shop, and if we sold them we would give Mr. Thomas Cary his commission. Mr. Assouline trusted me to choose the books. OMG, I had a field day. I selected about 20 books, very very exclusive and very very expensive. They were to be delivered to the shop the next day. I thanked Mr. Thomas Cary for his expertise but what I really meant was, “thank you for not killing me.”

 

 

Back at the Assouline shop, I took great pride in displaying our new collection of vintage books. I’m not sure what the party was for but we had a huge soirée at the shop and the vintage books were the star. The vintage books were a complete success. Mr. Tommy Hilfiger was the big buyer of the evening. He bought a vintage Hermes book and I can’t remember what else but it was a lot. So, it looks like this relationship with Mr. Thomas Cary was going to work out. Not so fast.

 

The very next day after the party Mr. Thomas Cary started calling the shop every 25 minutes asking if his books had sold and if we could cut him a check as soon as possible. I politely told him that some had sold the previous evening and the rest were still in the shop. Next 25 minutes, same phone call, same conversation. This lasted hours and days. I called the corporate offices and explained to them that yes, they were right, he is crazy. I remember the corporate office telling me that if he continued to call incessantly that we would have to cease our relationship with him. Mr. Thomas Cary called our shop at least 30 times a day. It was the height of the Christmas season and the shop was packed with customers. Sometimes I was the only one working there. Selling books, wrapping books, answering phone calls, organizing corporate gifts, organizing the bookshelves, helping customers make selections, raising profits threefold, organizing deliveries blah blah blah. It was a lot of work for one person to do. It doesn’t help that some lunatic called every 25 minutes to see if we could cut him a check for his vintage books. So, here’s what happened… Mr. Thomas Cary called again and I answered the phone. I happened to have his business card in my hand and I was looking at his name as I spoke to him. The store was packed and I had like five people in line waiting to be helped. But I still had to deal with crazy on the telephone. So I said, “Cary, would it be possible for me to call you after the shop closes?” That’s it. I accidentally accidentally accidentally called him Cary very quickly instead of Mr. Cary. It was a slip of the tongue. Nothing more than that. I didn’t even realize that I’d said, “Cary.”

 

So, about two months later I was fired out of the blue. I really didn’t care because I did not want to work there anymore because I was not feeling well. It turns out it was the start of my ALS. But I did care that I was fired. I’ve never been fired in my life. I loved Assouline Publishing and I adored the owner, Prosper Assouline. Why was I being fired? It turns out our darling psychopath Mr. Thomas Cary had called the corporate offices and complained that I called him “Cary.” Swear to God! He complained to Assouline that I had “no education, no matters, no sense of respect.” This insecure, completely financially desperate unprofessional little dough ball got me fired. I have to say that I was a little disappointed with Assouline. Anyway, I still love Assouline but I f*cking  loathe Cary, I mean Mr. Thomas Cary. So, no, Facebook, I do not want to “be friends” with Mr. Thomas Cary.

People I Want To Be Friends With. Waris Ahluwalia

Seriously. Can anyone be cooler that this? No, it’s not possible. This elegant gentlemen is named Waris Ahluwalia. I guess if somebody asked what his profession is I think it would have to be creative designer. His company is called House of Waris and he designs jewelry and scarves. But he does more… He is also an actor and a writer. I saw him once at a party in New York and I almost fell out of my chair. There is just something about him. Maybe it’s the turban? All I know is that I want to be friends with him.

See? Don't you want to be friends with him also? Hold on, he gets better. Check out his scarves…

His jewelry line is super chic. Look…

He has also been in some really cool films...

After I had already realized that Waris needed to be my BFF, my decision was cemented when I read an article about him and his character. The article says that he, “Shows up nicely dressed, doesn’t text all through dinner, he looks people in the eye, listens intently, talks openly and smiles and laughs disarmingly.”

Just when you thought your dream man could not get any better he does. Waris wrote a book called To India With Love: from New York to Mumbai. The book was created to raise funds for the victims of the 2008 Mumbai attack. The book is published by my favorite publishing house Assouline. Here is what they have to say about the book… "Ask people who have been there, and they'll tell you India is like no other place in the world—a land that stirs each of the five senses and stays in your heart forever. Created to raise funds, spirits, and awareness for the victims of the 2008 Mumbai attack, this scrapbook features personal photos, stories, and memories from a wide range of India lovers. Contributors include Wes Anderson, Adrien Brody, Francesco Clemente, Natalie Portman, Owen Wilson, Laura Wilson, Cynthia Rowley, James Ivory, and many more. Profits from the sales of the book support families affected by the attacks."

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and assume you are all as infatuated as I am with Waris. But here's the thing… I found him first so technically he's mine. If anyone out there knows him…share the wealth, spread the love, don't hog him and please let him know that I need him to be my BFF. No offense Jenny and Yolanda.