ARQUITECTURA Y DISEÑO

A sumptuous monograph tracing the life and legacy of fashion luminary Oscar de la Renta. In October 2014 one of the fashion world’s champions, Oscar de la Renta, passed away, a great loss brightened by the innumerable successes of his half-century reign. The acclaimed fashion designer dressed first ladies from Kennedy to Obama, and celebrities from Beyoncé to Sarah Jessica Parker. Renowned for his unique charm, impeccable taste, and original lifestyle, he married the highest standards of French couture with the ultimate motivation that women must look and feel beautiful. In this intimate volume, longtime editor and friend André Leon Talley recounts de la Renta’s journey through nearly 70 iconic dresses, mainly made for private clients, accompanied by fascinating stories of the exquisite craftsmanship and the legendary friends that brought each gown to life. Born in the Dominican Republic in 1932, de la Renta left for Madrid at nineteen to study art, where he rose to prominence as a sketch artist for newspapers and fashion houses. From his apprenticeship under Cristóbal Balenciaga to his eponymous collections, the designer’s simple lines elevated with a flamenco dancer’s flourish reflect his deep connection to his roots and his commitment to transcendence through beautiful garments.

Aerin Lauder’s love of flowers is deeply personal, being passed down to her by her celebrated grandmother, Estée Lauder, as well as her mother, Jo Carole Lauder. From fresh bouquets to floral patterns on wallpaper, fabric, and tabletop pieces, in Living with Flowers Lauder shares the many ways she brings flowers into her home. Whether it’s an arrangement of daisies in the kitchen to welcome friends or family for dinner, or a single stem on her desk to brighten the workday, flowers are an essential part of her home and her lifestyle.

While touring readers through four of his own homes, Paredes shares the key elements in his creative process, giving us access to the same tools he uses in every home to decorate rooms that feel modern even as they glamorize the past, to show us how an environment has real power to transform our very state of mind. Paredes is renowned for being a master of extrapolating an entire theme from one unique item, say transforming the stripe of a crisp Oxford shirt into a unique upholstery perfect for the seaside, or finding inspiration for a couch’s decorative fringe in a well-worn piece of leather ranch gear. He is said to have “perfect visual pitch,” creating vignettes and rooms with an energy that feels undeniably masculine and sophisticated thanks to dark wood, iron railings, rustic fabrics, an overall patina, and soft furnishings in soothing earth tones.

With new photographs of houses steeped in the period revival tradition, from 1838 to today, not since Rizzoli’s Santa Barbara Style (2001) has a book so eloquently captured the distinctive splendor of this seaside paradise. Known worldwide for the Santa Barbara style, the town epitomizes a type of building at once elegant and suffused with poetry. At its heart is the historic downtown, featuring white-washed Mediterranean-style stucco buildings with tile roofs and the iconic Santa Barbara Mission of 1786, whose austere beauty set the tone for all that followed. From its earliest days, the influence of this place has been felt and has since radiated across the sunbelt; it continues to be a model of emulation and inspiration. But it is the houses and the dream of living in Santa Barbara and its sister communities of Ojai, Carpinteria, Summerland, Goleta, and Montecito that casts the most profound spell.

This is Bunny Williams’ most ambitious book to date. Inviting us into her impressive grounds with charming personal anecdotes, expert advice, and hundreds of stunning photographs–printed on two different speciality stocks–Bunny Williams illustrates every aspect of the gardens surrounding her eighteenth-century manor house in Northwestern Connecticut in different lights and seasons. A popular stop on the Garden Conservancy circuit, Williams’ property boasts a parterre garden,year-round conservatory, extensive vegetable garden, orchard, woodlands, an aviary with exotic fowl, and a rustic poolside Greek Revival–style folly. Each section of the garden is accompanied by adirectory of featured plants—from native ferns and succulents to a wide variety of flowering specimens.

Opening Interior Design Master Class is like sitting down to the best dinner party you ve ever attended. A classic in the making, the book features one hundred essays by America s top designers from established design legends to members of the new guard that explore in detail the process of designing a home, from the fundamentals to the finishing touches. Grouped by theme, the subjects range from practical considerations (Bunny Williams on Comfort, Etienne Coffinier and Ed Ku on Floor Plans) and details (Victoria Hagan on Light, Rose Tarlow on Books) to inspiration (Jeffrey Bilhuber on America and Char- lotte Moss on Couture) and style (Kelly Wearstler on Glamour, Thomas O Brien on Vintage Modern). Each piece is paired with images of the designer s work to illustrate the principles being discussed, annotated with informative captions. Unique in the quality of its contributors, this is a book that readers will refer to again and again for advice and inspiration, an invaluable resource for practical tips and thought-provoking design.