Style Compass

Carolyne Roehm

All roads do not lead to Carolyne Roehm, but the superb various and many that she herself has created do.

Long before authoring A Passion for Blue and White (her ninth title), Carolyne’s lifelong dream – after pragmatically ruling “Princess” out, was to be a fashion designer. To prepare, this only child played Dress-Up, Dolls, Florist, and Restaurant (specialty: mud pies). Jefferson City, Missouri born, she was the progeny of a pair of educators, and grand-parented by farm owners, cultivating another of Carolyn’s lifelong passions, her abiding love of creatures; in particular, dogs and horses, of which today she has nine of the former and eight of the latter.

PULL QUOTE: “I don’t relax much. My idea of relaxation is puttering. I’m the world’s biggest putterer. It’s my favorite thing to do in life actually. I’m organizing, I’m thinking, and to me puttering is fun, as opposed to working, which is sometimes not fun… I’m the queen of weeds and peeling paint.”

In the mid ‘70’s, Carolyne catapulted into the fashion world working for Oscar de la Renta, his first female assistant. An admitted “girly-girl,” she was seduced by his evening wear and those endless ruffles. Though at first this very provincial, mid-western gal was completely intimidated by de la Renta’s wife at the time – Francoise de Langlade, Editor-in-Chief of French Vogue, she ultimately became like a daughter to them.

In ‘85, after a short-lived marriage to the tempestuous NAME Roehm, Carolyne returned from Germany to the States. Hoping to avoid becoming “the world’s oldest assistant” she launched her own maison couture and bested the stratospheric and sometimes mercurial climate of Seventh Avenue. She also launched into a relationship – and then marriage – with financier Henry Kravis. The magician of mergers and acquisitions was moments away from making his first billion-dollar deal.

For a while, life utterly blossomed for Carolyn. Her design inclinations branched even further, leafing out to include books, interiors, candles and fragrances, flowers, precious glassware and even luggage.

INSERT: “This was my – what I call my adult life. Being married twice, the pressure of Seventh Avenue, having a fashion house, and realizing the dream of having that. But also with that came a lot of heartache and tough times… and so now I call today my glorious 50’s. The early part of my life was lovely and sweet and the middle part – the adult part – was exciting and interesting and really hard, and this part is… more relaxed.”

“Hard” is an understatement. Carolyne was moving her business to the next level when her stepson was killed in July, 1992. In August, Hurricane Andrew was wending its deadly way up the coast and there was a coup in Russia. The world made no sense to Carolyne – including the idea of designing a resort collection. She shut down her company.

For the first time, Carolyne stopped. Back in the days when Carolyne made her mudpies, she knew then that she would always do whatever it was she would do on her own. But tragedy was something else, and she and Henry went through it. Eventually, Carolyne turned to writing books.

Which brings us to today – and her forthcoming A Passion for Blue and White. An exceptional feature of this glorious volume is that every single item depicted in its pages truly belongs to Carolyne herself. The flowers from her beloved gardens, the uncommon and conspicuous treasures from her years of travel, the keepsakes made sentimental in emotional moments. As she herself writes, she has spent over 30 years collecting what she loves, surrounding herself with the white and blue stuff of beauty, and in many instances, historically so.

“I’m a designer so I love all colors,” Carolyne said. “All that blue and white that’s in the book is mine. I could have done a beautiful book on blue and white had I gone to Portugal and used those beautiful Portuguese tiles, or gone into peoples’ homes, but this is strictly from my perspective. It’s something that I’ve always loved and collected – it’s my favorite color combination.”

As we have written, all roads do not lead to Carolyne Roehm, but so many have: to taste making, to trendsetting, to lifestyle choices. Rome, as we well know, is one of the earliest empires to grace the face of the earth – and on the heels of Egypt, to forge civilization.

To Egyptians present and past, blue represents luck, and at times, the power to cast upon another ayin hasad – the eye of envy. We imagine that there might be one or two souls on the globe capable of such feeling toward her, and while it may appear from all the beauty surrounding Carolyne that she merely dances on falling rose petals, it is far more true that her success is a result of an unfailing commitment to and natural inclination toward beauty. Oh yes, and a massive amount of labor, strife, even disaster.

INSERT: “I wouldn’t say that blue is my favorite color, because this year it’s red and next year it may be pink. I love all color – except mauve. I can’t stand mauve. It’s murky. I do know that I dream in color because it was so beautiful. It’s going to sound like a scene out of a nativity scene, but I was going up over a hill and I’m sure it was someplace like Jerusalem, and I just remember this extraordinary blue – maybe I was dying in my dream or something, but from that moment on I realized I dreamt in color.”

Because no matter who we are or what station we find ourselves in as humans we each end up facing our own particular challenges, let’s leave it that the devastating fire that leveled much of Carolyne’s Western Connecticut estate, Weatherstone, required a million and a half gallons to quell it. Only a small portion of the mid 1765 structure still stood by the time had Carolyne raced from her Manhattan publisher to her most beloved home.

INSERT: “If I had to say what inspires me I say everything – that’s beautiful.”

Carolyne had given up her Paris pied-a-terre by then (though it is featured in the book), and spends little time in her Manhattan apartment, preferring the reconstructed Weatherstone, and traveling to Aspen, Colorado, to see Simon Pinniger, with whom she has committed to yet another significant cause, the Malaria Foundation. Reminiscent of the days when she was president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and Carolyne organized and chaired the first Seventh on Sale, raising five million dollars in the first ever fashion effort to benefit AIDS victims, Carolyne is committed to raising awareness for the ground-breaking work of Dr. Lee Gilbride, who stands poised to make “the” discovery so far eluded by the world of medicine and thus create history.

INSERT: “I’m not a car person, but one time I’d been to a car show at Pebble Beach with a boyfriend, which was fascinating from a design point of view. And there was this one car, were I ever to buy one. When I first met Simon – we’d been dating about a month, he told me that he’d never be able to give me the type of life I’d had, but that he had one thing that he loved that he’d like to give me: a tiny two-seat 1959 Jaguar 150 XK. It was the car, the only car I had ever wanted. He couldn’t have known this – it just happened to be his own beloved car.”

To view the many realms of Carolyne Roehm, it’s as if she’s dug her heels into the earth itself, intending foremost to bring beauty and the life’s utmost vibrance to those around her. She is a woman of the world because she lives so deeply in it. When was the last time you caressed the petal of a peony or turned a dinner plate just so, absorbing their perfection, immersing yourself in their presence, feasting on their subtleties?

Welcome to Carolyne’s existence. Regardless of which way the road winds, life just does not get any more civilized.

WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE?

FASHION

Having been a fashion designer for 22 years I will always love beautiful clothes. In fact, after a 13-year hiatus I will be designing a small collection of clothes and accessories for Best and Company. I have always loved children’s clothes and to work with a company that maintains high creative and quality standards is a true pleasure. That collection will be coming out in 2009.

FABRICS

I have a serious addiction to beautiful fabrics, whether for clothing or decorating the home. When I was in fashion a major focus of my designing was informed by the use of beautiful fabrics and color. When I do interiors the same applies; fabrics are a key source of inspiration for my rooms. The mixing of patterns and colors is one of the great pleasures of working in design.

ENTERTAINING

The majority of my books (nine in total) have dealt with entertaining. The first focus is always the creation of the scene, including the tabletop, flowers for the table and the house, menus, holiday decorations, and of course the recipes. As a designer I look at entertaining as a form of creative expression.

COLOR

Along with dogs, flowers, trees, fabrics and antiques, I have a passion for color as well. I have always loved working with color in every medium and consider it one of my creative strengths.

TRAVEL

I just love to go to beautiful places with good food.

GARDENING or FLORAL

A key element in my books is my flowers and my gardens. Eleven years later, my first book, A Passion for Flowers, is still in print and as I am told by many florists, party planners, and wedding planners, this is the book they use when educating clients about flowers, and style. I continue to expand my gardens and will soon be doing another book on them.

ART or DESIGN

Design is my life – I love it all – and whether designing a collection of clothes, a garden, a room, or a bouquet it is all the same satisfying experience.

Carolyne ALSO has A PASSION FOR:

the BOOK: War and Peace

the MUSEUM (of sorts): Teatro Olimpico, a former prison and theater, in Vicenza, Italy, is the last of Palladio’s masterworks

the RESTAURANT: Ambroisie in Paris

L’HOTEL: Avignon la Mirande, France

lalalala…MUSIC CD – the ones I make for myself

the GIFT— a portrait of my dogs

the SHOP – Ladurée (Paris’s luxury cakes and pastries brand; the inventor of the double-decker macaron); Whitmores (Hamptons’ premier landscaping service, growing plants and trees); Rungis (Paris’s central market, Marché d'Intérêt National de Rungis)

Carolyne’s PASSION for all things DIBS:

A White Painted Louis Seize Console. ca 1780
Dealer Ref. : 2635 Ref. : U0805278407407

A Swedish Empire Mirror. ca 1780
Dealer Ref. : 3470 Ref. : U0803138407292

Eight 1940-1950 Folding Chairs by Maison Jansen
0805277922193

19th Century Louis XVI Style Desk Armchair
Ref. : 0805277922187

Rare Pair of 18th Century Marble Urns
Ref. : 060623792274

Pair of Large Painted Jansen Louis XVI Bergeres
Ref. : 0803317808503

Carolyne’s PASSION for all things DIBS:

A White Painted Louis Seize Console. ca 1780
Dealer Ref. : 2635 Ref. : U0805278407407

A Swedish Empire Mirror. ca 1780
Dealer Ref. : 3470 Ref. : U0803138407292

Eight 1940-1950 Folding Chairs by Maison Jansen
0805277922193

19th Century Louis XVI Style Desk Armchair
Ref. : 0805277922187

Rare Pair of 18th Century Marble Urns
Ref. : 060623792274

Pair of Large Painted Jansen Louis XVI Bergeres
Ref. : 0803317808503

Carolyne’s (personal) PASSIONS:

Gentleman:
Simon Pinniger

Automobile:
A 1959 Jaguar XK150 Roadster

Canines:

Kate - Labrador
Floozie - Australian Kelpy
Teddy - Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
Sassy - Miniature Schnauzer
Winnie - Cairn Terrier
Lucky - West Highland Terrier
Lady - West Highland Terrier
Bambi - Daschund
Dusty - Havanese (and a princess!!)