To be FluidDandy – our December mood – you have to make a vow of a “certain exquisite originality,” as Lord Byron said. The starting point is a delicate romanticism, tactfully eccentric (at least one atom of extravagance is indispensable); a taste that stems from personal aesthetic investigation, closer to cultural study than to any expression of fashion.
Just one detail will suffice to enter this new brotherhood, where the weight of history and the use of colors fully represent elusive inner time, while the term ‘fluid’ sets the pace towards the contemporary.
To talk about this figure of an aesthete updated to the new century, we have chosen to combine black damask-effect cladding punctuated by skulls (a bit of memento mori always comes in handy) with naturalistic wallpaper, a citation – if you will – of another confraternity of thinkers, a bit more famous than our own: the Pre-Raphaelites.
To get aligned with the style of this turbulent artistic current, we have chosen green as the dominant, stolen from the dress of Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, where the painter depicted Elizabeth Siddal, his muse and wife, wrapped in soft folds in contrast with her red hair. To soften it all, we have opted for a discreet glitter effect, obtained by combining shiny porcelain stoneware tiles with a lacquered screen created by Eileen Grey.
Art, including NFTs, is fundamental for those who want to delve into this mood. Lots of pictures on the walls and – for those who have an attic – our advice is to follow in the footsteps of Dorian Gray: you never know, maybe hiding a portrait that ages in your stead will be more effective that many other anti-ageing treatments.
The best-loved materials are still the velvets, cowhide and wood, and the atmosphere is a mixture of noble classicism and the contemporary: a sofa created by Luigi Caccia Dominioni, an antique chair worthy of Lord Brummel, a table where the Vienna straw takes us back to certain turn-of-the-century cafés.
Everything plays with memory here. In the end, a simple madeleine dipped in lime-blossom tea can unveil the power of recollection, crystallized who knows where and apparently inaccessible. Like that orchid we have placed atop a table, a symbol of the tormented love between Charles Swann and Odette de Crécy in In Search of Lost Time, the masterpiece of Marcel Proust. The flower Proust himself always wore on his lapel, which 100 years after his death (18 November 1922) continues to narrate a tale of elegance and refinement. Like a true dandy.
