I received this two volume coffee table book set of artist/photographer/illustrator Peter Beard’s work this past Christmas that has been incredibly inspiring and continues to captivate me. Spanning four decades, this tome chronicles his life and artwork in New York City, Montauk and Kenya through 784 pages of collages, photographs and interviews.

Born in 1938, Beard was raised in New York City, Long Island, and Alabama, and studied at Pomfret academy entering Yale University as a pre-med student. He quickly changed his major to art history, and after life-changing trips to Africa in 1955 and 1960, he returned after graduation and settled in Kenya on a property adjacent to Karen Blixen’s.

He began keeping diaries at a young age to chronicle trips, and throughout his lifetime, he has amassed these incredibly beautiful, fascinating accounts of life on two continents. I first found out about him this summer when I was reading I Married Adventure by Martin & Osa.

I don’t think I could ever tire looking through the pages and pages of handwritten diary entries, photo collages, hand drawn illustrations, clippings from the media, and photographs from Africa’s wild. Every time you look, you see something new.

Left to Right: A collage from 30 years in Montauk, NY. Beard working in his studio {for sale as of 2009}, on the lawn at Andy Warhol’s with Mick Jagger, Catherine Deneuve and Andy.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Fore more, visit Peter Beard’s website. All images via Peter Beard 2008, Taschen

Are you following LUSTER on Facebook & Twitter yet?  ♡ Keep up with me elsewhere!

Many years ago, I caught my first glimpse of style icon Edie Sedgwick in a video reel dancing at an Andy Warhol Factory party, and like so many others since, I was instantly transfixed by this girl with the blonde pixie cut and black opaque tights. Randomly today, I came across the maker of the original leather rhinoceros shown in that Vogue 1965 photo shoot where she is doing an arabesque in her New York apartment, listening to the Kinks, and is just about to become the “It” girl of 1965.

A day in the life of Edie:  Faux Leopard coat | Eyelashes | Black tights | Princess telephone | 1964 Mercedes SL 250 | Kinks LP | Rhinoceros | Earrings

She also caught the eye of Bob Dylan, and this song is thought to be written with her in mind. For more on Edie, skip the recent movie called Factory Girl and read Jean Stein’s biography Edie: American Girl

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Images: Cover photo Edie by Fred Eberstadt, Edie on a Rhino found here, Edie by Billy Name from Edie Factory Girl

I was introduced to the work of Vali Myers when I met Ira Cohen in his apartment on the Upper West Side around 2002. Amongst the myriad of his trinkets, photos, ephemera, and books were some framed photos of a woman with flaming red hair and bits of magically detailed drawings and lettering from envelopes she had sent. At that time, little existed online about her. Since then, a website has been established, and a memoir of her life was written by her friend and lover of 30 years, Gianni Menichetti, and published by the Golda Foundation.

Vali was born in Australia and fled to Paris in the 50′s hoping to become a dancer. She was the main subject of Ed van der Elsken’s book Love on the Left Bank which chronicles the bohemian lifestyle of Paris artists. Captured in a gritty snapshot fashion, his work influenced many photographers after him.

After her time in Paris, Vali spent the next 40 years in a wild canyon in Portofino Italy, where she created most of her illustrations and her primitive spirit flourished living among the animals in the canyon. Her favorites were her pet foxes. Her drawings were painstakingly detailed and some took two years to complete. She would draw all day by a faint light, then climb down the canyon walking to night clubs miles away only to dance all night and return to the canyon at sunrise. She briefly lived in New York at the Chelsea Hotel where she met Ira, and eventually returned to her native Australia.

Vali with a Python, Photo by Ira Cohen 1970 | Vali, Photo by Carol Beckwith 1965

Vali and Ira Cohen, photo by Carol Beckwith 1979

Vali would have loved this fox necklace by Alkemie

For more on Vali & her work, visit her website, or read Gianni’s memoir.

good morning! loving these pieces by lena wolff. the perfect fall palette.

loving all things zodiac, and becoming really interested in constellations for interiors. the obsession started years ago with the ceiling at grand central terminal, and just got reignited when i saw the mural painted in the bar ceiling of boxwood, the gorgeous atlanta home decorated by miles redd and featured in this month’s town and country.

the bar ceiling at boxwood

constellation cards

extinct constellation globus aerostaticus

george’s harp

zodiac plates at wisteria

celestial galaxy trendspotting in fashion and home. clockwise from left to right: pyrite paperweight, dress by Mara Hoffman, egg nightlight by J Schatz via a cup of jo, rings by dara ettinger, vena cava shorts, celestial coasters