SHE
loved life, living long and well on her own terms, beginning each day with calisthenics. A vegetarian diet allowed her to maintain the slim figure of her youth. She was famed for wearing white gloves, but she was the one and only to have peepholes cut into them. WHY?
Why not? Because she could show off her fingers bedecked with sparkling gems!
She pointed the way to a new profession when commissioned to decorate a private club for the richest, most influential and significant women in New York City. Her name was Elsie de Wolfe* and decorating’s future was all her’s …for a bit! 
Elsie virtually created the profession of interior decorating in 1896 by replacing heavy Victorian and dark Jacobean furniture with
Louis XV and Louis XVI furnishings…same room before & after Elsie’s redo. ** 
She was a forty-six year old actress known more for the stylish Parisienne gowns she wore onstage rather than her performance ability. She considered herself “plain” after a childhood fall when she broke a tooth. Running to her father for sympathy, he shook his head in disgust and announced that she had spoiled her one good feature. It became Elsie’s life quest to beautify the world.
Friends were captivated with her creativity when they saw the shared bachelorette apartment of Elsie and her mate, Bessie Marbury during their Sunday afternoon gatherings. (It was generally labeled a lesbian liaison). Elsie attracted the best of the best clients in 1905 when commissioned to decorate a private club for the richest and most important women in New York City. The acclaimed Colony Club!
The Colony Club showing the show-stopping Trellis Room*
Another client, industrialist Henry Clay Frick gave Elsie carte blanche to purchase antique furnishings and art for his new Renaissance palace on 5th Avenue, (she made a million dollar commission on it).
She was on the verge of beautifying the world! 
And proud as a peacock!
For a few years, Elsie was able to claim the decorating profession as her own, loving every minute. In fact early in the 20th century when Syrie Maugham, a new hopeful English decorating star, visited New York, Syrie met Elsie and told her she wanted to enter the decorating field. Answering in her high pitched voice with an air of abrupt dismissal, Elsie said, “Syrie, my dear, you’re too late, much too late. The decorating field is already overcrowded.” (Obviously, Syrie who would become equally famous, disregarded that advice.)
Both Bessie and Elsie defined new careers for women. Bessie established herself as an important literary and theatrical talent agent eventually entering the world of theatrical production.
Bessie Marbury
The outstanding highlight in Elsie’s decorating career was the Villa Trianon in Versailles, France that she bought in 1903 with Bessie and Anne Morgan. Many in France were ready to embrace Arte Nouveau and Art Moderne, “out with the old, in with the new,” and Elsie over the early years was able to purchase whole salons and original, priceless antique French furniture, i. e. boiserie paneling, Parque de Versailles floors, mirrored screens, etc. This was a forty-five year project of a historical ruin that resulted in not only a second home for them, but also became a salon for the rich and famous of that time. 
Elsie may have been known for standing on her head during parties, dying her hair blue and more, but in the thick of WWI, Elsie unflinchingly worked as a Red Cross nurse in the pioneering Ambrine Mission for Burn Victims. Ambrine, a wax-like hot substance was poured over burns to act as artificial skin during healing. She worked longer hours than other nurses, traveled to the U.S. to raise funds and, no small feat, was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the French Legion of Honor!
Celebrated for her black and white ensembles, Cole Porter wrote a clever tribute song song describing Elsie, “That Black and White Baby of Mine.” (Lyrics included the line, “All she thinks black and white…”.
An Aside: A leading interpreter of Porter’s songs, the sophisticated cabaret jazz pianist and singer Bobby Short, was a New York institution holding court at the Carlyle Hotel, At the time of my lecture, my husband was a member of ASCAP and actually called Mr. Short for a copy of his famous recording “Black and White Baby of Mine”. I was astonished when he sent his recording. It added the right “note” to my lecture.)
What a surprise to move to our Retirement Realm and meet residents, Reggie and Nancy Short! Reggie, Bobby Short’s nephew. I take such pleasure learning fascinating stories about times spent with Bobby and stories of Reggie and Nancy Short’s successful lives.
Back to Elsie who consistently took her dreams to new horizons. Her ideas had substance, humor, grace and ingenuity and she did beautify the world!!! 
Elsie started the trend of wearing Indian jewelry.
There is so much more to her story…maybe more later!
Sy’s Salient Points:
Bringing the outdoors in, Elsie used indoor fountains for her own homes and for her clients.
Elsie featured mirrors in her interiors and at each end of her gardens to make spaces appear larger.
During WWII, Elsie escaped from the Nazi’s and settled in Hollywood for a few years and reinvented herself with famed Hollywood cognoscente.
Elsie inspired me to design a room using lattice in a St. Louis apartment. My client wanted it to look like a garden. After looking at colors, she picked periwinkle. The window wall was painted that color and covered with white lattice accenting the white window frames. She maintains she will never change it. A happy outcome for me.
*Excerpts from ASID Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, “Don’t Forget Elsie, Syrie, Ruby, Frances and…” Sheila Yates
**My first exposure to Elsie was a lecture presented by the gifted raconteur, Hutton Wilkinson, now President of the Elsie de Wolfe Foundation.
***Bessie Morgan was a pioneering entrepreneur who took theatre into mass production, advertising and popular culture. Among her many clients: Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. Wikipedia
Happy Birthday My Darling Blaire and Thanksgiving