It was a Marvelous Miles Redd evening darlings! A veritable bold face who's who of the New Orleans design world turned up to see Miles Redd at The Ogden. He was introduced by his long time friend, Sara Ruffin Costello, who thought the crowd was very "chicerly". It's true, there were some good dressers in the audience, starting with the grand dame of New Orleans interior design Mrs. Bremermann in the front row, who wore a pair of chartreuse trousers as an homage to Miles being the king of color.
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| Miles Redd and Valorie Hart in New Orleans at the Ogden |
Miles gave a great talk showing slides of things that have influenced his work, touchstones from art and fashion, and classic designers Jansen, Billy Baldwin, and David Hicks. He showed his own work, explaining his thought bubbles behind each project. He is now a New Yorker, though Southern born, so it was a cool stretch for the Ogden to include him in their nod to Southern Style.
He endeared himself, not only with his conversational speaking manner and his spiffy Nantucket style garb, red trousers, no socks, and a sharp blue blazer, but also with his humor and honesty. He coughed a bit and told us not to worry, that he always coughed when he's nervous. Someone brought him a cocktail to sip and soothe. He also quipped that, "if the writing wasn't already on the wall", as a ten year old he had asked his mother for a birthday gift of book called "Hats in Vogue". He also begged her to add just a touch of chinchilla to her wardrobe.
The room was swell, set with a bar and munchies. The only glitch was that no one knew where the light switch was to turn out the lights for the slide presentation. No one could see the colors Miles was enthusing about, though his descriptions made you "see" them anyway.
He was preaching to the choir of youngish decorators in the crowd. I don't know if the Uptown ladies who were present are ready to give up what he called "their tea stained pale walls" for taxi cab yellow, but they loved him nonetheless.
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| Miles Redd and Valorie Hart |
Who I saw: Shaun Smith, Mario Villa, Chad Graci. Evie and Phillip Clinton, Pam Dupuy, Linda Merrill (visiting NOLA on a sponsored junket for some bloggers). Mitchell Settoon, Taylor Eichenwald, Linda Flynn, Kathleen Sanchez, Heidi Shirrmann, Sue Strachan, Sabina Lewis, and many, many others.
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| Miles Redd signing books in New Orleans |
Miles sold out of all of his hefty books, The Big Book of Chic, and signed every copy with a smile and gratitude.
Here are 5 tips from his talk:
1. It is okay to be a “maximalist.”
2. Don’t be afraid to use color, including on the floor.
3. A bar can be very welcoming.
4. Don’t forget about antiques.
5. You can always make a boring piece a chic one.
You can read the whole recap in an article at
My New Orleans.
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