Join curator Elizabeth Lay Little, a regular lecturer on the topics of fashion, textiles, and American furniture, and her guests for an image-rich lunchtime series focusing on decorative arts and design topics.

Session Information

Gabrielle Chanel’s La Pausa: The Complexity of Apparent Simplicity  

To say that Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was a complicated individual is an understatement. La Pausa, her deceptively simple vacation home on the Riviera—a project begun in 1927—similarly harbors a great deal of complexity that is not apparent at first view. 

Design historian Jean Marie Layton delves into the history of the home and its creation to demonstrate that it indeed mirrors its owner—a woman who promoted simplicity and modernity in women’s fashion, but who was equal parts modern, simple, and complex. The structure, décor, and environment of La Pausa, says Layton, reflect Chanel’s creative mind at work—assimilating influences, editing details, and creating a work that enables her to tell her own story, albeit in stone and native plantings.

Additional Sessions of this Lunchtime with a Curator Late Spring Series

• June 10: My Kids Hate Antiques
• June 24: From “Designing Women” to “Fixer Upper”

General Information

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