Hasta La Ideas

(Photo: Wright)

Go up, up, and away the Charles and Ray way with the iconic cloud backdrop that you may recall from some of the dynamic duo’s photo and film projects. This particular version was created for the 1976 exhibition “Connections: The Work of Charles and Ray Eames,” and it’s among the treasure trove of 133 Eames things that will go on the block at Wright’s April 8 sale. The auction house estimates that the acrylic-on-canvas backdrop will sell for between $5,000 and $7,000, but for this rare specimen of Eames-specific whimsy, we think the sky’s the limit.

Previously on UnBeige:

(Photo: Barneys New York)

Simon Doonan, that intrepid soldier of fashion fortune, is ringing in 2010 with the help of fortune cookies, lots and lots of fortune cookies. The creative director of Barneys New York and his crack team of window dressers have arrayed the tasty treats in the windows of Barneys stores nationwide to portend a bright future for Céline, the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy-owned brand that lost its groove after the 2003 departure of Michael Kors. Founded (would you believe?) as a children’s shoe store, 63-year-old Céline has been reborn under newly installed creative director Phoebe Philo, who you’ll recall as the erstwhile creator of covetables at Richemont-owned Chloé, where she succeeded Stella McCartney in 2001. Philo’s fantastic debut resort collection primed the fashion crowd for a spring 2010 line that is fresh, refined, and modern—and sure to get major editorial play in every March issue. At least that’s our prediction. As for Doonan’s cookies, they are also a tasty symbol of hope. “We are all embarking on a new decade together, right? It’s scary. What will the future hold? Fortune cookies are a good place to start,” he says. “It’s amazing what you can do with a glue gun and a dream.”

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(Photos: Antoine Bootz)

As we put the finishing touches on our Charles and Ray Eames Halloween costumes, we wanted to leave you with this Friday Photo from the Metropolitan Home Showtime House of earlier this fall. A group of designers that included Richard Mishaan, Pentagram’s James Biber, a team from Surfacedesign (James Lord, Roderick Wyllie, and Geoff di Girolamo), and the dynamic duo of Christopher Coleman and Angel Sanchez transformed a pair of Tribeca penthouses into a parallel universe inspired by six Showtime shows. In honor of tomorrow’s ghoulish goings-on, we’re focusing on designer Marie Aiello‘s multi-room tribute to Dexter, which stars Michael C. Hall as a darkly lovable serial killer. Aiello, who began her career as a television producer, avoided the obvious (blood-red chintz, a bordello chaise, splatter painting) in favor of sophisticated spaces that wink at the passions of their would-be owner. Upon closer inspection, the chic living room (above) reveals a hearth surrounded by a DNA-themed pattern of mirrored tiles and a pair of glittering Swarovski crystal-encrusted skulls (inset), while the Trove photoprint on the back wall is a blurred close-up of Dexter’s face. Our favorite touch? The 1953 Vladimir Kagan rocking chair, a mix of swooping curves and scarred upholstery.

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Further proof of our theory that the history of the world can be written through its board games: Pank-A-Squith, a women’s suffrage-themed game manufactured in the early 1900s. Designed to edify and delight in the suffragette palette of green, white, and violet, Pank-A-Squith was named for political activist Emmeline Pankhurst and then newly installed British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, a vocal opponent of women’s suffrage. A catchier name—say, Votes for Women, Sufferin’ Suffrage!, or Mall Madness—may have boosted sales, but the fine German craftsmanship has stood the test of time (a century, to be exact).

The object of the game? To propel your lead suffragette game piece around the 50-square board, stopping to protest (square 6 involves breaking the windows of the Home Office) and donate (a stop on square 16 will cost you a penny for Suffragette Funds) while evading imprisonment, shackles, and court appearances, all on the route to universal suffrage. Square 43 may represent the only time “forced feeding of hunger strikers” has appeared on a game board.

Enfranchise your family’s game night on October 28, when Pank-A-Squith goes on the block at Bonham’s during a sale in London that also includes a dynamite Russian chess set from the Cold War era: Communists versus capitalists.

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(Photos: UnBeige)

Or at least highly unlikely seatmates. Who knew comedian, author, and erstwhile host of It’s Showtime at the Apollo Steve Harvey had such a sharp eye for design? We spotted him and his wife sitting beside Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey in the front row of Saturday’s jaw-droppingly stunning Chado Ralph Rucci show (but more about that later). Other unexpected Fashion Week appearances included Mickey Rourke at Tuesday’s Max Azria show and Michael Douglas, who inspected the ultra-feminine looks at Oscar de la Renta. Our personal favorite kept a lower profile. It was only on our way out of Sunday evening’s Tuleh show that we noticed Wallace Shawn among the crowd. The beatific actor and writer had a front-row seat for a collection that designer Bryan Bradley described as inspired by the idea of “fashion as a short-story collection.”

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