Armani, Gardens & A Verdant New Trend

If you're averse to green – and many people are – then look away now. I have become seriously obsessed with this fresh, sophisticated colour, and it seems I'm not the only one. {Image via Vogue Italia 2008}

Mr Armani used it for most of his recent 2012 couture collection, sending models out looking like fairies in a Cotswold garden. (Albeit very tall ones. With funny hats.)

Mr Oscar de la Renta is also fond of it (love the emerald frock with the cute turquoise heels above) – and no wonder, when his Connecticut weekender is a haven of greenery.

Mr Jeffrey Bilhuber also loves it for its therapeutic qualities. I shot his Oyster Bay / Long Island mansion two years and just photographing his kitchen garden made my heart lighter. Interestingly, Mr Bilhuber believes that green is dazzling to the complexion. "Green brings out the pink in you," he says. I believe him.

Green has integrity. Strength. Life. It speaks of new beginnings (think spring), fresh starts, growth, and hope. It elevates the spirits and brightens the heart. All of which is just what we need in this economic climate. No wonder we're all looking to it for decorating inspiration. {Images above and immediately below from a recent issue of Veranda magazine. Loved this cover. Loved it.}

I just adore it because it reminds me of gardens. Seeing it is like looking out a window to a view of spring. Nothing makes me happier.

"I love Farrow & Ball's Cooking Apple Green. I've just used it in the great room of a New England barn and the walls just pull all the green out of the landscape". Christopher Ridolfi

"Green works just as well in Palm Beach with hot pinks as in New York with black and white." DD Allen.

"I first saw [a luminous green] in the dining room of Charlotte Moss's shop, Townhouse. Trust Charlotte to know!" John Yunis 

"I just did green in a parlour in Charleston with a lot of white woodwork. Dogs love it!" Mario Buatta

"There's a cafe in Paris near the Place des Voges that has an unusual green on the walls, a kind of old-world colour that makes you feel calm. Think of a mossy garden after the rain. It would be a beautiful colour with black and white toile – or stripes." Stephen Shubel

Chair by Thibault Design

A recent advertisement from Travers.

The glorious cover of Charlotte Moss' bestselling book.

Litchfield style.

Princess Sophia of France, via Fallon Elizabeth. (A great little site.)

A modern kitchen with a traditional edge, via House Beautiful. Love the gingham ceiling.

Our Jack Russell X, Coco, at Como Park yesterday. She adores green too.

Washington Mews, New York, photographed on our recent trip. (This street is full of the prettiest houses.)

A vintage tulle gown in a SoHo, New York, store, shot on our recent trip. I loved the colour of this against the worn floorboards.

Vogue, June 1959.

The view from our sitting room. (The 'I Haven' sign is Danish for 'Out in the garden'. It's a vintage sign I picked up while visiting family in Denmark. It was only 10 kroner. I just love it.)

A corner of our new library. The Louis Vuitton poster was one of my few purchases from New York.

Another corner of our new library. More on this in the next few posts.