Outlaw Marriages (10 page)

Her first step was to have the woodwork and walls painted in shades of ivory. Then she had sheers hung on the windows, allowing sunlight to pour into the various rooms. She next did away with the dark and bulky furniture, opting instead for light-colored and delicate French antiques, with the cane backs on the dining room chairs adding to the home's airy feel.
18

Redecorating the house took a number of years, as virtually every choice de Wolfe made was an innovation. Marbury was so proud of her partner's success that she turned their home into a salon on Sunday afternoons so luminaries from the art and theater world could gather for a few hours of literary conversation mixed with smatterings of political talk. Guests were highly complimentary of the elegance and freshness of the home's new decor.
19

Despite her triumphs at home, de Wolfe continued to struggle on stage. The
New York Times
wrote, in one review, “Miss Elsie de Wolfe's sympathetic grace and charm are not of a kind that makes an instant appeal to an audience, even in the best of parts.” After fifteen years as an actress, she gave her last performance in 1904.
20

At this point, Marbury urged her partner to turn her talent for decorating into a paying enterprise. De Wolfe was hesitant, questioning if people would hire her and pointing out that the vocation her partner was proposing didn't even have a name. When the persistent Marbury announced that the proper
term would be “Interior Decorator,” de Wolfe had an engraver create business cards for her that contained her name, her address, and her new title.
21

It wasn't surprising, considering that de Wolfe was creating an entirely new field, that the cards she sent to friends and acquaintances didn't produce an instant outpouring of commissions. Nor was it surprising, in light of Marbury's continuing support, that the theatrical agent soon secured a major project for her partner.
22

Marbury was a founding member of the Colony Club, the first large-scale women's club in the United States. In 1902, she and other directors of the organization decided they wanted their own building, so they purchased land at 120 Madison Avenue and hired Stanford White as their architect. As the building neared completion two years later, Marbury persuaded her fellow club members to hire de Wolfe to decorate the club.
23

De Wolfe was given carte blanche to make every decision about the style of the interior. She then devoted all of her time to the project, first traveling to Europe to purchase dozens of Chippendale chairs and several fireplace mantels embedded with Wedgwood medallions, then returning to New York to begin, in earnest, her effort to define a look that was unlike anything America had ever seen before.
24

Her final product was a striking departure from the men's clubs of the era with their dark paneled walls, heavy furniture, and leather upholstery. In contrast, the Colony Club's entrance hall was light and airy, with wallpaper in shades of white and spring green. A light green carpet covered the floor, and side chairs upholstered in green and white stripes invited ladies to pause for a few minutes to absorb the cheerful hospitality that de Wolfe's design evoked.
25

Placing glazed chintz on the club's furniture was one of de Wolfe's most daring moves, as members were initially shocked to see such an inexpensive fabric displayed so prominently in a luxurious urban setting. The decorator defended her decision, pointing out that the fabric was widely used in British country homes as well as London town houses, insisting that chintz was “as much at home in the New York drawing room as in the country cottage.”
26

After an initial period of adjusting to the new look, observers applauded de Wolfe's innovations. In a full-page critique of the Colony Club interior, the
New York Times
pronounced it “delightful” and “a private pleasure ground never before afforded the exclusive fair sex in New York.” Other publications gave their seal of approval as well, the
Los Angeles Times
calling de Wolfe's creation “beautiful” and the
Washington Post
crowning it “perfect in every way.”
27

Marbury's role in securing projects for de Wolfe didn't stop with the women's club, as she also convinced several of her wealthy friends that they should hire her partner. These jobs allowed the decorator to adapt her innovative style to private homes.
28

Marbury had met Ethel Crocker when the California woman had accompanied her husband, banker William Crocker, on business trips to New York. So when the Crockers built a mansion near San Francisco in 1907, Marbury saw to it that the couple hired her partner to decorate the new home. One of her signature elements that de Wolfe showcased in the project was her use of mirrors. She hung large crystal chandeliers in the drawing room and then made the space appear larger and more elegant by placing ornate French mirrors on all four walls.
29

De Wolfe's next major commission again came after Marbury nudged a friend to hire her. This project allowed de Wolfe to decorate a mansion in a Chicago suburb constructed at the astronomical cost of $10 million by Lolita and J. Ogden Armour, the meatpacking mogul. The de Wolfe technique most prominent this time was mixing pieces of furniture from different styles and periods. In the garden room, for example, she placed mismatched antique Louis XV chairs around a modern upholstered sofa.
30

Yet another commission Marbury landed for her partner was decorating a suite of rooms in the Manhattan home of J. Pierpont Morgan that were the personal space of the financier's daughter Anne. This project demonstrated de Wolfe's ability to work on an intimate scale. She divided the girl's large bedroom into a foyer, sitting room, sleeping room, and dressing room. Most important among these spaces, according to de Wolfe, was the one where Anne dressed, which she decorated with mirrors and furnished with items covered in chintz.
31

By the time de Wolfe had finished the Morgan project, she had much to be proud of. Within half a dozen years after founding an entirely new field, America's first interior decorator had created fresh and stylish looks for a major women's club and for the homes of several of the country's wealthiest families. Despite these successes, though, de Wolfe wasn't happy. The problem was that other people had followed in her footsteps, now making her merely one of several hundred men and women who called themselves interior decorators.
32

When de Wolfe complained to her partner about the situation, Marbury
proposed a strategy to establish the woman she loved as the country's undisputed leader in the field. Specifically, Marbury suggested that de Wolfe commit her extensive knowledge to paper and create the definitive book on decorating the American home.
33

De Wolfe threw herself into the writing project, publishing
The House in Good Taste
in 1913. In the book, she identified the “holy trinity” of successful home decorating as simplicity, suitability, and proportion. The author also denounced clutter and insisted that garish colors should be replaced with beige, ivory, and light gray. “I believe in plenty of optimism and white paint,” she declared. She also said every room in a home should be filled with as much natural light as possible.
34

Reviews of
The House in Good Taste
were unstinting in their praise. The
New York Times
labeled the prose “lively” and “amusing,” while going on to say, “This is no textbook and no dry thesis; it is pleasantly autobiographical, recording the actual and intricate experiences of an established professional decorator.” The
Times
left no question that the book's author was the undisputed leader in her field, stating, “Miss de Wolfe's contributions to the art of interior decorating are unsurpassed.”
35

Interior design scholars have credited de Wolfe's book and style with having, in the words of one of them, “tremendous effect on the way that Americans imagined a well-arranged home should look.” By stating her principles and illustrating them with concrete examples, she showed homeowners how they could create a residence that was both functional and attractive. Consistent with Marbury's vision, the book succeeded in establishing its author as the country's most influential decorator.
36

Now that de Wolfe was widely recognized as the foremost figure in the field she'd founded, she decided to add another item to her résumé: the world's most celebrated hostess.
37

She and Marbury had purchased an eighteenth-century French villa in the town of Versailles, just outside of Paris, in 1905. The couple had then spent their summers at Villa Trianon, expanding the structure by adding a new wing. De Wolfe furnished the palatial home with French antiques and over-stuffed easy chairs, the upholstered pieces covered either in vintage tapestry or chintz.
38

After decorating the villa, de Wolfe began organizing dinner parties and weekend gatherings that grew larger and larger as the years passed. The hostess mixed her guests much as she mixed pieces of furniture—members of European nobility rubbed elbows with wealthy American industrialists and celebrities from the New York stage. De Wolfe was the primary hostess at
these events, while Marbury merely attended them, much as an indulgent husband would support his wife's pastimes because he wanted to please her.
39

For fifteen years, de Wolfe was content spending her summers in France and the rest of the year in New York, working out of her Fifth Avenue showroom to build her firm into the most prestigious one of its kind. But after World War I, her priorities shifted and she spent the majority of her time at Villa Trianon, leaving the day-to-day demands of her firm in the hands of the designers she'd hired to re-create her signature look in the homes the firm decorated.
40

This shift in de Wolfe's priorities had a major impact on her partner. Marbury's business had continued to grow during the first two decades of the twentieth century, as she became one of America's leading theatrical agents. Never enjoying social activities as much as de Wolfe did, Marbury increasingly remained in New York working while her partner entertained in France.
41

When de Wolfe's focus on becoming an international hostess propelled her to spend more of each year at Villa Trianon, Marbury became involved in Democratic politics. Her first major work for the party came in 1918 when she joined the effort to elect Al Smith governor of New York.
42

Marbury's primary role was as a fund-raiser. Just as she'd asked her wealthy friends to hire de Wolfe to decorate their homes a few years earlier, she now urged those same well-heeled men and women to donate money to Smith's campaign. His was an uphill battle, as it marked the first time a Catholic was a viable candidate for the Empire State's highest office.
43

When the votes were tallied in November 1918, Al Smith won. The Democratic Party leadership's post-election evaluation identified which of its members had played decisive roles in bringing about the victory, and Marbury's name was at the top of the list.
44

De Wolfe's emergence as an international hostess and Marbury's rise to prominence in American politics had consequences on the couple's relationship. With one partner in France and the other in the United States for lengthy periods, the women's outlaw marriage had changed significantly from the days when they'd lived in the same house day in and day out.
45

That the two women were often separated by the Atlantic Ocean didn't mean their relationship had ended. Marbury continued to come to France for the summer, while de Wolfe made several trips to New York each year to oversee her firm's work and to spend time with Marbury in a new home she bought on Sutton Place.
46

In the early 1920s, de Wolfe popularized a new personal grooming style that ultimately would continue long after her life had ended. Not pleased when her hair started turning gray, she asked her beautician to dye it pale blue. Once de Wolfe began appearing in public with her colored locks, other fashion-forward ladies of a certain age followed her lead, thereby making de Wolfe the first and most celebrated of the world's “blue-haired ladies.”
47

While Marbury didn't create any fashion trends, she continued to head her theatrical agency and devote a great deal of energy to politics. In 1920 when American women won the right to vote, party leaders elected her the first woman to represent the state on the Democratic National Committee. She remained in that high-level position for the next dozen years and also served as an unofficial political adviser to Smith throughout his two terms in office.
48

Midway through the 1920s, de Wolfe set another goal for herself. Her success as a decorator had made her famous as well as wealthy, but her years as an international hostess had shown her that no amount of money allowed an American to move into the elite social class defined by European nobility. And so, de Wolfe decided she wanted a title.
49

She pored over the pages of
Burke's Peerage
, the book that lists the names of British nobles, looking for an unmarried man in her general age range. Her choice was Sir Charles Mendl, a press attaché working at the British Embassy in Paris who'd been knighted by the king. At fifty-five years old, Mendl was five years de Wolfe's junior.
50