Or rather, why do they call it the Greenroom, one word?
Architectural Digest, that monument to upper crust living that lives on while more hoi poloi pubs such as Domino and Country Home have bit the dust, has once again seized the Oscar moment. The ritzy mag, an arbiter of good design (we can't always say good taste) will for the 8th consecutive year sponsor the Greenroom (they really spell it that way), where the rich and Botoxed repose before and after their Oscar moments March 7.
AD has tapped interior designer Roger Thomas for the job. He brings a dose of glitz to the job; his current gig is designing casino hotes for Wynn. Check out his spiffy artist's rendering, but yes, those are paint-splattered floors. Inspired, AD breathlessly reports, "by the scenic departments of Hollywood studio lots." (For you paint junkies and house voyeurs, those are Christopher Peacock paints, in "Camoflage," "Stick," "Darby," "Bricks," "Medium Brown" and Drab."(Whose job is it to think up these names, anyway?) Rounding out the design for the Golden Age of Hollywood theme: French furniture and Afghan rugs, satin weave and linen textiles, metal, mirror and glass finishes and a palette of black, white, platinum. There will be an outdoor-themed space as well, featuring "a scrim ceiling with birds on a sky blue flying overhead." The pièce de ré·sis·tance? Thomas plans to handpaint four natural muslin chairs and a daybed "with freestyle whirls and curves." I'll be thinking of all this luxury while my hinder is parked on far-less glamorous seating for the big show: an aging sofa whose only paint accent is a bottle of nail polish, very accidentally (and unartfully) applied.
But who can resist Oscar? The faboo dresses (and a few horrendous What Were They Thinkings?) are worth donating a few minutes to the red carpet preview. For those of you who find this all just too, too frivolous, Homegirls offers these facts and figures. Antiques Roadshow appraiser Phil Weiss says props and collectibles associated with the Academy Awards have fetched big coin. Among them:
MOVIE PROPS Ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz sold for $666,000 in 2000. The Maltese falcon from The Maltese Falcon sold for $389,500 in 1994. Luke Skywalker's lightsaber from the first two Star Wars films sold for $240,000 in 2008. Audrey Hepburn's pink cocktail dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's sold for $192,000 in 2007. The voodoo doll modeled after Haririson Ford in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom sold for $30,000 in 2008. MOST VALUABLE SIGNATURES Humphrey Bogart ($1,000+) Clark Gable ($800-$1,200) John Wayne ($500-$1,000) Marlon Brando ($500-$1,000) Gary Cooper ($500-$1,000) Grace Kelly ($1,000+) Judy Holliday ($1,000+) Vivien Leigh ($1,000+) Katherine Hepburn ($500 - $1,000) Mary Pickford ($250-$500) OK, enough about Oscar. I've seen none of the 10 movies nominated for Best Picture, it's true that I'm in it just for the pagentry. In what kind of style do you plan to view the Academy Awards?
