#vesinet

Art Deco illustration by Jean Pages, Marchesa Luisa Casati’s Soirée Magique (Magic Night) at Le Palais Rose, Vesinet, 30 June, 1927.

Published in Vogue Paris, September 1927.

Marchesa Luisa Casati threw a lavish party that was considered poor taste in economically straitened times. On 30 June 1927 guests arrived for a Soirée Magique at the Palais Rose in Paris she had christened “The Palace of Dreams”. Captured for Vogue Paris by the photographer Baron George Hoyningen-Huene. The evening had been carefully staged, but when a storm struck, guests were forced to flee in a pandemonium of soggy wigs and crinoline.

Giovanni Boldini, Robert de Montesquiou, 1897.

Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.

Count Robert de Montesquiou had social relationships and collaborations with many celebrities of the Fin de siècle period, including Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897), Edmond de Goncourt (1822-1896), Eleonora Duse (1858-1924), Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), Gabriele d'Annunzio (1863-1938), Anna de Noailles (1876-1933), Marthe Bibesco (1886-1973), Marchesa Luisa Casati (1881-1957), Maurice Barrès (1862-1923), and Franca Florio.

The Palais Rose in Vésinet (Paris)

Marchesa Luisa Casati was one of the most illustrious owners of the palace, like Count Robert de Montesquiou, "the most affirmative dandy of Decadence." He inspired Marcel Proust the character of Charlie's sophisticated and snobbish baron in the "Recherche". Montesquiou was a lover of perfumes beyond any limit, so much that he also wrote a book of poetry "Le chef des odeurs suaves" and he especially loved the hydrangeas, which he placed in every corner of the palace.

Ibis Casino in Le Vésinet, western suburbs of Paris