Mediterranean Living Book

"While still in [my mother's] belly I made my first journey", says Lisa Lovatt-Smith, "westwards across the Mediterranean following the same tracks as Ulysses when the goddess Circe bade him sail to the ends of the Homeric world, beyond the pillars of Hercules in the straits of Gibraltar." Good God! But set aside Lovett-Smith's prose--informed by the kind of Voguesque sensibility that begins and ends in the purpler passages of Rebecca West--and drift dreamily instead through an extraordinary range of rooms and gardens, balconies and atriums. There is no such thing as Mediterranean Living but a wild concentration of climates and cultures, occupations and traditions, old and new architectures. True, Giorgio Armani (Arabic influences out of Cubby Brocolli film sets) and Pierre Cardin (Roger Dean posters made flesh) make for an unpromising start but Marie Chaveau's tantalising near-minimalism adds a saving touch of real humanity and the rest is easy and fascinating sailing. The interiors of Spanish GQ's Hugo Curletto, in particular, raise "Mediterranean Shabby" to a fine and irreproducible art. That, of course, is the drawback of the north Mediterranean look--it's not exportable to colder climes and greyer skies. Happily, however, the book also reflects the sophistication of north African-influenced decor. This is eye-catching work indeed and altogether more kind on a Northerner's jackdaw eye. Indulge yourself. --Simon IngsRead More