Theatrical elegance – “Oliver Messel: In the Theatre of Design” (2011)

Dear readers, as I recently started the Youtube channel for this blog of mine, which means that it requires me to put extra work on each blog that I created going forward to that channel as well, for some reason the term ‘multi-talented’ suddenly prompt in my head; a person who is multi-talented means that s/he has multiple skills on his sleeves, and excel at each one of them, constantly and consistently committed for the rest of his life (like marrying to his own work), it’s relatively challenging to achieve and manage! If a man that is born with such a gift, on top of that, he is good looking, sophisticated with great taste and sensibility in style, diligent and have a great character, isn’t he the ‘Mr. Perfect’ in the world? And then take a look around us, how many men of such kind still exist in this day and age? Well, I possibly certain that there are some, however when looking in the past, there are more example that I can found which I even blogged about a couple of them previously; this time, thanks to my recent book hunt, I would like to talk about this multi-talented man, the late British artist and stage designer – Oliver Messel, and the luxury coffee table book titled “Oliver Messel: In the Theatre of Design”.

I first came across this late British artist when I was reading something about the renowned late English fashion photographer, Sir Cecil Beaton, a while ago, and I later realized that they both were friends among the circle of stylish, artistic and flamboyant people back in the time around the 20s and 30s which is called the ‘Bright Young Things’. I was fascinated by a vintage photograph which both Cecil and Oliver were in it with another dashing young man, and then I started to develop an interest about the work and life of Oliver Messel since then. But who is Oliver Messel?

Perhaps I have used the word ‘artist’ loosely to describe this legendary gentleman, as the matter of fact, he is one of the most venerable interior designer, decorators, stage designer and artist, and one of the iconic figures of the twentieth-century design. He started his career as designing for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1925, his great work then subsequently led him to become a celebrated designer that involves in multiple fields from opera, film and drama, then from interior design, architecture and even textiles. The romantic, whimsical and theatrical aesthetic has become his signature style, his beautiful work has attracted countless of tasteful and sophisticated clientele; one of his most famous interior design project is the suite for the luxurious London hotel, The Dorchester, which now one can see this esteemed artist work in the Oliver Messel suite.

Besides stage and interior design, the drawing and sketches by Oliver Messel is also something that appeals me a lot, especially his whimsical and surreal drawing technique which I somehow mesmerized by his artwork too! Of course, when one took a look with this artist’s personal style, he is always impeccably dressed with his classic and polished menswear outfit, and looked dashing all the time; if I have to say someone who is multi-talented and with great style, Oliver Messel is undoubtedly fitted into this category.

During one of the weekend, I found this luxurious coffee table book about Oliver by accident, it was published by Rizzoli back in 2011 and it was written by furniture designer, Mr. Thomas Messel, who is also the nephew of the late British artist, with introduction by late Lord Snowdon, esteemed photographer and filmmaker, and contributed by author Mr. Stephan Calloway, Ms. Sarah Woodcock, curator of V&A Museum’s Theatre Museum, and Mr. Jeremy Musson, an architectural historian and writer. Despite this book has been published for quite some time, if you are like me who are into elegant and romantic interior design, art and even gentleman style, you are going to love this copy too! With some of the unpublished photos about this late British artist and designer’s work, this book took the reader for a tour to experience some of the most sumptuous interior design and stage design work, as well as the late designer’s own home in Barbados, enables one to dive into the artistic world of Oliver Messel and re-see the beauty and romanticism.

Flipping through each page from the artist’s earlier career, and his design of the film stage from drawing to actual setting, even the costume design for famous actors and actresses with his drawings, it is interesting to see how gifted Oliver was, to replicate his talent and skills artfully from designing film and stage set to interior design, besides the beautiful photos of numerous interior of luxury homes from the elite and famous, even a stylish and luxurious shoes boutique interior in London, what fascinates me a lot is some snapshot about Oliver’s life, which included some of his rare and stylishly taken photos, from the ones that he was working on a mask for an opera, to his gathering with his sister and even with his ‘Bright Young Thing’ circle of people, also, how good looking and stylishly groomed he was, with his dashing and sometimes even free-rein attire to express his very own style, I was very surprised that how late I was to come across this precious copy of coffee table book, and how comprehensive the information was available about the life of this late handsome British designer and artist within this copy that satisfied my craving to know more about him, in a way, not only this book is inspiring, it also gave me a certain comfort, or at the very least, to make me believe that someone who is multi-talented, good looking with great sense of style and character did exist, it’s just a matter of time and destiny if we are lucky enough to encounter one in this day and age.

To end this blog, I’d like to share a clip here about Oliver when he was working on the famous ‘Oliver Messel suite’ of The Dorchester London back in 1953, take a look the delicate work he did (in particular the 3D mock-up model of the suite) and the meticulous details, then take a look how hands-on he is to paint the motif on the door of the drawing room himself, and last but not least, his timelessly stylish classic attire and grooming. Enjoy and have an inspiring day!