Last summer in Portland I bought a vintage book at Powell's called Bloomsbury Reflections, which is a compendium of interviews with descendants of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell and originators of that quintessentially bohemian arts and literary scene. One of my favorite photographs is of Cecil Woolf, because he has such great style (scanned, above). So you can imagine my boundless delight then when I was standing a few feet away from him on Saturday evening just before the Woolf in the City dinner!
One of the participants in the conference, journalist Ruth Gruber, described meeting Virginia Woolf when she was a student (she's 90-something now), and of Woolf wearing a long grey silk gown, grey stockings, grey shoes, with a grey cigarette holder that was ever-present, and short hair "like a boy." I was transfixed.
Related-ish... I received The London Scene as a birthday gift, and Orlando is one of my favorite stories, with an endless attention to fantasy, whimsy and sensual indulgence. Charleston and Sissinghurst (see also: Vita in the garden) are two key settings and interior decor inspirations, as is Virginia Nicholson's Among the Bohemians, which turned me on to blue glassware. Domino once did a Bloomsbury-inspired apartment makeover. Cecil Woolf oversees a small eponymous publishing house in London.
He was definitely wearing those same pants at the Conference. What a great guy.
I want someone to do a fun Bloomsburied-up photo shoot of him and Jean.
Thanks for this post!
Megan
Posted by: Megan | June 10, 2009 at 03:22 AM
My goodness. To have seen Virginia Woolf, clad in gray, or otherwise is too much to imagine.
Posted by: jezebel | June 11, 2009 at 12:30 AM
Oh, my gosh, Megan, you have a good eye. You are right about the pants!
Posted by: Paula | June 29, 2009 at 02:58 PM