CHRISTOPHE OFFERS US A PIECE OF HER MIND
by Anita Sarko
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| STINGRAY PENDANT/ BROOCH: Sterling Silver Gold-Plated. Satin Finish with Cubic Zirconia. J008GS, $1,000. Sterling Silver (Rhodium-Plated), Satin Finish with Yellow Citrine. J008SS, $950. | STINGRAY PENDANT/ BROOCH: Sterling Silver (Rhodium-Plated), Satin Finish with Yellow Citrine. J008SS, $950. |
Some rare individuals just think differently from everyone else. If they’re lucky, they’re loveable eccentrics; if very lucky, they’re revered as artists. Despite possessing a mind programmed to go full-tilt in various directions at once, there’s a method to every non-linear thought and every colorful expression uttered by the indescribable CHRISTOPHE de MENIL. She is one of the VERY lucky ones, having managed to focus and, therefore, transcend her natural eccentricities into a life completely defined by and embedded in non-stop creativity.
In fact, she spent a brief period of her life as the young bride of a young Harvard student, Robert Thurman. (Yes, THAT Robert Thurman.) They had a daughter, Taya, who later produced Christophe’s beloved grandchildren, one being Dash Snow, the celebrated photographer, who tragically died very young of an overdose. Christophe, HERSELF, is a force of nature, so it’s not surprising that it is nature, particularly what lurks within the sea, that influences most of her artistic visions. Whereas most people see seaweed and think of, well, WEEDS ... or something healthy in food or hair and skin products, not many are so fascinated that they freeze the seaweed until they can figure out what to do with it. “Three years later, I pulled it out.” Christophe recalls. “A jeweler said he could make a seaweed extension to go right around the arm for a bracelet. He worked out how to engineer it so parts could move.” The bracelet begat a necklace and, also, a ring. That’s why artists are different from most: They see things others miss and feel moved to and are capable of expressing those feelings through their art. |
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| LOBSTER FIN EARRINGS: Sterling Silver Gold-Plated. Satin Finish with High Gloss Accents, $575. |
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| LOBSTER FIN EARRINGS: Sterling Silver (Rhodium-Plated). Satin Finish with Yellow Citrine. J002SS, $650. |
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| LOBSTER HEART EARRINGS: Sterling Silver Gold-Plated. Satin Finish with Cubic Zirconia. J003GS, $550. |
And then there was the nautilus shell. Though celebrated in paintings, poetry and music, most consider nautilus shells nothing more than beautiful decorative objects. They usually evoke no deeper thoughts than of the vacation that begat them. De Menil’s initial use for the nautilus was when she was creating costumes and jewelry with her mentor Claude Lalanne (the incredible animal and botanical-inspired decorative artist Christophe credits with making her fearless) for the Rome section of Robert Wilson’s “The Civil Wars."
Later, Christophe honored the nautilus with pendants, earrings and belt buckles. “When you look at it, it opens up quickly and dramatically from a knot.” She explains in an excitable rush of words. “It’s made from a series of squares. It’s the proportion of a Greek temple. Much plant growth is based on the expanding and revolving square.” And you thought it was just a pretty shell ... Which brings us to the lobster. The beauty of a shrimp’s fin originally intrigued Christophe. Proving too fragile to work with, her sister sent a langoustine from Paris ... better, but not as good as a lobster’s fin. She gradually investigated the claw, where “... inside was a part made of cartilage that was so amazingly art nouveau!” A 20 lb. lobster from Chinatown produced a cartilage large enough for a belt buckle. Two years later, she found a piece just above the tail where the tiny claws come out. “I call it the ‘heart’.” De Menil says, slyly smiling about its uncanny resemblance to female nether regions. “I had opened so many lobsters and never saw it. It was amazing! It’s so sexy! I thought, ‘I can’t use it.’” Naturally, she did. “It’s HUMAN! It’s NECESSARY!” She reasoned. “The lobster gave me so much more information than I expected. (It’s) such a clumsy looking creature.” The knuckle became a bolo tie; the cartilage, a belt; the tail, a buckle; the fin and “heart” became earrings. |
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| SEAWEED NECKLACE: Sterling Silver Gold-Plated. Satin Finish with High Gloss Accents. J009GS, $1,700. | SEAWEED NECKLACE: Sterling Silver (Rhodium-Plated). Satin Finish with High Gloss Accents. J009SS, $1,500. |
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| HORSESHOE CRAB PENDANT/ BROOCH: Sterling Silver, Gold-Plated, Satin Finish. J007GG, $550. | HORSESHOE CRAB PENDANT/ BROOCH: Sterling Silver (Rhodium-Plated). Satin Finish. J007SG, $525. |
| Christophe came to design clothing by way of her costume work. After her divorce from Thurman, she moved from Boston to Manhattan (“Why would you go anywhere else?” She asks rhetorically). She met her cousin’s friends, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Twyla Tharp and Lucinda Childs. Henri Cartier-Bresson sent her to Albert Maysles, with whom she studied and learned sound engineering. After working on a film about Willem de Kooning, she began producing such avant-gardists as Terry Reilly, Tricia Brown and Robert Whitman. “The Hamptons was a big family of artists.” She recalls. “Everyone had dinners. It was very cozy.” |
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| DROP SLEEVE DRESS: Black Lightweight Wool Crepe with Stretch Silk Charmeuse Lining. A006, $800. DRESS ONE: Black Lightweight Wool Crepe with Stretch Silk Charmeuse Lining. With belt. A004, $995. Also available as a Mini. A005, $955. RAYON JUMPSUIT WITH SLEEVES: Black Stretch Rayon Barathea. A002, $1,075. |
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| NENUPHAR BELT BUCKLE: Sterling Silver (Rhodium-Plated), Satin Finish. J015SS, $745. | NAUTILUS BELT BUCKLE: Sterling Silver (Rhodium-Plated), Satin Finish. J017SS, $675. |
| Performance work in New York got her involved doing costumes for Robert Wilson in Europe. “I enjoyed it a lot. It’s thrilling. In Europe, they’re really very expert. It was just a game to me. It made me cheeky. I wanted to fulfill a bet I made with myself that I could do it. My grandfather began his earliest experiments in the bathtub.” Grand-Père Conrad Schlumberger’s bathtub experiments proved his theory of the electrical conductivity of ore rocks and became the basis of the family fortune. Now his granddaughter is finding her own watery treasures. |
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| WOMEN’S STARFISH AND CRAB T-SHIRT: ¾ Sleeve, Boatneck, 100% Cotton. T008WB, $65. MEN’S EMERALD BOA T-SHIRT: Long Sleeve, Crew Cut , 100% Cotton, Glitter Accents. T003MW, $65. |
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| MEN’S CROC AND BOA T-SHIRT: Long Sleeve, Crew Cut, 100% Cotton. T005MB, $65. WOMEN’S DEEP SEA FISH T-SHIRT: ¾ Sleeve, Boatneck, 100% Cotton. T003WW, $65. |
| Though sea creatures appear on her t-shirt designs, Christophe’s clothing line goes much further. She focuses on basic shapes usually in black and, occasionally, in red and white. They’re chic uniforms busy women crave because they’re comfortable and look great anywhere, anytime. Studying religion again, which she did at Columbia in her younger days, has interested de Menil in designing vestments. “I was a Huguenot.” Says the French-born Christophe. “They disapprove of attention to the body. For me, to address ornamentation for the body was a personal affirmation.” Visit christophedemenil.com for details and to order. |
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