Sister Parish Design

Comfort is the essential element of a successful interior and the hallmark of the Parish-Hadley style. In Sister Parish Design, Libby Cameron, Sister's last protégé, and Susan B. Crater, Sister's granddaughter, explore this aspect and much more in a series of conversations with the leading decorators of today. Sister Parish is the iconic American decorator of her generation. Her use of flowered chintzes and overstuffed armchairs combined with unexpected items, like patchwork quilts and painted furniture, is credited with popularizing what is known as American Country–style during the 1960s. Her passion for bold color and mixed patterns invoked charm, imagination, and a lived-in look to her rooms. Her philosophy was to be unafraid and to put things together because you liked them--not because they matched. Filled with beautifully-rendered watercolor illustrations, Sister Parish Design is more than just a stunning book—it is an inspirational resource that all decorating aficionados will want to add to their bookshelf.

This “fast-moving, entertaining biography” of the woman behind the Parish Hadley interior design firm is “like eavesdropping on a lively society lunch” (Publishers Weekly). A New York Times Notable Book Sister—as she was called by family and friends—was born Dorothy May Kinnicutt into a patrician New York family in 1910, and spent her privileged early life at the right schools, yacht clubs, and coming-out parties. Compelled to work during the lean years of the Depression, she combined her innate design ability with her upper-echelon social connections to create an extraordinarily successful interior decorating business. The Parish-Hadley firm’s list of clients reads like an American Who’s Who, including Astors, Paleys, Rockefellers, and Whitneys—and she helped Jacqueline Kennedy transform the White House from a fusty hodge-podge into a historically authentic symbol of American elegance. Cozy, airy, colorful but understated, her style came to be known as “American country,” and its influence continues to this day. Compiled by her daughter and granddaughter from Sister’s own unpublished memoirs, as well as from hundreds of interviews with family members, friends, staff, world-renowned interior designers (Mark Hampton, Mario Buatta, Keith Irvine, Bunny Williams, and her longtime partner Albert Hadley, among many others), and clients including Annette de la Renta, Glenn Bernbaum, and Mrs. Thomas Watson, Sister Parish takes us into the houses—and lives—of some of the most fascinating and famous people of this inimitable woman’s time. Fully updated, the revised edition features a new foreword by Albert Hadley and an appreciation by Bunny Williams, who began her career at Parish-Hadley. “Selections from Mrs. Parish’s own rather wonderful, often moving, reminiscences, intercut with observations from her family, employees, clients and friends.” —The New York Times Book Review “Sister’s delightfully self-deprecating humor illuminates the biography throughout.” —Kirkus Reviews Includes photographs

A lushly illustrated look inside the interior design firm that set the standard for America’s finest homes—serving the Astors, the Kennedys, and more. Starting in the 1960s, one name was synonymous with gorgeous interior design and luxurious, stylish home décor: Parish-Hadley Associates, who were commissioned by some of the most prominent families in the country, from the Kennedys to the Astors, Rockefellers, and Gettys. In this “must-have addition to your design library,” thirty interior designers relate in detail their personal experiences working at the firm, accompanied by images they have chosen of their own work, past and present, illustrating how their careers have been shaped by the industry-changing partnership between Sister Parish and Albert Hadley (Architectural Digest). “You can’t say ‘Parish-Hadley’ without tipping your cap toward the revered interior firm that’s inspired the design community since the ’60s. . . . Here, 30 renowned designers revisit lessons learned from the iconic duo. Take notes!” —USA Today

From the Kennedy White House to homes for the Astors, Rockefellers, de la Rentas and Gettys, the American firm Parish Hadley has set a standard for interior design over the last 60 years. Using the homes of famous clients, this book provides a room-by-room exploration of Parish Hadley design.

Sister Parish was the grande dame of American twentieth-century decorators and is credited with developing the style of interior decoration known as 'American Country Style'. Parish-Hadley, the decorating firm she founded and ran with her business partner, Albert Hadley, was extremely successful and it produced a huge body of work, but Sister's most famous client was Jacqueline Kennedy, for whom she worked at the White House and at Glen Ora, a presidential retreat in Virginia.

This intimate portrait of Mrs. Henry Parish II-known to friends as Sister-chronicles one woman's remarkable life and groundbreaking career, painting a unique portrait of American high society and recounting the transformation of an art form. Dorothy May Kinnicutt was born into a patrician New York family in 1910 and her privileged early life was one of the right schools, yacht clubs, coming out parties, and the Social Register. Compelled to work because of the lean years of the Depression, Sister combined her innate design ability and her high echelon social connections to create an extraordinarily successful interior decorating business. Her firm, Parish-Hadley, served a list of clients that comprised the crème de la crème of American aristocracy, among them Rockefellers, Astors, and Whitneys. To them, she was in indispensable presence, both in their salons and in designing them. Her style, influenced by her family's country house in Maine, came to be known as "American country" and was a reflection of Sister's deeply felt Yankee roots. It influenced an entire generation of American decorators. To the pubic at large, she was the visionary who helped transform Jacqueline Kennedy's White House from a fusty relic of the fifties into the international symbol of American elegance-Camelot. To Apple Parish Bartlett and Susan Bartlett Crater, she was a mother and grandmother. Drawing upon Sister Parish's own unpublished memoirs, as well as hundreds of interviews with world-famous interior decorators and socialites, Bartlett and Crater take readers into the houses-and the lives-of the most famous and powerful people of Parish's time, telling the story of the enormously charismatic woman who redefined American design.

The author presents twenty-five summer houses by the sea.

Most decorating books focus on one designer; the rest focus on one period, one trend, one room. This book, for the first time, has the big picture: ALL the names everybody must know from the entire 100-year history of interior design. Each designer is profiled and illustrated with three to four photographs of their best work; what we can learn from them--and how they changed decorating forever--is clearly highlighted to catch the eye.