ELLE DECOR July-August 2013

Mountains or seashore? The Adirondacks or the Pacific coast? Where we choose to spend the glorious, fleeting days of summer can be as revealing as a page from our diaries, as telling as a therapy session. It makes no difference if your summer retreat is a place you return to year after year, or somewhere you escape to for a precious week or two of vacation. What matters is not the duration of your stay, but the deep connection you feel, whether to a rustic lodge full of twig furniture, a simple shack set amid the dunes of Cape Cod, or a luxurious spa-like haven. If where we live during the workweek is the prose of our lives, our weekend and vacation escapes are the poetry. The homes in this…

KELLY BEHUN While shooting designer Kelly Behun's Hamptons villa (see page 108), photographer William Waldron hit on the idea to capture her two sons underwater, through the glass wall that divides the swimming pool from the gym. "It proved tricky," says Behun, "as the boys were out of earshot." Using walkie-talkies, Waldron and contributing editor Cynthia Frank, who styled the shoot, "directed" the divers. "It was like an Esther Williams movie," Behun jokes. "Bill would tell them when to jump." This fall, she launches a new furniture line inspired by 1980s Italian design. BOBBY FLAY Bobby Flay always has a lot on his plate, and this summer is no exception. His 11th cookbook, Bobby Flay's Barbecue Addiction, has just been released. He's appearing on six TV shows, including the culinary…

MAIL Susan Hable Smith's home is a Georgia peach! ["Georgian Revival," May] She has a wonderful eye for beautiful colors and stimulating patterns, and each room comes together seamlessly. Plus, she has the perfect canvas in her lovely Victorian house. This is one woman who truly knows how to live! Meg Halstead, via e-mail I have been an avid reader of ELLE DECOR for 20 years, and the recent piece on Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's home ["Riding High," May] ranks as one of my favorites. Their Art Barn is fantastic. The photograph of a woman hanging over the Spanish desk is cited as the work of an unknown photographer. It is actually titled Hands in Lap and is by Robert Stivers. I know this because my husband bought…

As 1960s society pulsed with revolution, hippies—outfitted in psychedelic patterns, ethnic prints, and thrift-shop throwbacks—used clothing as an agent of social change. "Hippie Chic," opening July 16 at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, traces the look from its inception in the late '60s, most memorably during San Francisco's Summer of Love, to its quick adaptation by fashion designers, including the gauzy gypsy dresses by Sant'Angelo shown on Jean Shrimpton in a 1969 issue of Vogue, below right (mfa.org). Today's designers continue to riff on the aesthetic. Missoni, an early pioneer of funky knitwear, has opened its first North American iteration of MissoniHome in Southampton, New York, stocked with groovy accents such as the Vevey outdoor pouf, below (missonihome.com). Meanwhile, ceramic artist Michele Quan channels the Age of Aquarius by weaving…

CATCH OF THE DAY New York designer Carol Fertig was inspired by vintage prints of fish, crustaceans, and other marine dwellers for her Sea Life collection of colorful melamine tableware, perfect for a picnic or dining poolside. A set of four 8.5" dia. or 8.5" sq. plates costs $30; the 19" dia. crab platter and 19" l. x 14" w. lobster tray are $40 each. 212-346-7890; thesupplemental.com 1 / LIGHT EFFECTS The Milan design team Servomuto looked to classic lampshade forms for its line of Easy Wall sconces. Handmade of cotton with contrasting trims and brightly colored cords, the shades range in price from $470 to $870. 011-44-20-7733-5304; servomuto.com 2 / ON THE WILD SIDE Designer Eileen Johnson pays tribute to 20th-century French master Jean-Michel Frank…

One of Japan's most important contemporary designers, Shiro Kuramata, who died in 1991, is best known for his poetic furniture—his angular glass chair has achieved iconic status. But the majority of his groundbreaking interiors, including restaurants, nightclubs, and retail spaces for Issey Miyake and Esprit, have been demolished. Shiro Kuramata (Phaidon), a two-volume monograph by Deyan Sudjic, director of London's Design Museum, serves as a welcome work of cultural restoration, collecting rare photos and sketches of such vanished spaces as the designer's Tokyo showroom for the Edward's fashion label, with its glass-cube elevator and shelves supported by fluorescent-lit columns. Sudjic reveals Kuramata's surprisingly wide range of references—his Revolving Cabinet was inspired by the work of Donald Judd, while his Miss Blanche chair, with its delicate paper roses "floating" in acrylic…