Origins of style

Should you be curious as to the origins of your style, look no further than your mother. Or your father in certain cases, I’m sure. We end up remarkably similar to them. And though we first resist, many of us are fortunate enough to settle into a happy discovery that our parents are actually pretty cool. Longer the time spent in yourself and around others, you begin to see the good you have gleaned from them. And in this study, the style.

Living in Southern California where the “bohemian” look and feel of the 70s is currently incredibly popular among certain style sets, my eyes are tuned to receive that vibration. And when I return home to Michigan, to my mother’s style, I find an inspired environment: A gorgeously curated collection of vintage home goods executed in a perfect example of the worldly bohemian aesthetic.

Mixed patterns and rich colors, old books upon old books, a varied collection of jewelry… turquoised and layered, artfully arranged vignettes of varying size and formality, and macrame she made herself back when her hair was long and her jeans were flared. She retains the elements of this style, though now matured and more elegant than trendy. As I wander around the house I grew up in, with my now adult eyes and my fresh-from-California perspective, I recognize her remarkable ability to edit and compile.

We sit on the floor and listen to Carole King’s “Thoroughbred,” pawing through the old record collection. Their very hippie wedding photos emerge at some point as well during the visit. And I practically grab her shoulders saying, “Mom! You’d be the coolest girl in Silver Lake! All the girls in California are dying for this stuff!”

My mother is an original bohemian. An editor of good tidbits, a hunter/gatherer for folds of fabric from a place you’ve never been, a historian of cool things, a librarian to her mementos, observer and inhabitor of poetry and treasure, an unknowing guardian of desired collectables, gardening a yield of densely intelligent habitat, a mother of art and a mother of style.

So much poetry in this house.

Mom’s rocking chair, vintage but in amazing condition. And in the most beautiful fabric. My whole being associates this chair with her.

Vintage decanters and shot glasses, on a stamped-tin lined tray.

Mixed patterns that she pulls together effortlessly.