It’s not everyday that decorating doyenne Bunny Williams writes the forward to another designer’s monograph, but such is the case with Philip Mitchell’s new book, Collected Interiors: Rooms That Tell a Story, just released by Rizzoli New York. And having perused its pages, I can certainly understand why.

Williams writes, “Designer will study this book, but those who love to collect will also be inspired, with Philip’s guidance, to imagine new ways of combining their objects, hanging their art, and making their homes more comfortable and inviting places to live.”

I believe she is right. Mitchell’s book, his first, is effortlessly chic. And it’s a font of ingenious decorating ideas.

“The homes in these pages show where curiosity and a passion for beautiful things have led my clients and me and, to some degree, where we are focused next.”

Philip Mitchell

Mitchell aptly refers to his style of decorating as ‘modern maximalism’, in which he successfully celebrates his client’s collected objects, mixing them with his imaginative choices for new furnishings, finishes, materials, colors, and silhouettes.

These are rooms populated by a wide range of stylistic pieces–from Deco chairs to contemporary light fixtures to mid-century standards–resulting in spaces that are at once welcoming, authentic, and fully resolved.

Here’s the thing: I am rarely at a loss for words. But having carefully studied the pages of Collected Interiors, I would just conclude by saying this is my favorite design book of 2021–and an excellent gift idea for the design aficionado on your holiday guest list.

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Collected Interiors: Rooms That Tell a Story

By Philip Mitchell

Rizzoli New York, October 2021

As we cautiously turn the corner on the pandemic, people across the globe are traveling again. But if you’re sticking close to home, at least for the time being, there’s plenty of wanderlusting to be had in the pages of LIFE IN A FRENCH COUNTRY HOUSE: ENTERTAINING FOR ALL SEASONS, by Cordelia de Castellane, published by Rizzoli New York.

As France’s most prominent host and the artistic director of Dior Home and Baby Dior, de Castellane is a notable ambassador of the Gallic lifestyle. In fact I’m told she is to French entertaining what Inès de la Fressange is to French style (quite a distinction!) and there’s plenty of evidence to support that conjecture in the pages of this lush new book.

The four seasons serve as the framework for the volume, with captivating inspiration for living and entertaining in effortless French style throughout the calendar year.

In sections devoted to flower arranging, table settings, interior design, menus and beyond, the book invites the reader into the author’s effortless lifestyle in the French countryside, with archival photography illuminating the history de Castellane’s home and its generations of familial inhabitants.

The end of 2021 is upon us. With bucolic garden, romantic tablescapes, time-honored recipes, and blossoming wallpapers galore, I can’t think of a better gift for the Francophile on your holiday shopping list.

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LIFE IN A FRENCH COUNTRY HOUSE: ENTERTAINING FOR ALL SEASONS

By Cordelia de Castellane 

Rizzoli New York, 2021